Search

The New Zealand Army places significant value on the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) leadership framework and its value to commanders at all levels. However, at this time, command selection processes do not fully integrate the leadership framework through the evaluation of leadership competencies to ensure that the right leaders are selected for key command roles. This study will review the current New Zealand NZDF leadership framework and its use within career management processes leading to Battalion command selection. This will be compared to British Army and US Army doctrine, career management and command selection processes to determine if the NZ Army can enhance its current process for command selection at the Battalion level. The study identifies trends in leadership doctrine and key leadership criteria to identify the most effective methods for selecting leaders with the highest likelihood of success and lowest risk factors for toxic command climates. The study concludes by providing a series of recommendations for the New Zealand Army to consider for implementation into the career management and command selection processes to enhance the likelihood of selecting the best leaders for Battalion command roles.

peer-reviewed, The focus of this research was to explore school leadership in post-primary schools using an adapted Schmidt Toxic Leadership Scale ©, which the authors recalibrated to examine both constructive and destructive leadership, the impact on individuals professional and personal lives, and on staff morale. Using a mixed methods approach, data were collected from 111 teaching professionals via online survey. Findings indicated a notable emergence of toxic leadership experiences which is reported in this paper. In addition, participants reported various and concerning negative consequences including: decreased job satisfaction, professional agency, and staff morale; reduced performance; increased attrition; increased negative behaviours including incivility; stifled career development; reduced self-confidence; depression; stress and anxiety; fear; tearfulness; humiliation; anger; mistrust; exhaustion; burnout; health issues; migraines; weight gain; substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, as well as, negative consequences on personal/home life. The results indicate that the quality of leadership was perceived to influence the health of respondents and had a bearing on their occupational wellbeing. Further research is needed to understand the nature of toxic leadership in education and its effects on organisational members.

The New Zealand Army places significant value on the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) leadership framework and its value to commanders at all levels. However, at this time, command selection processes do not fully integrate the leadership framework through the evaluation of leadership competencies to ensure that the right leaders are selected for key command roles. This study will review the current New Zealand NZDF leadership framework and its use within career management processes leading to Battalion command selection. This will be compared to British Army and US Army doctrine, career management and command selection processes to determine if the NZ Army can enhance its current process for command selection at the Battalion level. The study identifies trends in leadership doctrine and key leadership criteria to identify the most effective methods for selecting leaders with the highest likelihood of success and lowest risk factors for toxic command climates. The study concludes by providing a series of recommendations for the New Zealand Army to consider for implementation into the career management and command selection processes to enhance the likelihood of selecting the best leaders for Battalion command roles.

While the Air Force espouses the values of integrity, service, and excellence, a startling amount of divergent behavior is still observed in both officer and enlisted personnel. Twenty-two Air Force field grade officers attending the Command and General Staff College in-residence participated in quantitative research that measured the relationship between leadership styles and destructive leadership behavior. Results showed field grade officers experienced more passive destructive leadership behavior (DLB) than active-DLB; transformational leadership appear to have a stronger negative relationship with DLB, while passive avoidant leadership had a positive relationship with DLB. These findings support additional research, which could be a useful tool at measuring unit climate or to optimize leadership curriculum.

The purpose of this project addresses gaps in the literature regarding the antecedents or causes of toxic leadership within a military context specifically within the United States Navy. It looks to determine if dark triad personality traits of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and/or psychopathy serve as possible antecedents of a United States Navy toxic leader. This project employs a qualitative approach, and specifically uses Robert Yin's comparative multiple-case study methodology (2018, 62). The three selected case studies that this thesis examined involved: 1) The removal of Captain Holly Graf from her command of the United States Ship Cowpens due to toxic behaviors (Thompson 2010; Slavin 2010). 2) The resignation of former Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Steven Giordano amid allegations of fostering a toxic workplace environment (Seck 2018; Faram 2018). 3) The suicide of Boatswain's Mate Seaman Yeshabel Villot-Carrasco onboard United States Ship, James E. Williams in June 2014 due to a toxic climate (Rockett 2014; Simmons 2014). The primary means to collect evidence involved documentation and archival records. The study's findings concluded that elements of dark triad traits were present in the case studies. Recommendations for future research are discussed.

Toxic leadership continues to plague the U.S. Army and other services, even though there are multiple publications written on leadership expectations. This thesis asks, if through the education at CGSOC, toxic leadership can be mitigated in the future Field Grade Officers. To do so this thesis uses the toxic triangle as a methodology to analyze a case study of a former Battalion Commander that was relieved of command after a 15-6 investigation deemed them a toxic leader and they created a negative command climate. This thesis makes two recommendations to help mitigate toxic leadership with education through CGSOC. First, a larger portion of the curriculum of CGSOC should focus on toxic leadership, the followers and environments that support it by integrating elements of the toxic triangle. Second, is to expand leadership doctrine to include a more in depth discussion on toxic leadership and how it effects organizations, to include examples. This thesis closes with a discussion on obstacles hindering the use of the toxic triangle in CGSOC.

The United States Army faces a future of a unique and complex operating environment transitioning counterinsurgency to larger-scale Unified Land Operations. Leaders must be equipped with every tool possible to ensure a healthy climate and high morale while developing leaders and its most indispensible asset—Soldiers. Leaders must understand how to stop counterproductive leadership at all levels. This thesis seeks to discover what tools are available to mitigate toxic leadership and how to implement them. Army leadership doctrine does not give clear guidance for leaders to know how to implement mitigation measures. As studies have shown these destructive leadership traits can negatively affect readiness, it is imperative the Army rids its formations of toxic leaders and equips them with leaders capable of mitigating toxicity.

The author uses a real-world example from the Australian army to demonstrate how toxic leadership actually enhanced, rather than undermined, organizational performance.

Statistics show that toxic and unethical leadership is a problem in the US Army and leadership research concludes that this problem has a negative effect on the conduct of mission command. This monograph asks what the US Army can do to better reduce toxic and unethical leadership and develop officers to optimize the force for mission command. To do so the monograph examines the leader development and evaluation systems and, based on findings from those examinations, makes two recommendations to improve the US Army's performance in selecting leaders. The first recommendation is to add additional accountability to the conduct of individual assessments within the Multi-Source Assessment and Feedback program, bringing the individual assessment in line with the Commander 360 assessment. The second recommendation is to use multi-rater feedback concerning the ability to conduct mission command from the Commander 360 as a component of selection for command. The monograph closes with a discussion of potential obstacles to implementation of the recommendations.

The U.S. Army continues to face toxic leadership despite an increase in the training on the subject in the last five years. Toxic Followership is an aspect that both the U.S. Army and the majority of civilian organizations overlook. In an attempt to determine what effect, if any, toxic followership has on leaders within the military, three case studies were analyzed. These case studies were the massacre at My Lai, prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, and the rape and murder of a family by soldiers of the Black Hearts Brigade. Common themes across the three case studies were then laid over a leadership model called the Toxic Triangle by Art Padilla. The research validates the Toxic Triangle model. The absence of the word followers within Army regulations, except to mention that every leader is a follower, severely undermines the impact that they can have on a leader. If this relationship is not clearly understood, and if steps are not taken to mitigate the negative effects toxic followership may have, it could lead to future atrocities similar to those of My Lai, Abu Ghraib, and within the Black Hearts Brigade.

Chaplains can play a unique role in mitigating negative and toxic leadership. Army Doctrine Publication 6-22 Leadership describes negative and toxic leadership as it undermines basic tenets of Mission Command. Such leadership thwarts mutual trust and team-building, mocking Army senior leadership's commitment to high standards of ethical conduct and professionalism. Properly aware, equipped and supported, chaplains can provide effective mitigation of negative and toxic leadership in their organizations. Army regulations directly inform chaplains' ability to act. Chaplains advise their commands about the personal impact of leadership practices. They are evaluated for their consultation and confrontation skills and risk-taking ability. Regulations not only authorize chaplains' mitigation of negative or toxic leadership, but expect it. But the Chaplaincy ought not to be drawn into conflict with Command. Chaplains are especially challenged when the negative leader is their immediate superior. Senior chaplains' intentional mentoring and supervision may yield positive proactive solutions.

Is there a gender component in toxic leadership? Existing conceptions of toxic leadership fail to account for gender. The real world significance of these conceptions is that female leaders labeled with the pejorative of being toxic leaders suffer unjustly. I argue that the concept of toxic leadership has an untheorized and neglected gender component. I problematize existing definitions of toxic leadership and theorize the possibility that female leaders are denominated as toxic leaders for merely exhibiting and practicing traditionally celebrated masculine traits. I demonstrate the plausibility of the thesis by examining the experience of a female U.S. Army Command Sergeant Major. This study has significant impact for senior leadership. The study looks at leadership styles that are favorable for female leaders and offers Transformational / Adaptive leadership as a style promising rehabilitative tools to combat toxic leadership.

The 2014 National Defense Authorization Act has directed the Department of Defense to reconsider the way the Army evaluates and selects leaders. This call for reform comes after repeated surveys from the Center for Army Leadership have suggested a widespread dissatisfaction with the current approach. Research in talent management shows that an effective performance appraisal system should promote and encourage the leadership attributes identified as most important to the organization. The Army leadership doctrine describes a philosophy of mission command based on mutual trust and decentralized initiative as the cornerstone of its leadership approach. To help inform this discussion, the research for this paper examined the current performance evaluation system to determine whether the evaluation system properly assesses and selects officers suited to exercise mission command. Assessing the evaluation system required a number of steps. First, it was necessary to understand the essential leader attributes required for the exercise of mission command and then consider methods for evaluating this behavior. The next step included a review of the history of the existing Army performance evaluation system and an analysis of how well this existing system conformed to the attributes of mission command. An examination of the body of research done by the Army into its existing performance evaluation model greatly aided assessment of the current system. Finally, it was necessary to investigate other methods of performance evaluation outside of the Army to determine if those methods could provide a better model. The research examined a variety of best practice models in private business and the public sector and identified alternative approaches to performance evaluation. Three alternative models were chosen for scrutiny because they demonstrated an ability to specifically identify and select for the leader attributes essential to mission command. The study found that the Army's