Dr. Charn McAllister is the Franke Associate Professor of Management in the W.A. Franke College of Business and the Director of Northern Arizona University’s Institute for Public and Professional Ethics in Leadership. His research focuses on interpersonal mistreatment and political skill, and he teaches character-focused leadership in the classroom.

Dr. B. Parker Ellen III is the Thomas B. and Terri L. Nusz Endowed Professor in Management and the Associate Dean for Research and Executive Program in Mississippi State University’s College of Business. His research focuses on social influence in organizations, largely through the topics of organizational politics, leadership, and interpersonal mistreatment.

Dr. Katherine C. Alexander is an assistant professor in the Department of Management at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business. Overall, Katie’s research examines the dark side of leadership and its impact on employees and organizations. She also conducts large-scale meta-analyses and systematic reviews to improve our understanding of existing organizational behavior literature.                                               

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Show Notes

• “This research is not to vindicate the bad apples; it is in fact to tell leaders you have to look inward and decide…is it me or my employees?” [14:25] As Marcel and his guests dive into the research, Charn explains the introspection required by good leaders to understand if their leadership might be causing workplace deviance and the necessary steps from that point instead of just passing blame. 

• “Are you socially aware enough of what is happening at work? The relationship between you and your employees? The relationship between the employees themselves? …If you’re really politically skilled, and if you’re a really good leader, you should be able to see the matrix.” [22:01] Parker Ellen discusses one of the foundations of political skill in a leader: social astuteness. This is all about taking a step back and seeing a different picture and how you may even be contributing to deviant behavior.

• “This is a time of transition in the workplace; if we can come at it from a collaborative place, we’ll have a lot of success.” [33:35] Katie Alexander touches on the coach and team mindset that younger generations are longing for in the workplace that can provide feedback when needed but also create growth. This idea promotes the importance of a caring, hands-on, and dedicated leader who, in many ways, prevents workplace deviance. 

• “Are they appearing like a ‘bad apple’ because I’m highlighting that aspect of them in the way that I lead?” [39:14] Parker challenges the idea that there are either good or bad ‘apples’ and extends the thought that there are tendencies to have both deviant and compliant actions in many people. Moreover, on how your own tendencies to not be the best leader can react to that. 

• “Take a second to listen to your employees and recognize why something might be happening. Sometimes on small affronts, we can attribute major things, but it might not be anything. That doesn’t mean we can’t correct the behavior, but it also means we’ll have the ability to give them grace as a leader because we spent that time upfront. ”[46:55]  As all three guests share what love in action means to them, Charn shares a story from his time in the military exemplifying the need to give grace and again take a step back and see the whole picture in order to lead with love.

MIT Sloan Management Review article: Bad Apples or Bad Leaders?

Mentioned in this episode:

• MIT Sloan Management Review article: Bad Apples or Bad Leaders?  
• Charn McAllister on LinkedIn 
• charn.mcallister@nau.edu 
• Charn McAllister: It’s Important To Be Likable (Episode #50) 
• Katie C. Alexander on LinkedIn 
• Parker Ellen III on LinkedIn
• p.ellen@msstate.edu
• Marcel Schwantes on LinkedIn
• Marcel Schwantes

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