In the quest for something new in the study of management I see a new buzz word has emerged in management consulting, that of “toxic management”. I spotted in the new South African edition of Entrepreneur Magazine and in “Facts” Newsletter from Fasset, the Finance Services SETA.

It really amuses me how these “new” concepts come along taking long known and dealt with issues, in this case the effects of poor and negative leadership on staff morale, and package them in a new guise and hey presto – all and sundry are using and abusing them. I mean think back to the old biblical Saul , toxic bosses are certainly not a new phenomenon.

Having said that perhaps it is an opportunity for all managers to stick their hands in (keeping with the biblical theme) their bosoms and see whether it comes out black and look at the effect it is having on their staff. In other words do some self-analysis on whether you as a manager have poison thoughts and feelings which you passing on or exhibiting to your employees. In addition senior management should also look at whether any of their management staff are suffer from this “new” Syndrome as the effects on company morale can be devastating.