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Ideas for Leaders #482

Why Leaders Sabotage Their Own Teams

Key Concept

Some leaders, afraid of losing their grip on power, willuse whatever means they have to stay in theirposition. Their favourite strategy is to divide andconquer: they systematically prevent skilledsubordinates — the greatest threats to their power —from forming alliances with other subordinates thatwould help push them to the top. Divide-and-conquerstrategies undermine the positive, collaborativerelationships that are key success factors for effectivegroups…but these leaders couldn't care less. 

Idea Summary

In most hierarchies, power is malleable, which meansthat it can change. A leader at the top can lose his orher power, and be replaced by subordinates whohave, usually through their superior skills andaccomplishments, managed to rise through thehierarchy. One of the characteristics of highly skilledsubordinates is their ability to form alliances,enhancing their prestige by working closely with othersubordinates.

Leaders respond to the threat to their power indifferent ways. Prestige-motivated leaders — leaderswho are motivated to become leaders by their desirefor respect and admiration realize that the only wayfor them to maintain the respect and admiration ofthe group is for the group to succeed. Thus, they willnever undermine the effectiveness of the group evenif working for the group might give a subordinate newpower.

In contrast, dominance-motivated leaders — leaderswho are motivated to become leaders by the desire tocontrol and dominate others — intend to maintaintheir stranglehold on power, whether or not it isagainst the will of their subordinates. This means thatthoroughly defeating every potential threat to theirpower is a top priority. Since alliances are often keystepping-stones in a subordinate’s rise to power, themost common strategy for dominance-motivated

ShareAuthors

Case, Charleen R.Maner, Jon K.

Institutions

Kellogg School of Management

Source

Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology

Idea conceived

December 2014

Idea posted

February 2015

DOI number

Subject

Senior LeadersConflict ManagementInterpersonal SkillsLeadershipPerformance ManagementTeam Building and TeamworkHigh-Potential Leaders

2/11/2015 Why Leaders Sabotage Their Own Teams | Ideas for Leaders

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leaders to maintain their hold on power is to preventthe formation of alliances in any way they can — astrategy known by the familiar phrase of “divide andconquer.”

In a series of experiments at the Kellogg School ofManagement, researchers identified participants whoreflected the characteristics of dominance-motivatedleaders or prestige-motivated leaders. They put allparticipants in leadership situations that involved asmall group of subordinates, including onesubordinate with substantial skills. In three of theexperiments, the leader’s hold on the position ofpower was ambiguous: not necessarily tenuous, butnot unbreakable either. In the fourth experiment, theleader’s position was rock solid: there was nopossibility of the leader losing power.

With these variables in play, the experimentsconfirmed the expectations. While prestige-motivatedparticipants refused to play the divide-and-conquergame even when their leadership positions werethreatened, the dominance-motivated participants, indifferent experiments:

restricted communication among subordinates

physically kept highly skilled subordinates apart from other teammembers

deliberately paired subordinates who (the participants believed)would not cooperate effectively.

These steps were specifically directed toward thehighly skilled subordinates, that is, the ones whorepresented the greatest threat.

Business Application

Companies may assume that their leaders are workingfor the success of their units, whether such units areteams, divisions or even subsidiaries. In truth, theymay be undermining their own groups in order to stayin power.

To avoid such destructive behaviours from theirleaders, companies should:

Link leadership success to group success. Put in place leadershipevaluation systems that heavily weigh the group’s success in theevaluation of the leader. Leaders who believe that they can keep astrangle-hold on their position by undermining their own groupshould know that they can divide-and-conquer their way to a fastexit.

Make leaders accountable for their actions. Leadership decisionsshould be transparent, and the organization must take stepsagainst any leadership behaviour that corrupts the integrity andfunction of the team.

Institutionalize lines of communication. With institutionalizedlines of collaboration and communication among team members, adestructive boss will be unable to interfere.

Alternate periods of stability and instability. The research showsthat leaders confident that they will not be removed are less likelyto engage in divide-and-conquer behaviour. At the same time,executives should have the opportunity to change leaders if

2/11/2015 Why Leaders Sabotage Their Own Teams | Ideas for Leaders

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warranted. One possible solution: periods of stability interspersedwith short periods when a leader’s position is at stake — mirroring,in some ways, the dynamics political elections.

Find the right leaders. Prestige-motivated workers are often happyto stay in less flashy jobs, while the power-motivated workers aremore than happy to attract attention. Dig deep within yourorganization to uncover the potential leaders with positivemotivations.

License Notice

This content is provided free-to-accessfor your own personal research,development and private study.

A license must be acquired for use byorganizations, for employee developmentor as a learning resource. To purchase alicense and learn about other partnerbenefits contact us.

Standard terms and conditions apply.

More like this

Leadership Dyads: Beauty, Disaster,and the Big Five

What Boards Think of CEOs

Diversity in Teams: Tasks, NotRelationships Drive Performance

The Value of Front Line Managers

References

Divide and Conquer: When and Why LeadersUndermine the Cohesive Fabric of Their Group.Charleen R. Case & Jon K. Maner. Journal ofPersonality and Social Psychology (December2014). 

Why Bad Bosses Sabotage Their Teams. EmilyStone. Kellogg Insight. (5th January 2015).

Further Reading and Relevant Resources

Jon K. Maner’s profile at Kellogg School of Management

Kellogg School of Management Executive Education profile atIEDP

2/11/2015 Why Leaders Sabotage Their Own Teams | Ideas for Leaders

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