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Why Do Some Leaders Abuse Their Power

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Introduction: There are many definitions of power.In social science it can be thought as the capacity to control or influence others by providing rewarding or administering punishment. When leaders in organizations abuse power, power will become evil or unjust. In the last decades ,the pervasiveness of ethical lapses of corporate villains has been astounding such as Unethical CEO behaviour, white-collar crime, property deviance, employee grievances and lawsuits.In this essay I will mainly focus on analysing the causes of the toxic leaders' deviant behaviour, the consequences it will trigger and how should followers survive in the dilemma. It is often heard that there is a series of organizational formula or principle in the …show more content…

people were more likely to help when they were alone. When others are present ,people assume someone else will act.(Robert Gandossy ,Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,2004,P.7) Moreover, projects are frequently divided to several tasks and distributed to different departments or organizations. Specific divisions only possess the information relevant to specific tasks. As a result, the asymmetrical information shared by different divisions restricts people’s control and understanding of the whole picture, which makes it difficult for specialists to figure out a fraud or misconduct early or to find out enough evidence to verify the illegal activities. 1.1.1.2 The social and organizational culture that is not supportive of whistleblowers. The courage of individuals who know about improper behaviors in organizations is challenged by the threat of harassment, rumors, slanders, relegation and even dismiss. People often find they are put in a dilemma, wandering between right and wrong. One senior executive who revealed a colleague's million-dollar fraud scheme reflects:"The path I chose was brutal on my family and lost me tens thousands in income. It also meant that I’d never again work in a corporate environment. You can negotiate a "golden handshake", but it doesn’t guarantee a reference. You will always see the raised eyebrow, the inflection that means" well, if you want to know..."( Robert Gandossy ,Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,2004,P12)Under such unfriendly environment which is

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