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Toxic Leadership in the Military

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Abstract

Toxic leadership has become a label attribute to many forms of poor or negative leadership. Using available literature and through consultation with practitioners in this discipline, Lt Col. Dagless examines the term’s origins and development, and seeks to draw out the subtleties of toxic leadership through analysis of the leader, the environment and the follower. The author then analyses why the military is particularly susceptible to leaders that are considered to be toxic. In doing so, he identifies institutional and structural flaws that allow toxic leaders to exploit the military’s unique leader, environment, and follower construct to enhance their own position. On reviewing current policy and procedure this chapter concludes that the introduction of 360-degree assessments would aid in the development of the military’s leaders at every rank, but it is only a tool and not a solution. Finally, the chapter concludes that there is currently a perception within the military that there is a problem with toxic leadership, and that this can only be addressed by sustained engagement by the military’s own senior leadership.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, Swindon, UK

    J.W. Dagless

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  1. J.W. Dagless
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. St George’s, University of London, London, United Kingdom

    Peter Garrard

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Dagless, J. (2018). Toxic Leadership in the Military. In: Garrard, P. (eds) The Leadership Hubris Epidemic. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57255-0_5

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