A Review on Toxic Leadership Phenomenon and Investigating the Probability of its Appearance in Different Stages of Organizational Life Cycle (in Persian)

The purpose of this study was to examine the possibility of the emergence of toxic leadership style in each of the five stages of the organizational life-cycle. The research methods used for data gathering were qualitative and library documentation together with interviews. Statistical population of this research consisted of professors of management (in organizational behavior and human resource) of selected universities in Tehran. From among them, 15 were selected, using Snowball Method. Theme analysis method was used for data analysis. The findings show that existence of such factors as toxic leader acting as savior and crisis solver, undermining the legal mechanisms and granting too much power to the savior to make changes in order to ensure the survival of organization in times of crisis and, finally, dominance of emotion rather than logic when acute problems come up will increase the likelihood of the emergence of toxic leadership in the waning stages of organizational life cycle.