Why Do Some Leaders Abuse Their Power
Introduction:
There are many definitions of power.In social science it can be thought as the capacity to control or influence others by providing rewarding or administering punishment. When leaders in organizations abuse power, power will become evil or unjust.
In the last decades ,the pervasiveness of ethical lapses of corporate villains has been astounding such as Unethical CEO behaviour, white-collar crime, property deviance, employee grievances and lawsuits.In this essay I will mainly focus on analysing the causes of the toxic leaders' deviant behaviour, the consequences it will trigger and how should followers survive in the dilemma.
It is often heard that there is a series of organizational formula or principle in the corporation,or some other institutions.For instance,managers manage subordinates and serve owners, shareholders elect their representatives to the board of directors. Winners and losers are decided by free market. All the processes are trying to show that the corporation has its reasonable principles and make us believe that the corporation is accountable and efficient.Ironically,the truth of the matter will make us disappointed with the surface of the scandals related to the "prestigious"corporations. Indeed, managers have run the show. Shareholder meetings have been well prepared ceremonies. People who have served as directors on boards have usually been friends of the boss.Proxy votes have become rituals as the result has already been foreordained.(Ralph Estes ,1995,P32)What roles are these leaders playing in the organization on earth?
1. Why do some leaders abuse their power?
There are many factors interactively cause some leaders to abuse their power at risk of being guilty.There is a paradigm proposed by Stephen K.Henn in his book"Business Ethics" which is called "The fraud triangle" that can briefly explain the reason why people behave badly. Opportunity
Pressure
There are many definitions of power.In social science it can be thought as the capacity to control or influence others by providing rewarding or administering punishment. When leaders in organizations abuse power, power will become evil or unjust.
In the last decades ,the pervasiveness of ethical lapses of corporate villains has been astounding such as Unethical CEO behaviour, white-collar crime, property deviance, employee grievances and lawsuits.In this essay I will mainly focus on analysing the causes of the toxic leaders' deviant behaviour, the consequences it will trigger and how should followers survive in the dilemma.
It is often heard that there is a series of organizational formula or principle in the corporation,or some other institutions.For instance,managers manage subordinates and serve owners, shareholders elect their representatives to the board of directors. Winners and losers are decided by free market. All the processes are trying to show that the corporation has its reasonable principles and make us believe that the corporation is accountable and efficient.Ironically,the truth of the matter will make us disappointed with the surface of the scandals related to the "prestigious"corporations. Indeed, managers have run the show. Shareholder meetings have been well prepared ceremonies. People who have served as directors on boards have usually been friends of the boss.Proxy votes have become rituals as the result has already been foreordained.(Ralph Estes ,1995,P32)What roles are these leaders playing in the organization on earth?
1. Why do some leaders abuse their power?
There are many factors interactively cause some leaders to abuse their power at risk of being guilty.There is a paradigm proposed by Stephen K.Henn in his book"Business Ethics" which is called "The fraud triangle" that can briefly explain the reason why people behave badly. Opportunity
Pressure
References: 1.Kellerman, B. (2004).Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why it Matters. Retrieved March31 2010 from Harvard Business School www.hbsp.harvard.edu/ 2.Kimberly Alyn(2005).Top 10 signs of a bad supervisor.Retrieved April 2,2010,from www.Kimberly Alyn.com 3.Jean Lipman-Blumen(2005). The Allure of Toxic Leaders: Why Followers Rarely Escape Their Clutches. Retrieved April 2 2010, from www. iveybusinessjournal. com Website references: 1.http://www.enron.com 2.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_(philosophy)