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Research Spotlight

Shift, Suppress, Sever

Systemic Strategies for Dealing With Dark Leadership

Published Online:April 25, 2022https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000492

Abstract

Abstract. Leaders with dark personalities are notorious for their destructive influences at work. Yet, it may not be enough for organizations to solely focus their interventions on leaders exhibiting dark personalities. Instead, we argue that systemic interventions that rely on levers at multiple organizational levels may be more fruitful in tackling destructive leadership. Specifically, we propose that interventions accounting for the individual characteristics of leaders and followers, as well as the organizational contexts in which destructive leadership is allowed to occur, are more likely to be effective and sustainable. By integrating literature from management, psychology, and educational sciences, we propose a framework that could serve as a guideline for organizational interventions and spur future research on how to mitigate destructive leadership processes.

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