There were six “dark-side” personality traits that were defined in our readings: argumentative, interpersonal insensitivity, narcissism, fear of failure, perfectionism, and impulsivity (Northouse, 2016). Unfortunately, it is not always possible to determine who possesses these personality traits while hiring because they are looked at to be negative, which is what people try to hide during interviews, and try to talk themselves up instead. But, if you are to do a personality test for a job on the computer, it may show some qualities that may indicate you have some of these traits, like extraversion and narcissism (Northouse, 2016). With each of these six dark-side personality traits, there can be pros and cons to them being possessed by leaders, especially narcissism. While their leadership skills may seem to be good for short-term, other studies have shown narcissism in leaders to be bad long-term for companies (Harms, Spain, & Hannah, 2011; Hartog, Hoogh, & Belschak, 2018).
We have all dealt with narcissism at one point or another in our lives. Freud even stated that we all have some narcissism in each of us, despite his original thoughts of narcissism (Maccoby, 2014). I believe this because sometimes I see it just when talking to people that I associate with. They brag about their accomplishments and try to out-do each other. A narcissistic person is one who is over-confident, may embellish on their achievements, is self-centered, and always boasts about their accomplishments. These types of people are attracted by other narcissistic persons who also like to “talk themselves up” to make themselves more favorable to their leaders (Hartog, Hoogh, & Belschak, 2018). We may wonder why they were hired by people but in reality, they are able to make themselves seem better than they really are, but overtime their true capabilities are shown (Harms, Spain, & Hannah, 2011). For example, a person may state that they had a huge part in accomplishing something, but they were really a follower instead. This can cause a person to be held to higher expectations and thus be unable to meet those expectations in the end when put to the test.
Pros to leaders who possess narcissism as a personality trait is that they push for better and bigger things and are willing to take risks that other people may not feel comfortable enough taking (Maccoby, 2014). This can lead to improvements in companies and new overall goals if they accomplish the task. Because of their desire to reach high goals, they may be able to influence or persuade others to follow in their guidance in order to meet goals, even if their visions may seem out of reach or unrealistic (Maccoby, 2014). However, that is their job, to influence others’ actions to reach goals. An example of this is meeting highest scores on Pres Ganey or HCAPS surveys for a hospital that is usually in the lowest rankings. This is usually unlikely as it is hard to raise these scores from lower ends to highest in the region. These types of leaders are also good in crisis (Nevicka, et. al., 2018).
Cons to leaders with a narcissistic personality include them using others for their personal gain through egoistic power (Clemmets & Washbush, 1999). The leader may do this by using his/her followers in order to get ahead or take credit for something. Because of their personalities of being arrogant, impulsive, and not thankful of their followers and team members, they are not always liked in the long-run (Harms, Spain, & Hannah, 2011). Due to this, there may be tensions and reluctance to work for this leader. Another con that can come out of a leader being narcissistic is that he/she may underestimate their followers and overestimate their capabilities, which can lead to detrimental losses to a company if goals are not met (Hartog, Hoogh, & Belschak, 2018). A person who may have more experience or knowledge about a task or goal may be silenced by a narcissistic leader who is unwilling to listen to others’ ideas.
While most people would not necessarily want to work for someone who is narcissistic, it has been shown in some studies that only people who have low self-esteem were negatively affected by these leaders (Nevicka, et. al., 2018). There are both pros and cons to having a narcissistic leader in charge of a group of people. As we have also learned in our readings, some situations call for different leaders, so sometimes it may be valuable to have a narcissistic leader in charge to reach a certain goal but not in other times.
References
Clemmets, C., & Washbush, J. (1999). Two Faces of Leadership. Retrieved September 10, 2018,
from https://www.scribd.com/document/281310254/Two-Faces-of-Leadership
Harms, P., Spain, S., & Hannah, S. (2011). Leader development and the dark side of personality. Retrieved September 10, 2018, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/files/attachments/157670/leader-development-and-dark-side-personality.pdf
Hartog, D., Hoogh, A., & Belschak, F. (2018, June 27). Toot Your Own Horn? Leader Narcissism and the Effectiveness of Employee Self-Promotion. Retrieved September 10, 2018, from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0149206318785240
Maccoby, M. (2014, August 01). Narcissistic Leaders: The Incredible Pros, the Inevitable Cons. Retrieved September 10, 2018, from https://hbr.org/2004/01/narcissistic-leaders-the-incredible-pros-the-inevitable-cons
Nevicka, B., De Hoogh, A., Hartog, D., & Belschak, F. (2018, March 14). Narcissistic Leaders and Their Victims: Followers Low on Self-Esteem and Low on Core Self-Evaluations Suffer Most. Retrieved September 10, 2018, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00422/full
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. Los Angeles, Calif.: SAGE.