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This paper aims to look at some of the implications of organisational psychopaths for organisations and corporations.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to look at some of the implications of organisational psychopaths for organisations and corporations.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper defines organisational psychopaths as being those psychopaths who exist at an incidence of about 1 percent of the general population and who work in organisations. The paper describes how these organisational psychopaths are able to present themselves as desirable employees and are easily able to obtain positions in organisations. Without the inhibiting effect of a conscience they are then able to ruthlessly charm, lie, cajole and manipulate their way up an organisational hierarchy in pursuit of their main aims of power, wealth and status and at the expense of anyone who gets in their way.
Findings
The paper suggests that, just as criminal psychopaths are responsible for a greater share of crimes than their numbers would suggest, so too organisational psychopaths may be responsible for more than their fair share of organisational misbehaviour including accounting fraud, stock manipulation, unnecessarily high job losses and corporately induced environmental damage.
Originality/value
The paper suggests that having organisational psychopaths running corporations that are themselves, at best, amoral is a recipe for negative consequences.
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This current paper reviews the theoretical speculations concerning psychopaths in the workplace that were originally presented in a paper published in this journal in 2006. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This current paper reviews the theoretical speculations concerning psychopaths in the workplace that were originally presented in a paper published in this journal in 2006. The 2006 paper was called: “The Dark Side of Management Decisions: Organisational Psychopaths”.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a review of the literature on workplace psychopaths since 2006.
Findings
This current paper determines that while many of these prior speculations about workplace psychopaths have since been supported by evidence, several others remain unexplored. This finding suggests that several important avenues for further research remain in this important area. In particular, links between corporate psychopaths, bullying and lowered corporate social responsibility have been established. On the other hand, links between corporate psychopaths, career advancement, fraud, and corporate failure as exemplified in the 2007 global financial crisis, have been under-explored.
Social implications
Corporate psychopaths are worthy of further research because of their impact on society, for example on corporate social responsibility and their willingness to dump toxic waste material illegally.
Originality/value
The paper provides an extensive review of research into corporate psychopaths to date and highlights areas where further investigation would be potentially rewarding.
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Clive Roland Boddy and Ross Taplin
The purpose of this paper is to investigate job satisfaction and workplace psychopathy.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate job satisfaction and workplace psychopathy.
Design/methodology/approach
Job satisfaction has previously been seen as a function of various constructs. The authors take one step back from the literature to re-examine the relationship not just between job satisfaction, workplace conflict, organizational constraints, withdrawal from the workplace and perceived levels of corporate social responsibility, but also between all of these constructs and the presence of corporate psychopaths.
Findings
The authors find that there is a direct link between corporate psychopaths and job satisfaction. There are also indirect links through variables such as conflict, since corporate psychopaths influence conflict and other variables.
Originality/value
Importantly, the research establishes that psychopathy is the dominant predictor of job satisfaction.
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Anne Fennimore and Arthur Sementelli
The purpose of this paper is to adapt the research conducted on subclinical psychopaths in the private sector and applies it to the public sector to build a conceptual frame for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to adapt the research conducted on subclinical psychopaths in the private sector and applies it to the public sector to build a conceptual frame for further research on subclinical psychopaths in public organisations. General characteristics of entrepreneurs often run counter to democratic values, and are more often aligned with private sector values. Public managers who display one of the dark-triad personalities, i.e., psychopathy, can pose a greater threat to democratic values and the state.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach of this paper is theoretical with the aim of proposing a conceptual framework that utilises Downs’ five types of officials governing bureaucracies, to illustrate a relationship between public entrepreneurs and subclinical psychopaths.
Findings
The conceptual framework presented in this paper suggests that psychopathic entrepreneurs can be identified within Downs’ bureaucratic framework specifically as climbers (due to inherent personality traits) and as zealots (heroic and altruistic behaviour for organisational causes, yet motivated by power, domination, and self-interest). The implications of psychopathic public managers who engage in entrepreneurial activities may be escalating public distrust, hostility, and dissatisfaction in government.
Originality/value
This theoretical paper adds to the growing body of criticism for public entrepreneurship by conceptualising how psychopaths, as climbers and zealots, affect public trust in terms of accountability and democratic values.
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Clive Roland Boddy and Robin Croft
The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to knowledge by examining what happens to marketing in a time of toxic leadership, embodied in a corporate psychopath, in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to knowledge by examining what happens to marketing in a time of toxic leadership, embodied in a corporate psychopath, in response to a call for marketers to seek a broader understanding of how marketing operates within organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
Commentators have suggested that concepts outside the usual marketing domain may aid in the gaining of an intra-organisational understanding of how marketing operates. Here, the concept of corporate psychopathy was used to identify a psychopathic UK board director and chief executive officer (CEO) via a constructivist approach to research involving six in-depth interviews. A CEO and a main board director who were measurably psychopathic were studied via these reports.
Findings
The paper examines how corporate psychopaths, as archetypal toxic leaders, are detrimental to marketing. Overseeing the marketing function within the UK part of an established and well-branded multi-national services company, corporate psychopaths capriciously dismantled the marketing initiatives that were in place and needlessly abandoned future marketing plans. Marketing services, marketing ethics, product quality and corporate reputation declined. Good marketers left.
Practical implications
The research demonstrates the dangers to marketing of toxic leadership. The paper also suggests that marketing may be uniquely qualified to deal with toxic leaders because it can, through research, identify them through their effects and behaviour. The results illustrate the value of longitudinal qualitative market research in investigating complex organisational situations.
Originality/value
The paper makes a unique contribution to the marketing field by empirically investigating, for the first time, the influence of a corporate psychopath director and a psychopathic CEO on the marketing function and practice. The research was conducted longitudinally using qualitative market research techniques via in-depth interviews over a two-year period. Longitudinal research aids in establishing causality, and this was evident in this research, as the negative influence of psychopathic leadership was monitored over time.
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The purpose of this paper is to present evidence to examine the possible psychopathy of Robert Maxwell, a notorious figure in UK business history.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present evidence to examine the possible psychopathy of Robert Maxwell, a notorious figure in UK business history.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents research which retrospectively applied a tool to measure whether leading figures in twentieth century business history could be classified as being corporate psychopaths. As background to this idea, psychopaths and corporate psychopaths are defined. A measure of corporate psychopathy is explored as an aid to identifying corporate psychopaths in business history. This measure is then used in relation to senior corporate executives who have been nominated as potential corporate psychopaths and to Robert Maxwell in particular.
Findings
The paper concludes that at least some ethical scandals and failures such as those at The Daily Mirror have been characterized by the presence of CEOs who scored highly on a measure of corporate psychopathy. Maxwell’s fraudulent raiding of corporate pension funds crossed ethical and legal borders. Furthermore, Maxwell’s fraudulent looting of those pension funds crossed generational boundaries; stealing from older people’s pension funds and thereby leaving younger people/investors with less to inherit. Maxwell also had an international business empire and so his fraud had effects which crossed geographic borders. The paper concludes that using an historical approach to the study of potential corporate psychopaths illuminates what types of organizational outcomes corporate psychopaths may eventuate.
Originality/value
The paper is the first to use an historical approach to the study of potential corporate psychopaths.
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Clive Roland Boddy, Ross Taplin, Benedict Sheehy and Brendon Murphy
Influential research has posited that empirical investigation provides no evidence for the existence of white-collar/successful psychopaths. The purpose of this current paper is…
Abstract
Purpose
Influential research has posited that empirical investigation provides no evidence for the existence of white-collar/successful psychopaths. The purpose of this current paper is to review evidence for their existence and report on new, primary research that examines ethical outcomes associated with their presence.
Design/methodology/approach
Leading psychopathy researchers called for research using samples of white-collar workers to explore workplace psychopathy. Therefore, the authors undertook a two-stage research process to examine this. Firstly, a structured literature review sought evidence for “corporate psychopaths”, “white-collar psychopaths” and “successful psychopaths” in existing literature. Secondly, original research was undertaken among 261 Australian workers to examine this further.
Findings
Findings indicate that white-collar psychopaths exist. Where they have been found not to exist, investigation reveals that the samples used were inadequate for the purpose of attempting to find them.
Practical implications
Although there is an inconsistent nomenclature, white-collar, industrial, successful, organisational, workplace or corporate psychopaths do exist and are found in white-collar workplaces.
Social implications
Their existence is important because findings indicate that they have a significant, ethically malign and long-lasting impact on employee well-being and organisational ethical outcomes.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is perhaps the first paper to specifically examine the literature for evidence of whether white-collar psychopaths exist. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is also the first paper to determine that corporate psychopaths are linked with aggressive humour, gender discrimination, fake corporate social responsibility and reduced communications integration.
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The purpose of this paper is to re-open a debate as to whether candidates for public leadership should be screened for psychopathy.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to re-open a debate as to whether candidates for public leadership should be screened for psychopathy.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper which examines the diffuse literature concerning psychopaths in public leadership positions.
Findings
Psychopathy researchers have been divided as to whether psychopathic individuals should be screened out of leadership positions in public and corporate life. Recent evidence from bullying research and historical research into psychopaths in politics sheds new light on this issue.
Practical implications
There is increasing evidence that psychopaths are detrimental to the organisations they work for, to other employees, to the environment and to society. Screening for psychopathy should therefore be considered. This may help to prevent governments entering into illegal wars and committing crimes against humanity. Screening in the corporate sector may also help prevent the worst excesses of greed and fraud that were evident in collapses like Enron and the Mirror Group as well as in the events leading up to the global financial crisis of 2008.
Originality/value
The paper makes a contribution to the literature on public leadership by bringing together the diverse reports on the effects of psychopaths in public organisations like the National Health Service, publicly listed corporations, academia and politics. The paper uses historical and corporate examples to illustrate the initially favourable impression that psychopathic leaders can make but the ultimately disastrous outcomes they engender.
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Kim Klarskov Jeppesen and Christina Leder
The purpose of this paper is to analyse auditors’ experience with corporate psychopaths in their client management.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse auditors’ experience with corporate psychopaths in their client management.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was conducted as a survey among Danish state-authorized auditors, to which 179 auditors responded, representing 9 per cent of the total population.
Findings
Of the participating auditors, 69 per cent had experienced corporate psychopaths in their client management and 70 per cent of these had experienced more than one case. In addition, 43 per cent of the auditors who had experienced psychopathic managers reported that they had committed fraud. The vast majority of cases were detected in the execution and completion phases of the audit and resulted in increased professional scepticism, the use of more experienced auditors and the requirement for more and better audit evidence.
Research limitations/implications
The findings confirm that corporate psychopaths actually exist and are a phenomenon worthy of research attention in areas such as accounting, auditing, internal control, fraud investigation, performance management and human resource management.
Practical implications
As auditors are likely to come across corporate psychopaths from time to time in their careers, awareness of this type of risk needs to be increased and better integrated into the risk assessment in audit planning. Auditing standards relating to fraud also need to be updated according to the latest developments in fraud theory.
Originality/value
This is the first research to address auditors’ experience with corporate psychopaths. It adds value by confirming the relevance of the topic for practice and research.
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Shahbaz Sharif, Rab Nawaz Lodhi, Vipin Jain and Paritosh Sharma
This study empirically and theoretically aims to explore the consequences of top management’s dark personality traits (DPT) on organizational injustice, e.g. organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
This study empirically and theoretically aims to explore the consequences of top management’s dark personality traits (DPT) on organizational injustice, e.g. organizational procedural justice (OPJ), organizational interactional justice (OIJ) and organizational distributive justice (ODJ) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB).
Design/methodology/approach
A study was conducted to examine the influence of DPT on CWB among the contractual employees of the land revenue department, Pakistan. The quantitative method was employed using a convenient sampling approach. A designed survey questionnaire was distributed among 1,240 land revenue officials in 13 districts of Pakistan.
Findings
The results supported that dark DPT directly, significantly and positively affects CWB. In addition, DPT, except for psychopathy (PSY), significantly and negatively affects OPJ, OIJ and ODJ. Meanwhile, OIJ and OPJ strengthen the negative relationship between CWB and Machiavellianism and narcissism (NAR); however, PSY failed directly to affect OPJ, OIP and ODJ indirectly failed to capture CWB.
Practical implications
Top management/government should pay attention to fair dealings among the contractual employees. Consequently, they would prefer to do well in the workplace. Particularly, top management should avoid practicing DPT, which has ultimate results in CWB.
Social implications
Public managers should avoid DPT because they are not compatible with public needs. Managers with DPT negatively affect their employees' productivity behaviors. Therefore, managers should focus on positive personality traits to enhance employees' productivity via organizational justice.
Originality/value
This study is unique in the land revenue department of Pakistan, where unfair dealings are being practiced among contractual employees. Surprisingly, CWB is the ultimate consequence of both DPT and top management's dishonest dealings (e.g. organizational injustices).
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