Sociologists and academics are increasingly focusing on so-called toxic managers. In today’s workplaces, employees who encounter such leaders must learn to deal with these destructive personalities, or risk being crushed by the pressure and suffering professionally.
Professor Simon L Dolan has drawn on decades of research on toxic management to paint a clinical picture of these leaders in his latest book, “De-Stress at Work: Understanding and Combating Chronic Stress”. He explains that destructive bosses are likely to exhibit certain personality traits, including being jealous of their employees, fearing the presence of “enemies” in the workplace, taking undue credit, and constantly comparing themselves to others.
“Whether knowingly or not, a toxic leader is one who abuses their authority and violates trust to satisfy their own ego,” Dolan explains.
This hostile behaviour is often rooted in the disproportionate expectations placed on line managers, especially since the pandemic. Managers have had to be inventive in dealing with the technical challenges of remote working while ensuring the wellbeing of their teams. The return to the office has also taken its toll on morale, especially when it comes to convincing employees to return to the workplace.
As a result, managers are exposed to situations of psychological distress. “This can be really harmful, because they are required to hide their feelings even when under immense pressure. Pretending to be a superhuman causes a lot of damage to the mind and body – really the key is to be realistic about your strengths and weaknesses,” Dolan says.
Angry outbursts and abuses of power
Some managers may be tempted to overinvest in their work to meet the challenges of company growth. Their employees must then follow their leaders’ orders and comply, or they will give them a hard time.
For Dolan, this attitude actually masks a severe lack of self-confidence. “There are many factors that contribute to a toxic personality, including a compulsive need to display their worth to others, but mainly out of a lack of deep-rooted self-esteem. This is usually a culmination of a lack of ethical and emotional development throughout their lives.”
While the desired qualities of a “good” manager have been discussed for some time, academic research is now focusing on the consequences of destructive management on the wellbeing of employees.
A study published in August in the journal “Frontiers in Psychology” found that the hostile behaviours of some toxic leaders could cause employees to engage in similar behaviour, whether it be angry outbursts, abuses of power, or mistreatment of peers. This could, in the long run, lead to feelings of insecurity at work.
As such, Dolan outlines strategies in his book to avoid toxic management, both at the employee level and at the company level. “Leadership can make or break an organisation,” he argues, “with good leaders motivating teams to be creative and productive.
“But on the other side of the coin, a bad leader can demotivate teams, cause low morale, and the effect on teams can be devastating.”