Undergraduate Prospectus 2011 - University of Southampton

The behaviour of leaders could affect how companies recover from the
credit crunch, according to a new study by the School of Management.
The results of the pilot study challenge traditional views of leadership,
suggesting that leaders who appear to offer ‘heroic’ and ‘visionary’
leadership may also be narcissistic – self-obsessed and domineering.
This type of behaviour can damage a company internally, causing a drop
in long-term performance. One example is the excessive risk-taking
behaviour that led to the recent banking crisis.
Malcolm Higgs, Professor of HR Management and Organisational
Behaviour, says: “If we want to avoid the damaging impact of narcissistic
behaviours on organisations in the future, we need to change our view of
leadership. A key part of this will be emphasising the importance of a leader
being open to challenge and able to engage others in decision making.”
Malcolm is also looking at how companies can detect the early signs of
narcissism and coach leaders to make them aware of the ‘dark side’ of
their behaviour.