Toxic Organizational Cultures and Leadership : How to Build and Sustain a Healthy Workplace

Toxic organizational cultures and leadership have led to major reputational failures, with the greatest impact felt by the people who dedicate their careers to working for these organizations. And yet organizations do not become toxic overnight. They do not consciously set out to break rules and regulations, nor do they actively seek wrongdoing. This book defines toxic culture, explains how toxic cultures emerge over time, and provides practical approaches supported by in-depth research for overcoming a toxic culture at the individual, team, and organizational level. Pragmatic and applicable, the book provides a call to action that can be applied in any type of organization. While the role of leadership in toxic cultures is acknowledged, the book sets out four distinct stages to embedding toxic cultures and draws on examples from leading organizations and companies to illustrate each stage. The book then identifies interventions and levers that can be implemented by executives, boards, and HR practitioners to prevent toxicity and to change toxic cultures back to healthy, positive workplaces. Drawing on research and interviews with senior HR leaders and executives, the book provides An understanding of the four stages of toxic cultures and the impact of performance pressures in driving toxicity An appreciation of the role of senior leadership and personality traits Practical tools and guidance on interventions for practitioners to build and sustain a healthy and positive workplace Senior executives, HR, and organizational development practitioners in local and global organizations spanning a range of industry sectors will find this book invaluable. The book is also highly relevant to consultants working in the field of corporate culture and change. This book defines toxic culture, explains how toxic cultures emerge over time, and provides practical approaches supported by in-depth research for overcoming a toxic culture at the individual, team, and organizational level. Cover 1 Half Title 4 Title Page 6 Copyright Page 7 Dedication 8 Table of Contents 10 List of Illustrations 14 Acknowledgements 16 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations 18 Introduction 20 Part I: The Four Stages of Toxicity 30 1 Why Culture Matters 31 1.1 Introduction 31 1.2 Culture and Leadership 33 1.3 Toxic Cultures 36 1.3.1 Toxic Origins – A Word 38 1.4 Positive Cultures: The Opposite of Toxic Cultures? 42 1.4.1 Corporate Culture and Change 45 1.4.2 Culture Levers 47 1.5 Culture and Corporateness 50 1.5.1 Toxic Organizational Norms 53 2 The First Driver of Toxic Culture – The Normalization of Deviance 59 2.1 Normalization of Deviance 60 2.2 What Is Meant by the Normalization of Deviance? 61 2.3 What Parallels Can We Draw for Business? 64 2.4 What Was the Normalization of Deviance for RBS? 66 2.5 The Reinforcement of Success Leads to the Normalization of Deviance 67 2.6 The Slippery-Slope Effect 69 3 The Second Driver of Toxic Culture – Cognitive Dissonance 73 3.1 Introduction 73 3.2 Defining Cognitive Dissonance 73 3.3 The Case of the Volkswagen Carbon Emissions Scandal 74 3.4 Linking Image, Vision, and Culture: Corporate Reputations 79 3.4.1 Culture, Image, and Identity 81 3.5 Carillion – A Case Study 86 3.5.1 Cognitive Dissonance 88 3.5.2 Normalization of Deviance 89 3.5.3 Toxicity Spreads 91 3.5.4 The Lessons of Carillion 92 4 The Four Stages of a Toxic Culture 96 4.1 Introduction 96 4.2 Performance Pressures 96 4.2.1 Performance Pressures at Boeing 97 4.3 Triggers of Toxicity 101 4.4 Stages of Toxicity 103 4.4.1 Stage 1: Performance Pressure Leading to a Bold New Vision 103 4.4.1.1 Performance Pressures 104 4.4.1.2 Toxic Behaviours by Senior Leaders Become Tolerated 105 4.4.2 Stage 1 and the Normalization of Deviance 106 4.4.3 Stage 2: Demand for Loyalty and Alignment 106 4.4.4 Stage 3: Reverence from External Stakeholders 114 4.4.5 Stage 4: Cult of Singularity 116 4.5 Summary 126 Part II: The Toxic Triangle 132 5 Toxic Leadership 134 5.1 Introduction and Context 134 5.2 Approaches to Leadership: The Three Camps 135 5.2.1 Defining Toxic Leadership 136 5.2.2 The Impact of Toxic Leadership 139 5.3 Dysfunctional Behaviour in the Workplace 142 5.3.1 Measuring the Dark Side of Leadership 143 5.3.2 Bullying in Leadership 143 5.3.3 Bullying Tactics 146 5.4 The Dark Triad 148 5.4.1 Machiavellian Leadership 150 5.4.2 Narcissistic Leadership 151 5.4.3 Psychopathic Leadership or the Corporate Psychopath 152 5.5 Toxic Leadership in the Workplace 159 5.5.1 Abuse of Power 159 5.5.2 Unrealistic Demands 159 5.5.3 Demand for Perfection 160 5.5.4 Control, Control, Control 160 5.5.5 Them versus Us 160 5.5.6 Enticing You In 161 5.5.7 Divide and Rule 161 5.5.8 Threats 161 5.5.9 Selling a Vision 161 5.5.10 Requirement of Unquestionable Loyalty and Devotion 162 5.6 Is the Poison in the Person or in the Bottle? 164 5.7 Summary 164 6 Susceptible Followers 170 6.1 Introduction 170 6.2 Leadership and Followership 170 6.3 Expectations of Followership 172 6.4 Followership and Toxic Leadership 173 6.5 Followership in Toxic Cultures 175 6.6 Susceptible Followers 176 6.7 Positive and Negative Followers 179 6.7.1 Narcissistic Followers 181 6.7.2 Machiavellian Followers 181 6.7.3 Psychopathic Followers 182 6.8 Toxic Followers Working for Toxic Leaders 183 6.8.1 Other Types of Followers 184 6.8.1.1 The Quiet Resistance 184 6.8.1.2 The Survivor 185 6.9 Summary 186 7 Conducive Environments 190 7.1 Introduction 190 7.1.1 Instability 190 7.1.2 Perceived Threats 192 7.1.3 Favouritism 192 7.1.4 Absence of Checks and Balances 193 7.2 Cultural Values 195 7.3 Measuring a Conducive Environment 197 7.4 The Pressure of Performance on Individual Behaviour 197 7.5 Performance Management Systems 200 7.6 The Negative Consequences of Performance Management Systems 203 7.7 Bullying 204 7.8 Rewarding Toxic Behaviours 208 7.9 The Impact of Harassment and Bullying 209 7.10 The Impact of Harmful Behaviour on Corporate Reputation 210 7.11 Summary 211 Part III: How to Build and Sustain a Healthy Workplace Culture 214 8 How to Build and Sustain a Healthy Workplace Culture 216 8.1 Introduction 216 8.1.1 Defining a Healthy Workplace Culture 216 8.1.1.1 Extreme Collectivist Cultures 217 8.1.1.2 Extreme Individualistic Cultures 218 8.2 Realign Corporate Values and Measure Engagement, Inclusion, and Respect 218 8.2.1 Values 221 8.2.2 Consensus on Values 221 8.2.3 Measure Values 224 8.2.4 Drivers of Employee Engagement 224 8.2.5 Measure Engagement . . . and Disengagement 228 8.2.6 Measuring Disengagement 228 8.3 Enable Psychological Safety and Support Employees to Speak Up 232 8.3.1 From Evaluating to Coaching 233 8.3.2 Multidirectional Feedback 234 8.3.3 Speaking Up 235 8.4 Strengthen and Enable Leadership to Act as Role Models 235 8.4.1 Train, Promote, and Develop Leadership Capability 236 8.5 Promote and Align HR Policies and Processes 239 8.5.1 Embedding Values Through HR Policies and Processes 240 8.6 Elevate Well-being 243 8.6.1 Flexible Working Arrangements 244 8.6.2 Create a Sense of Community 245 8.6.3 The Business of Well-being 246 8.6.4 Elevate Well-being Questions Using the 5-Point Likert Scale 247 8.7 Call Out Toxic Behaviours 248 8.8 Transform Career Development and Learning Through the Growth Mindset 250 8.8.1 Career Management at the World Bank Group 251 8.8.2 Talent Marketplace 256 8.8.3 Questions to Test Career and Talent Engagement Using the 5-Point Likert Scale 256 9 A Framework for Action 260 9.1 Introduction 260 9.2 Framework for Action 260 Conclusion 267 Index 274 Toxicity;,Culture;,Leadership;,Deviance;,Cognitive,Dissonance;,Toxic,Leadership;,Susceptible,Followers;,Conducive,Environments;,Healthy,Workplace,Culture Toxicity,Culture,Leadership,Deviance,Cognitive Dissonance,Toxic Leadership,Susceptible Followers,Conducive Environments,Healthy Workplace Culture "Toxic organisational cultures and leadership have led to major reputational failures, with the greatest impact felt by the people who dedicate their careers to working for these organisations. And yet organizations do not become toxic overnight. They do not consciously set out to break rules and regulations, nor do they actively seek wrongdoing. This book defines toxic culture, explains how toxic cultures emerge over time, and provides practical approaches supported by in-depth research for overcoming a toxic culture at the individual, team, and organizational level. Pragmatic and applicable, the book provides a call to action that can be applied in any type of organization. Whilst the role of leadership in toxic cultures is acknowledged, the book sets out four distinct stages to embedding toxic cultures and draws on examples from leading organizations and companies to illustrate each stage. The book then identifies interventions and levers that can be implemented by executives, boards, and HR practitioners to prevent toxicity and to change toxic cultures back to healthy, positive workplaces. Drawing on research and interviews with senior HR leaders and executives, the book provides: - An understanding of the four stages of toxic cultures and the impact of performance pressures in driving toxicity - An appreciation of the role of senior leadership and personality traits - Practical tools and guidance on interventions for practitioners to build and sustain a healthy and positive workplace Senior executives, HR and organisational development practitioners in local and global organisations spanning a range of industry sectors will find this book invaluable. The book is also highly relevant to consultants working in the field of corporate culture and change"-- Provided by publisher