Machiavellian Leadership in Business Organisations

How is Machiavellian leadership enacted in business organisations? To answer this question, I explore the nuances of Machiavellian leadership by examining the relational process that naturally occur when leading businesses. Machiavellian leadership is coined as a ‘dark’ leadership style, which promotes self-serving, manipulating and controlling behaviour to achieve goals. I argue that this implication is due to the research focus on the entity perspective to leadership, which is driven by outcome-oriented research with expectations of effective and romanticised notions of leadership. Machiavellianism can be a mixed blessing and if enacted strategically, it may be desirable for organisations. However, management scholars have been slow to embrace the concept of Machiavellianism. There are significant gaps between the reality of Machiavellianism in action in organisations and the ‘dark’ myths surrounding its application. Machiavellianism is becoming more important as it may be emergent within organisations. Since little is known about the processes, relationships and interactions in Machiavellian leadership in a deeper and more nuanced way, there is opportunity for future research.