Question

What are "dark" side personality traits? Why do we as leaders care about them? How, when and why do they become visible in leaders?

Answer 1

There is a Dark Triad or the dark side personality traits in the organisation which affect the working conditions and atmosphere of the organisation at large. This dark triad consists ot narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism. Narcissism is having the personality trait of being arrogant, selfish and self boasting person who only consider himself important. Machiavellianism are the people who arw manipulative, lacking both emotional and morality and also having self interest which is for the negative side. At last, Psychopathy is the personality trait which is associated with antisocial behaviour, lack of remorse or empathy or being volatile or manipulative in the organisation or through the work culture and jobs.

As a leader we care about all these factors because these dark traits and personalities not only affect the individual self but also creates a very negative and unhealthy organisational work environment. People become egoistic, lacks team work, become greedy and arrogant and also develop negative judgements and behaviour towards other people. This affects the working culture, motivational culture and also the productivity of the people in one sense. Also, the goodwill is also affected because of these personality traits where people would regard the company as a bad company and won't join it for working.

These traits become visible to the leaders when they see these characteristics and behavioura being physically present in people around causing damage and creating toxic environment around. People can visibly see these features by seeing some people manipulating others, or getting greedy, or are too self ambititious or are not sharing a team spirit with other people in the organisation. Many personality related tests, seminars and feedbacks are also recorded by the employees to give their answers regarding what they feel about lying, manipulation or flattery in the organisation to recieve more data.