JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT POLICY AND PRACTICE
Out-of-Control Executives -What Trumps Smart?
Author(s): Mildred Golden Pryor, Jennifer D. Oyler, Randal Y. Odom
Citation: Mildred Golden Pryor, Jennifer D. Oyler, Randal Y. Odom, (2013) "Out-of-Control Executives -What Trumps Smart?," Journal of Management Policy and Practice, Vol. 14, Iss. 6, pp. 11 - 18
Article Type: Research paper
Publisher: North American Business Press
Abstract:
With many apparent strengths, some of the most successful organizational leaders ultimately fail and
often cause significant damage to their organizations, their families, and themselves. This paper questions
what motivates executives to make bad decisions and take unethical and/or illegal actions. From studying
various executive scandals, questions were developed that relate to greed, power, Narcissistic
personalities, values and ethics, status differentiation and social isolation, and sex. In addition,
demographics of the executives and types of scandals were analyzed. Since executive scandals impact
society as well as individuals and organizations, this paper offers suggestions of ways that these
executives could help others avoid unethical and illegal actions. Future considerations include the issue
of time theft since executives involved in scandals spend time in unethical and illegal scenarios instead of
spending time productively in ethical, legal scenarios for themselves, their families, their organizations,
and society.