Organisational sociopaths: rarely challenged, often promoted. Why?

Author(s): Richard J. Pech, Bret W. Slade
Journal: Society and Business Review
Year: 2007 Volume: 2 Issue:3 Page: 254-269

Purpose – Organisations sometimes select and promote the wrong individuals for managerial positions. These individuals may be incompetent, they may be manipulators and bullies. They are not the best people for the job and yet not only are they selected for positions of authority and responsibility, they are sometimes promoted repeatedly until their kind populate the highest levels of the organisational hierarchy. The purpose of this paper is to address this phenomenon by attempting to explain why it occurs and why organisational members tolerate such destructive practices. It concludes by proposing a cultural strategy to protect the organisation and its stakeholders from the ambitious machinations of the organisational sociopath.

...Research has identified numerous causes and explanations for managerial bullying, deceit, manipulation, and greed. This includes the existence of psychological traits such as narcissism, where managers misuse the organisation as a vehicle for furthering their own goals at the organisation's expense, using tactics such as manipulation and exploitation (Lasch, 1979). When such bullying behaviours occur without remorse, or goals of self gratification are pursued without consideration for the well-being of others, they can be termed as sociopathic behaviours. Surprisingly, and in apparent contradiction to every rational management principle, Kets de Vries (2003) points out that sociopathic managers often rise rapidly through the organisational ranks into positions of increasingly greater power.

Poor managerial performance has been explained with concepts such as the Peter Principle, where people are promoted one or more levels beyond their optimum level of competence (Peter and Hull, 1969). Performance shortfalls may be hidden by using bullying tactics. McGregor's (1960) Theory X and Y suggests that a manager's views of others may influence the manner in which people are managed. A negative view (Theory X) could mould a managerial style focusing on lower-order behaviours and thereby result in an overly authoritarian and task-centred management style. The job may still be accomplished but the method may unnecessarily antagonise intelligent, experienced, and qualified staff...

...These only represent a few explanations for poor performance and managerial shortcomings. Unnecessary and preventable poor managerial decisions continue to be made every day, and this may be because the wrong people are promoted into positions of authority and responsibility. Employees and stakeholders suffer because of the twisted machinations or greed of a few (Pech and Durden, 2004). Rather than filtering out such individuals and their destructive tendencies, Giblin (1981) suggests that the culture in the modern organisation actually rewards and reinforces such behaviours...

Davison and Neale (1998) define such behaviour as anti social, demonstrated through superficial displays of charm, habitual lying, no regard for others, no remorse, no shame, taking no responsibility for mistakes and no evidence of learning from either making mistakes or from punishment meted out for making mistakes (except to become more cunning in future, to avoid getting caught). The real dangers for the organisation reside at two levels. The first is the nature of the damage done to well-intended and performing individuals by sociopathic managers, and the second is the reinforcement and replication of these behaviours throughout the organisation by way of memetic contagion...

Unfortunately, the narcissists, the greedy, the pretenders, and those with a high need for power do covet higher managerial positions, largely to satisfy their power needs. They will either attempt to acquire power by conforming to the demands of the organisation's rituals and routines or they will attempt to gain power through illegitimate means. Both approaches provide pathways for achieving the individual's nefarious ambitions. Criteria for selecting a particular pathway will be dependent on the ambitious individual's values, determination, personality, and ability. The nature of the rituals and routines will also influence or impact on the decision criteria. The ambitious individual may not be prepared to leave promotion or career decisions in the hands of others, perhaps he or she is not capable of meeting expected performance standards, perhaps they fear the competition, or they may be driven to acquire power by any means. Such individuals may be driven to monopolise the organisational machinery and its rituals and routines to achieve need fulfilment and power ambitions. Employees who are not similarly motivated will have little chance or will find fewer opportunities for promotion when competing against the ambitious narcissists, the greedy, the pretenders, and those with a high need for power...

Can the sociopath be identified and stopped before it is too late? Probably not. According to Cleckley (1976) there are some overt signs that separate the sociopath from the rest. These include poverty of emotions, both positive and negative. They have no sense of shame and any emotions for others are often an act. They can be superficially charming but will manipulate for personal gain. They may not be motivated by money but rather through impulsive thoughts that fulfil their excessive need for thrills. Hare et al. (1990) devised a dual checklist that identifies clusters headed under “emotional detachment” and “impulsivity and irresponsibility”. The former can often be recognised through their inflated self-esteem and exploitation of others, while the latter may be marked by alcohol or drug abuse. Unfortunately, such symptoms may not become evident until the sociopath is already rising up the corporate ladder, and to some extent, almost everyone can be accused of displaying some of these symptoms some of the time. The organisational sociopath may also not display the extremes of pathological behaviours that are normally associated with the criminal psychopath and sociopath.

Short of forcing every managerial aspirant to take a battery of psychological assessments, pathological, predatory, or anti-social personalities may be difficult to identify and eliminate from the list of managerial contenders. Displaying behaviours oozing with wit, charm, audacity, and enthusiasm, they may stand out in the interview more for their attractive personal qualities than for their underlying destructive behaviours, which remain carefully concealed. While organisations must continue to employ a variety of sophisticated recruitment, selection, and promotion criteria and filters to ensure that the best people are selected and promoted, protection against exploitation by sociopaths requires much more. Giblin (1981) suggests that organisations be simplified, in other words, accountability must be increased, transparency must be improved, and performance must be quantifiable and appropriately rewarded. Even these measures may not deter the motivated sociopath...

...The organisation must examine its culture to identify the messages that are being transmitted. It must examine the complexity of its structure and procedures, and it must examine its recruitment, reward, and promotion policies to protect itself and its stakeholders against the destructive ambitions of the corporate sociopath.