Toxic behavior in organizations and organizational entropy: a 4th industrial revolution phenomenon?

The increasing prevalence of toxic leadership in business organizations can be at least partly attributed to increasing pressures emanating from the 4th industrial revolution. Pressures on business leaders from increased competition, environmental awareness, commitment to social purpose, and speed and spread of data communications have been made possible by computerisation and automation which have reached increased dominion during the COVID-19 pandemic. These pressures have created enormous challenges for organizational sustainability and survival. Competition to maintain market prominence and profitability and an excellent environmental awareness reputation has induced some leaders to resort to toxic behavior which has spread to employees driven to achieve specific organizational goals. For example, the unbalanced pursuit by leaders of Volkswagen and Boeing to maintain profits and market leadership resulted in a toxic climate that led to illicit employee behavior and affected their mental health, and the extreme purpose orientation of leadership of the Boy Shop promoted unsustainable employee practices arising from the singular and fixated pursuit of a strategic goal. Digital technology also has eroded employee leisure activity and privacy to the extent that many are on duty 24/7. Employee burnout and mental illness have also been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic through employee isolation and the increasing dependence on technology. The purpose of the paper is to present eclectic examples of toxic behavior and its effects on organizational sustainability. The commentary indicates HRM’s role in identifying and remedying destructive effects of toxic leadership before they take root in a post-COVID-19 world.