Bridging the Dark and Bright Sides of Leadership

Leaders can be positive and influential, motivating people in the organization to perform at their best. Leaders can also be controlling and abusive, using their elevated status as a way to misuse power. These different leadership styles can have relative effects on the individuals that report to the leader as well as to the organization as a whole. In this symposium, we will discuss this apparent dichotomy of leader behavior by examining the mechanisms through which the differences in bright and dark leadership might be explained. Our panelists will consider the following topics: whether leader ethics can enhance positive ethical behavior instead of simply avoiding negative ethical behavior; well-intentioned leaders behaving badly; leaders creating an environment of psychological safety meant to encourage employee voice versus leader overconfidence driven by power and control; the likelihood of authoritarian versus democratic leadership style as a result of group size; and the competing goals of autonomy...