Identifying the Corporate Psychopaths - Term Paper Example

? PSYCHOPATHY Case study on ‘Bad Bosses: the psychopath to success’ ………………………….. College ……………………………… ……………….. Introduction Psychopathy is the constellation of specific affective, interpersonal and behavioral characteristics (Cooke, Forth and Hare, 1998, p. 3) and a serious psychological disorder that threatens the individual happiness and a widespread corporate issue that threatens the economic well being. With interpersonal and behavioral styles, psychopathic individuals behave superficially charming and reach the highest levels in an organization through deceit and manipulation and thence wreak untold damage at corporate level leading to its collapse. This paper presents a case study analysis based on “Bad bosses: The Psycho-path to Success” and examines how corporate psychopaths are challenging the success pathways of the organization. The first part of this paper presents an overview of how psychopaths operate in the business world and what strategies to be considered to identify them. The second part presents a critical examination of whether the case presents an appropriate overview of issues of corporate psychopathy. Answer- 1- How psychopaths operate in the business world? Psychopaths are those people who, due to abnormal brain connectivity and other mental disabilities, lack a conscience and exhibit few emotions and inability to have any feelings, sympathy or empathy for others or their feelings. The psychopathy is mainly caused by abnormal connectivity and chemistry in the area of amygdala of brain as this area is highly critical segment of brain for processing socially relevant information (Boddy, 2011, p. 256). This gives a scientific explanation for how and why psychopathy leads to socially inappropriate behavior that causes organizational losses and destruction. People who are almost psychopaths or subclinical psychopaths are found in business world as they are attracted to money and power and that they have intruded upstanding positions in corporate and in the society. Schouten (2012, p. 147) emphasized that psychopaths are not only in prisons, but also in Stock Exchanges and that they can create havoc by creating dissention in sales or other departments through their charming, manipulative, credit-stealing or colleague-blaming conducts. Voigt (2012) underscores in his article ‘Bad Bosses- the Psycho path to success’ a famous comment by Dr. Robert Hare that there are many psychopaths in the boardroom,. Organizational or corporate psychopaths are estimated to be between 1 to 5 percent of the total population (Boddy, 2006, p. 1461) and this highlights the view that one in 25 business leaders are found to be psychopaths (Morris, 2011). A study conducted by New York psychologist Paul Babiak suggested that psychopaths in the business world play with their charm and by manipulating others and thus they disguise the business conditions by hiding behind their supreme positions. Successful psychopaths are those who effectively encroach in to the highest levels of management and business leadership positions and they use their charm and manipulation to exhibit fewer transgressions. One of the most significant characteristics of psychopaths, especially in the business world, is that they have no conscience and are incapable of experiencing others’ feelings. Boddy (2006, p. 1461) described that psychopaths tend to appear to be worthy of promotion and are behaving as smooth and adroit in manipulating conversations to whatever they want to talk or justify about. Psychopaths in the business are found to be willing to put others down and are accomplished liars. For fulfilling individual ambition or to behave with bias and prejudice, the psychopaths in the business and management levels are often ruthless and opportunistic and are calculating without remorse. Corporate psychopaths are able to get employed and to climb up the organizational hierarchy with their charm and networking skills. They are mostly found in the senior management positions than in the lower or middle levels as they are highly motivated towards money, power and prestige. Corporate psychopaths attempt to increase the senior management positions and control huge resources that can be used for selfish or selfless ends (Boddy, 2006, p. 1462). Almost all the literatures about corporate psychopaths and their work in the organizational setting have found that they lack conscience and a sense of guilt. They are found to be able to use their charisma, charm and manipulation to achieve their own selfish ends of enrichment and empowerment rather than working for the organizational advantages. It is how and why the organizational psychopaths are dangerous to the economic and mental health welfare (Boddy, 2006, p. 1464). Voigt (2012) has stressed the characteristics of successful psychopaths. They lie without remorse, steal credit for their own accomplishments and they tend to transfer blame for their mistakes. They are also found to have shallow and to have short-term sexual relationship and are easily bored. When they ended up in corporate leadership or other superior positions in an organization, they are most likely to take unethical decision making within corporations. These psychopaths are not prone to be violent or exhibiting criminal behavior and therefore they operate in the business relatively undetected and thence they are ‘successful psychopaths’ (Boddy, Ladyshewsky and Galving, 2010, p. 122). Identifying the corporate psychopaths Identifying psychopaths in the business seems to be a tough task. Psychopaths in different organizations may behave differently and exhibit different characteristics. Boddy (2006, p. 1463) described Cleckley’s checklist with Hare’s modification for identifying psychopaths in business organizations. Organizational psychopaths can be identified by analyzing a set of criminal checklist. Psychopaths in the organization can be identified if they are 1) glib and superficially charming, 2) exhibiting a grandiose sense of self-worth, 3) pathological liars, 4) having no remorse for harming others or putting others down, 5) expert in manipulating others, 6) emotionally shallow and showing short-term sexual relationship, 7) lacking sympathy and empathy, and 8) failing to take responsibility even for their own actions. From a strategic view point, it is important to assess any or more of these traits and characteristics to find in the suspect of psychopaths. In 1980, Robert D Hare described a research tool for measuring the constructs of psychopathy and this was later referred as PCL, which was later revised in 1985 and formally published several years later as the Hare PCL-R (Millon, Simonsen and Birket-Smith, 2003, p. 192). The Psychopathy Checklist- Revised (PCL-R) is an increasingly important measure and a strategic tool that can be used to identify the psychopaths within an organization. The PCL-R has been the best known, widely accepted and highly effective measure of psychopathy with a 20-items clinical constructs rating scale by using a semi-structured interview, case history or file information and specific scoring criteria to rate each item on a three point (0, 1, 2) scale. The three-point scale is effective to the extent to which it is applicable to a specific individual (Babiak, Neumann and Hare, 2010, p. 179). The PCL-R measures scores from 0 to 40 reflecting the degree to which an individual’s characteristics and personal traits match the prototypical psychopathy in him. Psychopathy is underpinned by four factors that are correlated each others. The PCL-R measures various constructs such as glibness, grandiose sense of self-worth, pathological lying, superficial charm, lack of remorse as well as guilt, shallow effect, lack of empathy, failure to accept responsibility, prone to be boredom, parasitic lifestyle, impulsivity, irresponsibility, poor behavioral control, early behavior issues, juvenile delinquency, criminal versatility and so on. These constructs can be labeled in to four correlated factors or dimensions, they are; interpersonal, affective, lifestyle and antisocial (Babiak, Neumann and Hare, p. 2010, p. 179). However, Smith and Lilienfeld (2013, p. 207) argued that the PCL-R may limit its utility in business and workplace setting mainly because of the substantial reliance of PCL-R on file information. Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale is a more efficient and tool to identify psychopaths in business organizations. It is a 26-item self-report measure consisting of two scales, one assessing primary psychopathy and the other is assessing the secondary psychopathy. This measure for identifying the psychopaths has been found to be more appropriate than the PCL-R in business organizations due to that the ‘Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale’ inquires about mild deviance and attitudes towards such deviance (Smith and Lilienfeld, 2003, p. 208). Answer-2- Case analysis The article authored by Kevin Voigt (2012) titled ‘Bad Bosses: The Psychopaths to success’ presents a satisfactory description about what is corporate psychopathy and how they operate in the businesses. The article underlines that the psychopaths are not only found in prisons, but are there in the boardroom. The dangers and the drastic impacts that psychopaths may cause in the business and the economy as a whole can be realized from the fact that the 2007-2008 financial crisis is also argued to be a consequence of growing proliferation of psychopaths in the corner offices of banks or other firms. The article has clearly mentioned about the likely percentage of people with psychopathy in senior management and leadership positions. 4 percent of senior managers have been found to display psychopathy characteristics and traits. Corporate psychopath, who successfully intrude to the higher positions in the business and with charm and manipulation create dangers, are not mere criminals as they don’t go for rob or rape, but they satisfy their selfish without committing serious illegal activities. The article gives clear explanation for why psychopaths in the corporate levels are often termed as ‘successful’. Senior executives and business managers or leaders in the higher positions display psychopathic tendencies with charismatic charms on first meeting or with emoting confidence rooted in deception. This view underscores the hypothesis that corporate psychopaths tend to manipulate and deceive others with predispose to their own rise in the ranks of corporations (Smith and Lilienfeld, 2003, p. 206). Voigt (2012) listed the very basic three characteristics of successful psychopaths. According to him, successful psychopaths lie without remorse, steal credit for accomplishments and exhibit adroit in transferring blame for their mistakes. These are the very basic three characteristics of successful psychopaths in business levels as described by almost all the literatures including Boddy (2006, p. 368), Boddy et al (2010, p. 132), Babiak et al, (2010, p. 179) and Patrick (2005, p. 592). The successful psychopaths at the corporate levels are very likely to display shallow with short-term sexual relationships with subordinates or others and then they are found to become easily bored with the relationship. The article clearly defines corporate psychopathy and explains why it often becomes successful when it comes to corporate levels. The article has clearly mentioned several important characteristics such as charming, manipulation, lie without remorse, stealing credit of others, exhibiting adroit in transferring blames for their mistakes etc and therefore the article presents a satisfactory overview of corporate psychopathy. In his article, Voigt (2012) strongly argued that psychopaths are very likely to play head games with people in the organization and thus they make good money of it. Professor Robert Hare has stated that if he didn’t search for psychopaths in prisons for studying their characteristics, he would look for them in stock exchanges (Boddy, 2011, p. 256). This explanation shows the severe damages that psychopaths can cause at economy as a whole. Successful psychopaths in the organization may be singled out for rapid promotion because of their charm, polish and decisiveness etc. Various studies by researchers including Babiak and Hare in the USA and Board and Fritzon in the UK have shown that psychopaths are found at greater levels of various business organizations. Voigt (2012) has quoted Boddy’s saying that “psychopaths are great bullies”. Bullying and intimidation are unethical and have no place in business world since they not only disrupt the smooth operation of the work, but also that it hurts people (Babiak and Hare, 2009, p. 258) who are the most powerful capital in the organization and also that all the people in the organization may not be able to defend themselves. Overt aggression is a kind of bullying. Corporate psychopaths are often bullying as well. Boddy (2010, p. 368) has given greater emphasis on bullying as an important trait of psychopaths. According to him, the traits of narcissism, lack of self regulation and lack of conscience can be identified as those traits that are displayed by bullies. Stealing credit of others and claiming appreciation not for his effort but for others’ work are also certain traits that can be included as part of bullying. Voigt’s (2012) article clearly presented the hardwired pathology impulses of the psychopaths. The main reasons why psychopaths cause damages is that their brain parts that govern emotion is not as active as in the case of a normal adult. The article gives an unambiguous explanation about how and why psychopaths tend to lack conscience. When they hear certain words such as ‘rape’, ‘blood’, ‘knife’, they don’t feel much difference or that their brain activity shows almost the same reaction if other shown words such as ‘tree’ and ‘rock’. This illustration can help a reader recognize the difference between the brain activity of a normal person and that of a psychopath. In short, the article has provided in depth meaning of psychopathy and successful psychopaths in organizations mainly with help of quotes and literature abstracts from Hare, Bobby and Babiak. The article presents a satisfactory overview of corporate psychopaths and the way it operates in the business world. Conclusion Psychopathy is undoubtedly a danger in organization as psychopaths get in to highest levels of corporation and behave unethically in various functional areas such as decision making, motivation, promotion, managing of human capital and so on. they use their charm and manipulation to achieve higher positions and then work for their selfish by lying or stealing others’ credit or transferring blames to others. This paper has presented an overview of psychopathy and the way psychopaths operate in the business world. This paper has analyzed the article of Kevin Voigt (2012) titled ‘Bad Bosses: The psychopath to success’ and has described that this article clearly presents the theoretical underpinning of corporate psychopathy. References Babiak, P and Hare, R.D., 2009, Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work, HarperCollins Babiak, P., Neumann, C.S and Hare, R.D., 2010, Corporate Psychopathy, Talking the Walk, Behavioral Sciences and the Law, John Wiley and Sons Boddy, C.R., 2006, The dark side of management decisions: organisational psychopaths, Management Decision, Emerald Group Publishing Limited Boddy, C.R., 2011, The Corporate Psychopaths Theory of the Global Financial Crisis, Journal of Business Ethics, Springer Boddy, C.R.P., Ladyshewsky, R and Galving, P., 2010, Leaders without ethics in global business: corporate psychopaths, Journal of Public Affairs, John Wiley and Sons Cooke, D.J., Forth, A.E and Hare, R.D., 1998, Psychopathy: Theory, Research, and Implications for Society, Springer Millon, T., Simonsen, E and Birket-Smith, M., 2003, Psychopathy: Antisocial, Criminal, and Violent Behavior, Guilford Press Morris, S., 2011, One in 25 business leaders may be a psychopath, study finds, The Guardian, Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/sep/01/psychopath-workplace-jobs-study Patrick, C.J, 2005, Handbook of Psychopathy, Guilford Press Schouten, R., 2012, Almost a Psychopath: Do I (or Does Someone I Know) Have a Problem with Manipulation and Lack of Empathy?, Hazelden Publishing Smith,S.F and Lilienfeld, S.O, 2013, Psychopathy in the workplace: The knowns and unknowns, Aggression and Violent Behavior, Elsevier Voigt, K, 2012, Bad Bosses, The Psychopaths to Success, CNN, Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/19/business/psychopath-boss Read More