Why Leaders Behave Badly

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2014 in the subject Psychology - Work, Business, Organisational and Economic Psychology, , language: English, abstract: In this paper, important works on leadership and psychology are reviewed. The literature review provides an overarching analysis of the psychology of leadership and has a focus on bad leadership. The paper follows by presenting an original psychological evaluation of two bad leaders, as defined by author Barbara Kellerman: Vincent Cianci Jr. and Mario Villanueva. The basis of this analysis is influenced by Sigmund Freud and his psycho-analytic works. The paper concludes with a discussion of why it is important to incorporate psychological factors into leadership studies and a call for future, similar research. The conclusion also highlights the benefits associated with the continued study of both bad leadership and bad followership.