In this chapter, we start by tackling a crucial question: are the traits of narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism separate and distinct, or should they be lumped together into one composite? It is a critical distinction as it influences how researchers and practitioners approach the...

So far, we have explored the DT in the workplace – psychopaths, narcissists, and Machiavellians. We have endeavoured to explain these concepts, aiming to combine the rigour of applied research with the relevance desired by the academic, practitioner and lay-person alike. This chapter offers...

In this chapter, we look at the consequences of the presence of those with Dark Triad (DT) traits for organisations. It focusses on organisational culture and leadership, as well as counterproductive work behaviours (CWB). Toxic organisational culture is often shaped by the presence of...

In this chapter, we have proposed actions that management could take to deal with some of the consequences of the Dark Triad personalities and toxic behaviours in general in the workplace. We have described various processes and procedures that management could adopt to deal with these problems....

The chapter begins by presenting and commenting on the MACH-IV scale, used for most of the research into Machiavellianism. This provides a good feel for the nature of Machiavellianism. We then describe some of the most important and relevant research studies on the topic and present some typical...

This chapter begins by presenting the background to the concept of narcissism which began in the clinical sphere and later moved into the non-clinical domain with the publication of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) which is used in most research studies into narcissism. In doing so,...

Psychopathy originally emerged as a clinical personality disorder (PD) but has since migrated into mainstream personality research. While some traits like risk-taking and charm might be beneficial in business settings, psychopathy, even at non-clinical levels, is considered the most malevolent...