Chapter 15 – The Dark Side of Leadership
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Part 4: Focus on the Situation
Chapter 15: The Dark Side of Leadership
Leader
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Chapter 15 Outline
The Dark Side of Leadership
Introduction
Destructive Leadership
Managerial Incompetence
Summary
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Key Learning Points
Introduction
Leadership plays such a pervasive part in our lives that it is easy to overlook its impact on our day–
Destructive Leadership
One way to evaluate leadership effectiveness is to look at a person’s ability to build teams and get
Managerial Incompetence
The chapter begins with a strong assertion that “leadership is the most important topic in the world
today.” In fact, a great deal of cumulative experience, research, and information supports this
assertion. However, even though this assertion may be true, the base rate of managerial
Managerial Derailment
The Six Root Causes of Managerial Incompetence and Derailment
Clearly a failure to achieve business objectives, an inability to build a team, or an inability to adapt
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some do not value building teams or getting results, and others are such poor followers that they are
fired from their leadership positions. This section of Chapter 15 describes six root causes of
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Brief Definitions of the Key Terms for Chapter 15
Destructive leadership: When leaders with strong team-building skills use them to achieve
greedy and/or selfish ends.
Managerial Incompetence: A person’s inability to build teams or get results through others.
Managerial derailment: A term used to describe leaders who have or are about to fail.
Competent managers: Managers good at building teams and getting results through others.
Taskmasters: Managers good at achieving results, but with poor team-building skills.
Programs for promotions initiatives: Programs that are launched to project an image of success
and garner a lot of attention but that have no real chance of success.
Cheerleaders: People-centered managers who get along with everyone.
Episodic managerial incompetence: Incompetence that occurs when people in positions of
authority are put in extremely tough situational or follower events that temporarily interfere with
their ability to build teams and get results. All leaders face episodic incompetence at some time.
Chronic managerial incompetence: Incompetence that occurs when a leader’s ability to perform
as a leader (ability to build teams or get results) is permanently disrupted by taxing situational or
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Chapter 15 – The Dark Side of Leadership
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Overview of the Learning Resources for Chapter 15
Exercise 15-1: Estimating the Base Rate of Managerial Incompetence. Students ask three people how
Exercise 15-2: The Hogan Development Survey. Provides information on how students can take and
receive feedback on a dark-side measure of personality.
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Sample Lesson Plans for Chapter 15
Lesson 1: 60 minutes
Pre-work: Assign students to watch one of the appropriate reality shows (The Apprentice,
Survivor, and The Amazing Race).
Lesson Plan:
• Start the class by having students break into small groups. Have each group elect a
Lesson 2: 60 minutes
Pre-work: Exercise 15-2: The Hogan Development Survey (Be aware that there is a charge to
the school for this survey). Ask students to complete the survey.
Lesson Plan:
• Spend the first 20 minutes debriefing class results and impressions of the survey.
Lesson 3: 60 minutes
Pre-work: Assign students to watch an episode of Seinfeld.
Lesson Plan:
• Spend the first 10 minutes having students identify specific dark-side personality traits
Chapter 15 – The Dark Side of Leadership
Chapter 15 Exercises & Instructions
Exercise 15-1
Title: Estimating the Base Rate of Managerial Incompetence
Purpose: To help students understand the percentage of people in positions of authority who are
ineffective or incompetent. This exercise will also help students get familiar with dark-side personality
traits.
Summary: Ask students to identify three people they could ask several short questions about leadership.
The three people to be questioned should have at least ten years of working experience. The three
questions to be asked are:
• How many leaders have you worked for in the past (this can be formal leaders, coaches, etc.)?
15–10
Exercise 15-2
Exercise Title: The Hogan Development Survey
Purpose: To provide students with personal feedback on the eleven dark-side personality traits related to
managerial derailment.
Summary: The Hogan Development Survey (HDS) is a 168 item, online survey that provides normative
feedback on the eleven dark-side personality traits. These eleven traits tend to come out under stress,
1. The name and e-mail address of the instructor (electronic copies of the feedback reports will be
sent to the instructor unless designated otherwise).
2. The name of the institution and the class.
The HDS Interpretive report costs $35.00 per participant. Instructors/institutions will be billed the week
after the reports are delivered to the instructor.