Antecedents and Consequences of Toxic Leadership in the U. S. Army: A Two Year Review and Recommended Solutions

摘要

This report supplements the main survey findings CAL Technical Report 2011-1, and provides in-depth analysis on the issue of toxic leadership. This research is the first that is based on a representative sample and highlights the prevalence, severity, and correlates/consequences of toxic leadership in the U.S. Army. This report provides a common framework, explains the importance of the subject, presents potential solutions and highlights 2 years of CASAL data and other recently collected data in both the Army and open literature. Estimates from the data suggest that about 1 in 5 subordinates view their leader negatively, and most believe that they have interacted with toxic leaders, and that the problem is severe. Toxic behaviors include: micromanaging, being mean-spirited/aggressive, rigidity and poor decision-making, and having a poor attitude and setting a bad example. Toxic leadership was associated weakly with unit wasting time on unproductive tasks, expected unit performance, mission accomplishment, and career intention; moderately with penalizing honest mistakes, lack of frank discussions, unwillingness to implement good ideas from subordinates, discouraging creativity, solving problems at the surface level, and individual and unit morale; and strongly with lack of ethics, putting own needs ahead of unit, and lack of subordinate confidence to follow in life-or- death situations.