Toxic Leadership: The Most Menacing Form of Leadership

Abstract

Recent misuses of power in politics, corporate and religious arena have invigorated interest in dark side of leadership. This chapter sheds light on a menacing type of dark leadership--toxic leadership. Owing to the dearth of a comprehensive delineation of "toxic" leadership from its related phenomena, this chapter addresses the paucities and clarifies the nature, process, reasons and consequences of "toxic" leadership. It reviews, summarizes and integrates the existing literature on toxic leadership to draw nomological distinctions amongst different constructs of dark leadership and eventually presents stimulators and behavioral symptoms of toxic leadership. Few contemporary myths and detoxification measures are discussed to combat toxicity in a leader for a sustainable organization. The goal of the chapter is to reach our readers' curiosity, enhance their frame of reference and bring new insights to educate them by providing guidelines and awareness about toxic leadership.