Destructive leadership in sports: colluders, conformers, and environmental factors

¶ … colluders and conformers in each of the scandals?

Colluders are the people who are in active support of the agenda of the destructive leader. They are often ambitious, have the same values as the leader and possess values that view greed and selfishness as normal. In their lack of protest, they show passive support to the leader (O\'Boyle, Murray, & Cummins, 2015).

Mike Mcqueary, Spanier Graham, Gary Schultz and James Calhoun were conformers in the Happy Valley sexual abuse scandal.

Lance Armstrong, Dr. Ferrari and the cyclists charged with doping were conformers in the cycling doping case.

Jones and the other athletes were the conformers in the Jone\'s case.

What environmental influences made each of these destructive leadership episodes possible?

The prevailing culture of silence at Happy Valley indicated that all stakeholders from the lowest ranking employee to the highest ranking employee did not speak out about what happened and so all played a passive role in the cover up. This is an indication of the prevailing environment at Penn State. There is very poor governance and people fear bad publicity. Checks and controls are also lacking.

Lance Armstrong and Marion Jones\' case brought with it financial rewards and fame and it kind of enticed people to the idea that cheating using drugs isbeing okay. Sponsors were making lots of money from the wins and they were reluctant to call out the mess that was going round. Lack of controls was also a contributing factor.

Who are the destructive leaders in each case study and how do they demonstrate destructive traits?

1. In the Happy Valley case, Jerry Sandusky, in abusing his authority and power to abuse children sexually, was the destructive leader.

2. Because what they did was motivated by selfishness and greed, Marion Jones and Lance Armstrong were the destructive leaders.

What were the role of checks and balances (or lack thereof) in the destructive leadership episodes?

Employees lacked awareness and did not know how to whistle blow anonymously in the Happy Valley Case. Because they were afraid that they would lose their jobs, they couldn\'t act sooner. Also, had the game instituted sound checks and balances, the incidences wouldn\'t exist or would have been caught early.

Progress made in technology made drug testing more effective in the third incident and this meant that controls had improved. Further, the coach took a stance that \'clear\' was the new operating procedure and with this announcement, Jones\' career was effectively over.

What environment factors might be changed to reduce the occurrence or effects of destructive leadership in sports?

The third aspect in the triage enveloping leaders, their followers and the interactions they have is environmental context. Scholars now appreciate the significance of \"situation.\" A review of studies shows that 4 factors in the environment contribute greatly to destructive leadership: perceived threat, institutionalization and lack of controls, instability and cultural values (Padilla, Hogan, & Kaiser, 2007).

Removing instability from the environment is the first step to removing instances of destructive leadership. Since instability calls for leaders to exercise more power and take action quickly, leaders can take advantage of the powers to advance destructive missions and make self-serving decisions (Padilla, Hogan, & Kaiser, 2007). It is possible to minimize destructive tendencies when instability is eliminated.