Avi Srivastava, Applied Sciences, 22F
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has long been able to comprehensively document the consequences of affective interactive traits like egocentricity and consistent manipulation that drive psychopaths within interpersonal relationships. However, in a recent trend, Anti-Social Personality Disorder (ASPD), has garnered an increasing presence in the corporate world, generating a need for novel behavioral studies on its role in the context of business (Boddy, 2005).
Corporate Psychopaths are defined as pathological liars that don’t possess the ability to empathize with others in the workplace (Boddy, 2011). Because they perceive the world exclusively through a utilitarian lens, they also consider their ASPD tendencies to be gifts (Boddy, 2009). The public consensus seems to be that they’re right—at least within the confines of the office.
Mastering the art of putting on a charming facade to make the next promotion, psychopaths use callous manipulation to climb the corporate hierarchy. Ultimately, though, this affects both the immediate environment of the business organization and its overall ability to impact the world (Maftei, et. al., 2022). ASPD traits tend to guide workplace decisions that eventually make their way into company policies, and they frequently disrupt relationships amongst coworkers (Hays A., 2022). As much as contemporary media portrays psychopaths as effortlessly charming, composed individuals, they’re also identified in studies as the people who cause the most unrest. Their calculated misbehavior creates office bouts, and narcissistic tendencies pose a significant threat to corporate social responsibility (Boddy 2005).
Yet despite these glaring issues, corporate psychopaths go masked because their ideals generally align with that of their companies—aspirations of power, money, and status (Babiak et. al, 2012). Businesses today don’t screen for ASPD; in fact, they implicitly encourage it. Recent academic consensus doesn’t demonstrate that it helps.
Unaffected by the emotional costs of their doings, people harboring traits associated with ASPD tend to be the most rational workplace performers only with the caveat that they’ll ultimately put their benefits before their place of employment. When in power initially, they seem to have both the insights and the courage to make decisions that maximize company performance. Long term, however, many organizations observe problems with consistency. In addition, the development of a productive company culture is generally disrupted (Clarke, 2009). Therefore, though their lack of business morals makes psychopaths attractive candidates for positions of power, it also eventually leads to inferior business performance in the long-term (Boddy, 2017). Interpersonal intelligence, rather, seems to be a prerequisite for maintaining managerial power.
Other studies confirm that emphatic leadership is the most effective kind.
Image credit: Gentry et al. (2020)
In a sample of 6,731 leaders, Gentry et al. (2020) found that in virtually all parts of the world, emphatic emotion is associated with better organizational performance. The correlation, although always positive, varies across cultures depending on its general power-distance—the degree to which citizens agree that power should be concentrated at the top (Figure 1). The vast majority of the human population today lives in countries with relatively high power-distance (World Population Review, 2022). Nations with high power-distance also tend to believe that leaders serve to maintain harmony and social order, which means emphatic emotion is a crucial part of effective management for most people in the workplace.
In addition to average employee performance, the impact of leaders that listen and try to understand on office culture seems to be overwhelmingly net positive (Raina R., 2021). Employees demonstrate an increased tendency to trust their leaders and bond with coworkers, along with improved and more timely communication within teams and reports of higher levels of general well-being. All these factors are strongly associated with employee retention, monetary growth at all timespans, and proclivity to employing stronger talent in the future (Ashraf T. S., 2020).
We still have a long way to go in understanding how hallmark traits of personality disorders and their interaction with the corporate environment can help us create more effective hierarchies, but adopting a more emphatic approach to management looks like a great place to start.
References
Ashraf, T. & Siddiqui, D. A. (2020). The Impact of Employee Engagement on Employee Retention: The Role of Psychological Capital, Control at Work, General Well-Being, and Job Satisfaction. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3683155
Babiak, P., O’Toole, M. E. (2012). The Corporate Psychopath. U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/the-corporate-psychopath
Boddy, C. R. (2005). The Implications of Corporate Psychopaths for Business and Society: An Initial Examination and a Call to Arms. Australasian Journal of Business and Behavioural Sciences, 1(2), 30-40.
Boddy, C. R. (2009). Corporate Psychopaths in Australian Workplaces: Their Influence on Organisational Outcomes (Doctoral thesis, Curtin University). https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2594
Boddy, C. R. (2011). Corporate Psychopaths. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230307551
Boddy, C. R. (2017). The Influence of Corporate Psychopaths on Employees, Workplaces and Society (Doctoral thesis, Middlesex University). https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/id/eprint/21245
Choi, Y. (2020). Corporate Psychopathy and Internet Video Game Addiction in the Workplace. International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations, 12(3), 18-36. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJGCMS.2020070102
Clarke, J. (2009). Working with Monsters: How to Identify and Protect Yourself from the Workplace Psychopath. Random House Australia.
Gentry A. W., Weber J. T., Sadri G. (2020). Empathy In The Workplace – A Tool For Effective Leadership. Center for Creative Leadership. https://cclinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/empathyintheworkplace.pdf
Hays, A. (2022). Executive Coaching for Corporate Psychopathy (Doctoral dissertation, Widener University). https://www.proquest.com/docview/2655564386
Maftei, A., Holman, A.-C., & Elenescu, A.-G. (2022). The Dark Web of Machiavellianism and Psychopathy: Moral Disengagement in IT Organizations. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 18(2), 181-192. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.4011
Rardin, E. A. (2017). Corporate Psychopaths and their Proclivity for Infiltrating Organizations (Doctoral thesis, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville). https://www.proquest.com/docview/1925592797
Raina, R. (2022). Moving Crisis to Opportunities: A Corporate Perspective on the Impact of Compassionate Empathic Behaviour on the Well-Being of Employees. International Journal of Global Business and Competitiveness 17, 239-255. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42943-021-00040-w
World Population Review (2022). High Power Distance Countries 2022. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/high-power-distance-countries