15-1Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin

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The Dark Side of Leadership

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"If you put on a blindfold and threw a dart at a map of the world, then there is a 70 percent chance that whatever

country the dart lands on is run by some form of dictatorship.”

RT Hogan,

Hogan Assessment Systems

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Introduction

• Bad leadership: individuals who are effective at building teams and getting results through others, but who obtain results that are morally or ethically challenged.

• Managerial incompetence: a person’s inability to build teams or get results through others.

• Managerial derailment: describes the common reasons why people in positions of authority have difficulties building teams or getting results through others.

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Managerial Incompetence

Research shows that 50-75% of managers are incompetent. Yet, organizations and countries survive. Some facts that support why this is so:

•Most countries are run by some form of dictatorship.

•Employee satisfaction surveys show over 75% of respondents indicate that their immediate boss is the most stressful part of their job.

•A study reported that only 30% of businesses had “healthy and respectful” work climates.

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Managerial Incompetence Grid

Figure 15.1: The Two Dimensions of Managerial Incompetence

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Types of managers

• Competent managers: good at building teams and getting results through others.

• Results-only managers: good at achieving results, but tend to treat followers so poorly that results tend to be short-lived.

• Cheerleaders: people in positions of authority who are people centered and make a point of getting along with everyone, but lose sight of results.

• In-name-only managers: may not be complete failures at building teams and getting results, but they could be a lot better at both.

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Two points about overwhelming situational and follower factors

• The manager can control his or her reactions to overwhelming factors.

• Episodic versus chronic incompetence.

– Episodic managerial incompetence is when people in positions of authority face extremely tough situational events that temporarily interfere with their ability to build teams and get results.

– Chronic managerial incompetence is when taxing situational events permanently disrupt a person’s ability to build teams or get results.

• All competent managers experience occasional episodic managerial incompetence; the trick is to limit the frequency and duration of these occurrences.

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Other issues involved in managerial incompetence

• Organizational Fit - the alignment between personal and organizational values & beliefs

• Situational Awareness - refers to a someone’s ability to be cognizant of and accurately assess risks before, during, and after a particular situation

• Self-awareness – refers to being aware of their own strengths and shortcomings.

• Subject matter expertise - the relevant knowledge or experience a person can use to solve a problem.

• Team-building Know-how - the degree to which a leader knows the steps and processes needed to build high performing teams.