Less than a decade ago Secretary of the Army Thomas E. White claimed the issue of toxic leaders to be an urgent one; according to him, it was urgent to be addressed because of its “destructive leadership styles.”
After the claim the problems was researched by the U.S. Army War College and some independent specialists who recognized the importance of identification of features of toxic leaders. However, definition of the phenomenon put the start to the research. According got the students of the College, “Destructive leaders are focused on visible short-term mission accomplishment. They provide superior with impressive, particular presentations and enthusiastic responses to missions. But, they are unconcerned about, or obvious to, staff or troop morale and /or climate.”
The students also stated that the majority of the subordinates of such leaders view them as petty, inflexible and arrogant individuals. However, they paid attention to the fact those leaders who are demanding or loud are not necessarily toxic. To define a destructive one, it is possible to identify features of concern lack for the subordinates’ wellbeing, implications of techniques which damage climate of the organization, clear self-interest.
Respect is one of the core values of the army and it is violated by the toxic leaders all the time. Everything which matters for them is having their job done or using some technique which is easier than the most effective strategy.
Presence of toxic leaders brings serious harm to the whole organizations, even if it is as big as the army of the United States of America. This means that superiors should solve the problem of toxic behavior as they possess enough power to do that. Toxic behavior should never be tolerated and as for leadership, only those individuals, who understand the importance of good atmosphere in the organization and are able to help their subordinates, should be called “leaders.”
References
Reed. G. (2004). Toxic Leadership. Retrieved from HYPERLINK "http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/dclm/Toxic_Leadership.pdf" …