Leadership styles such as charismatic, ethical, and authentic are considered positive.

What are the different negative leadership styles? Explain whether these negative styles
fetch positive results for the organizations or not?

Submitted to: Dr. Imran Hameed

8th December 2022

By

Amania Kamran

Ayesha Tariq

1
Synopsis

There are many negative leadership styles and attributes that impact the
dynamics of an organization. To understand what ultimately are
considered as negative leadership traits that are contrary to positive
leadership traits, productivity and discipline, the following essay will
discuss the significant negative leadership styles, inclusive of, Autocratic
Leadership, Micromanaging Leadership and the Self-serving Leadership
style. All such leadership styles are conducive to fetching negative results
for a company through the negative traits that the leaders attribute. It is
important to analyze the impact of negative leadership on a company,
hence, this essay will play a vital role in discussing the characteristics of
negative leadership that affect the employees, environment within the
organization and the results that they get. Furthermore, they tend to create
a negative image of the leader and the company, lessens the sense of
motivation amongst the employees, leads to biased decisions at the hands
of the manager who is considered to be the leader, there is a lack of
collaborative environment and cooperation amongst the employees, and
most importantly the teams created are ineffective. These impacts will be
discussed in much greater detail throughout the essay, shedding light upon
how they create a hindrance in fetching positive results for an
organization.

2
Introduction

All studies on leadership attributes typically focus on the positive

characteristics of leaders, while the negative characteristics of leaders are
frequently ignored or receive less attention. Similarly, in practice, the
evaluation of leadership is done in terms of positive strengths and
characteristics. Usually, research on leadership focuses on the behaviors
and characteristics that make the leadership more constructive and
effective; little attention is paid to the ineffectiveness or
unconstructiveness of the leadership. However, there are certain
researchers who argue that it is important to analyze the dark side or the
negative styles of leadership as well, because it will provide a holistic
understanding of the ineffectiveness of the leadership and how it can
affect organizational performance. In addition to this, it will also help to
understand how the effectiveness of leadership can be improved by taking
certain steps that can reduce its ineffectiveness. As a result, it is necessary
to conduct a thorough examination of negative leadership and its
characteristics in order to improve the performance of both leadership and
the organization.

Negative Leadership Styles

The Autocratic Leadership style is considered to be one of the

most important negative leadership styles within an organization where
authoritarian leaders tend to influence others with their power. Such
leaders tend to make choices based upon their own ideas alone and do not
listen to their team or seek input from others. This leads often leads to
rigid and structured environments within the organization, where limited
creativity takes place. Micromanaging Leadership style is another very
important negative leadership style where the leader excessively directs

3
and controls employees to obtain immediate results. They are insistent
upon getting things done their way, hence, not trusting their employees
upon the performance of tasks. This approach hinders the growth of the
business and is harmful to both employees and managers. Furthermore,
Self-serving Leadership also has a negative impact on the dynamics of an
organization where the leaders are only concerned with building their
position and power. They tend to minimize and hold down others. Other
negative leadership styles may include Know-it-all Leadership, Absent
Leadership, Inflexible Leadership, and Leadership by Intimidation
(Limbare, 2012).

Impact of Negative Leadership Styles

A global leadership and behavior effectiveness project examines the

negative leadership characteristics that are considered impediments to
organizational performance, such as self-centeredness, loners,
inapproachable, egocentricity, ruthlessness, a-sociality, non-cooperation,
non-explicitness, and dictatorship (Vries, et al., 2010).

There is a common positive characteristic of the leaders that also

makes the performance of the organization much better: the ability to learn
from mistakes and to adopt. Also, the skills involved in leadership, such as
flexibility and decision-making, and a good ability to listen to others and
effective communication, are effective characteristics of leaders, but a
major reason for the failure of leaders is that they are unable to adapt to a
new task, a higher position, or a new environment (Vries, et al., 2010).

Some authors have also defined the following attributes of the leaders
that are considered negative like charisma of the leader, leader using the
personalized power, Narcissism, the life themes of the leaders are negative
or leaders possessing an ideology of hate (Muhammad Fiaz, et al., 2017).

4
 Negative leadership characteristics result in a toxic working
environment, segregation, and an unappealing workplace, which will not
inspire employees to work hard and improve the company's performance.
There is research from an Australian institute that shows that around 83%
of the employees they surveyed said that the leadership qualities of their
management were below average, and usually the leadership was ranked
negatively in strategic influence, communication, and the abilities to
oversee the performance of staff. This research outlined the impacts of
these attributes on the performance of staff (Limbare, 2012). Leaders are
considered as magnifying glasses because they oversee the mistakes and
weaknesses in the staff and then make decisions according to them and
improve the performance of the staff so that the mistakes can be
eliminated and the skills of the employees are used for the better
performance of the company. The decisions that are taken by the
leadership are criticized and scrutinized in the era of social media, and
they face public criticism. Millions of people are looking toward the
leaders to defend themselves and their actions. Today, the negative
attributes of leaders can destroy the performance of a company; they can
result in mass resignations of the employees, which will destroy the future
of the company as well. The dark side of leadership is often ignored, but
the negative impacts of this side have negative impacts on the
performance of the company as well. There are the multiple impacts that
negative leadership can have on the company like as below (Muhammad
Fiaz, et al., 2017).

Less Motivation

The integrity of the leader is a source of inspiration for the

employees. The employees look to the leaders for the motivation to work,
and if the leadership cannot provide this necessary motivation by showing
an integrity and personality that are towering, then the employees will not
be much motivated to work for the betterment of the company. Some

5
leaders have scandals that can tarnish their image as a leader in a
company, and the employees will not trust such leaders, and these leaders
will no longer inspire and motivate the employees to work for the
betterment of the company (Saleem, 2015). The ability of a leader to
inspire the employees is associated with the decisions that they make, how
they fulfil the obligations of their professional duties, and how they
interact with the staff. If the leadership does not communicate properly,
the staff members cannot approach the leader in a good way, and the
leadership does not perform its professional duties, then these negative
qualities of the leadership will no longer be inspiring for the employees,
and the leader will lose his or her legitimacy and credibility, which are
necessary qualities in a good company. The source of motivation that the
leader must provide for its employees will vanish (KebuGemeda, 2020).

The leadership must be aware of how to get the maximum benefit

from the employees by inspiring them, and for this inspiration, the leader
needs confidence, which comes from the decisions he makes as a leader.
Poor leadership by a leader will result in no motivation, and he will find it
difficult to inspire the employees. Similarly, the stakeholders and the
colleagues who work as business partners with this leader will also not get
motivated to work with this leader, and this will impact the performance
of the company on a larger scale (Limbare, 2012).

Negative Image

The influence of the leadership is a cornerstone of any

organization, and if a person is in leadership, that doesn't mean that other
people will follow him because for this, the leader needs to inspire, and to
inspire, the leadership has to have certain values and vision. If a leader has
a vision, then other people will recognize him as a leader and start
following him in an organization. The leader must inspire his employees
in order to confer status on them. Leadership uses different characteristics

6
such as charisma, ideas, strategies, and positions to convince others that
they have certain qualities for which other employees must follow them
(Vries, et al., 2010) but if the leadership does not possess any strong
values, confidence, or a vision as a whole, then this will lead to poor
leadership, and this negative side of leadership will no longer influence the
employees, and these employees will start following their boss in an
organization, which will impact the performance of the organization. If the
leader uses centralized power, then people will not be able to approach the
leader, and this will result in a hesitation on the part of employees to work
and invest their skills and time in an organization (Powl & Skitmore,
2005).This will lead to poor performance by the company, and hence, the
negative leadership impacts the company in a negative manner. The ideas
of the employees will also be rejected because a self-centered and self-
centered leader will ignore the ideas of others and just focus on his own
ideas and vision. A good leader considers the perspectives of others,
because there are entrepreneurial ideas from employees that a good leader
considers and transforms into good businesses. But the self-centered
leader does not let others out-maneuver him, and this will result in the
rejection of good business ventures in an organization and will impact the
partnership with other business partners as well (Muhammad Fiaz, et al.,
2017).

Biased decisions

The leader needs to be able to choose between difficult ideas and

circumstances, but if a leader does not possess these qualities and is
unable to choose between alternatives, this will result in losing the support
of stakeholders and impact the performance of the company. On the other
hand, positive leadership attributes are considered those in which the
leader has vision, can choose between different alternatives, and ensures
the decisions of stakeholders that this decision by a company will result in
a positive performance (Toor and Ofori, 2009). If the leadership does not

7
ensure the stakeholders, then the stakeholders will not be willing to work
with this company. Leadership must have the capability to promote
alignment, but if a leader does not possess such qualities and only focuses
on his personality and always worries about losing his reputation, he will
not be able to take certain decisions that are important in the long run for
the good performance of the company. A leader who does not possess the
qualities to choose in an unbiased manner between different employees for
a certain task will result in a negative performance for the company.

A leader must be unbiased, but the negative characteristic of a

leader is that he chooses not on the basis of performance but rather on his
personal reputation and trust among the employees, and this alienation of
people who deserve the better position will result in negative performance.
The team that chose based on their leader's personal interests rather than
performance will result in poor performance, and this poor performance
will create doubts in the market and among stakeholders. This poor
performance will lead to lots of lost business partners as well (Saleem,
2015).

Ineffective teams

Leaders need teams to go far, and leaders cannot do every task on

their own, so they need effective teams. However, the leader's self-
centeredness can be a barrier to building high-performance teams. The
important job of a leader is to create a team so that the ambitious results of
the company can be achieved. For this, the leadership has to have
management practices that can allow the leader to get the talent out of the
people and their efforts for the company so that positive contributions by
the team can result in achievement of the goals of the organization. The
leader has to provide support to the team members so that they can get the
most out of their talent for their companies, and that's why the motivation
and commitment of the leader are important. But the narcissism and the

8
self-centeredness of a leader can result in the creation of ineffective teams
(Schein, 1977). These teams are built according to the self-centeredness of
the leader rather than the performance of the people in a company. The
unprofessional teams will lead to unprofessional results, and these
unprofessional results will create a negative image of the organization in
the market, and this negative image will result in the loss of stakeholders
and business partners. Hence, the self-centeredness and the personalized
use of power by the leader result in the loss of employees, loss of
stakeholders, and loss of business partners (Sense, 2003). If a leader does
not possess these qualities to build an effective team, the weakness in the
team will result in poor performance for the company, and the
stakeholders will not be able to identify the positive influence of the
company in the market, and they will start losing interest in the company,
which will impact the performance and the future of the company as well.

Lack of Collaborative Environment

One of the most important positive characteristics of leadership is

the ability to foster collaboration but if a leader is self-centered, arrogant,
and demands a lot from the employees, he will not be able to create a
collaborative environment. The collaborative environment is important for
the cooperation within an organization. Teams that work to complete a
task require a collaborative environment, which is provided by the leader;
however, if this collaborative environment is missing, then less
cooperation in the team will result in poor company performance, which
will result in loss of profits, and as a result, stakeholders will lose interest
in this company. The arrogant behavior of the leader will make him
unapproachable to the employees. As previously stated, people look to the
leadership for support and motivation; however, if the leader is arrogant
and cold, he will not provide the necessary sources of motivation for
working in an environment. The negative vibes that are associated with the
leadership will not motivate the team to work for the company, and hence

9
it will lead to a loss of performance in a company (Muhammad Fiaz, et al.,
2017).

Employees in a company look to the leadership to give them a

vision and create meaning in any task that they are performing. Employees
want to feel important as employees in an organization, and leaders
provide this inspiration to the employees. If the leadership does not
maintain good relationships with the employees, the employees will not
perform for the company, resulting in a loss in the company's
performance. One of the leader's negative characteristics is that he
develops poor working relationships with his employees. The personal
defects in the personality of the leader lead to poor relations, and if the
leader is not supportive and demands much of the subordinates, they will
not act in a collaborative manner with the company. The leader must be
sensitive and must support the subordinates, but if these characteristics are
not present in a leader, this darker side of leadership will result in negative
performance from the staff (Vugt, et al., 2004).

Conclusion

To conclude, the positive attributes of the leadership are important

for the good performance of a company. Although the leader's over-
ambition is necessary at times, he must also create a supportive and
collaborative environment in the company. If this collaborative
environment is not provided to the subordinates and the leader is not
supportive either, then this over-ambition will lead to disaster and the
company will not be able to perform better in the market. If the leader has
over-ambitions and is insensitive to market conditions, he or she must
have certain other positive characteristics, such as the ability to maintain
good relationships with employees so that they can provide the best of
their talents to the company, resulting in good performance but if the
leader possesses all the negative attributes collectively, then it will result

10
in a disaster. If he does not maintain good relationships with his
employees and all stakeholders, the company will lose important
stakeholders. Stakeholders and business partners are important for any
company in a market, but if leadership is insensitive and does not support
the stakeholders and does not listen to their demands, it will result in the
loss of these key partners in the market.

Bibliography
Limbare, S., 2012. Leadership Styles & Conflict Management Styles of
Executives. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 48(1), pp. 172-180.

KebuGemeda, H., 2020. Leadership styles, work engagement and

outcomes among information and communications technology
professionals: A cross-national study. 6(4).

Muhammad Fiaz, Su, Q., Ikram, A. & Saqib, A., 2017. LEADERSHIP
STYLES AND EMPLOYEES’ MOTIVATION. The Journal of
Developing Areas, 51(4), pp. 143-156.

Powl, A. and Skitmore, M. (2005). Factors hindering the performance of

construction project managers. Construction Innovation, 5(1), pp.41–51.
doi:10.1108/14714170510815168.

Saleem, H., 2015. The Impact of Leadership Styles on Job Satisfaction

and Mediating Role of Perceived

Schein, V.E. (1977). Individual Power and Political Behaviors in

Organizations: An Inadequately Explored Reality. The Academy of
Management Review, 2(1), p.64. doi:10.2307/257607.

Sense, A.J. (2003). A model of the politics of project leader

learning. International Journal of Project Management, 21(2), pp.107–
114. doi:10.1016/s0263-7863(02)00018-2.

11
Toor, S. and Ofori, G. (2009). Authenticity and its influence on
psychological well‐being and contingent self‐esteem of leaders in
Singapore construction sector. Construction Management and Economics,
27(3), pp.299–313. doi:10.1080/01446190902729721.

Vries, R. E. d., Bakker-Pieper, A. & Oostenveld, W., 2010. Leadership =

Communication? The Relations of Leaders' Communication Styles with
Leadership Styles, Knowledge Sharing and Leadership Outcomes.
Journal of Business and Psychology, 25(3), pp. 367-380.

Vugt, M., Jepson, S. F., Hart, C. M. & Cremer, D. D., 2004. Autocratic
leadership in social dilemmas: A threat to group stability. Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology, 40(1), pp. 1-13.

12