Narcissism

Conceptual Overview

The concept of narcissism has its roots in the ancient Greek myth of Narcissus, who fell into an allconsuming love of his own reflection in a pool of water. Uses of the label narcissism in organization studies (and indeed modern psychoanalysis) have their origins in Sigmund Freud's essay, On Narcissism: An Introduction, written in 1914. Since then, the concept of narcissism has been subject to multiple reinterpretations so that the term is now often critiqued as lacking specificity and as the cause of much confusion. This said, it seems clear that, for Freud, narcissism referred to an infantile state of being the center of a loving world in which the individual could act spontaneously and purely out of desire. His theory suggests that, as adults, we project the possibility of our returning to this state through the creation of an ego ideal (i.e., our model of the person that we must become in order for the world to love us as it did when we were young). While no individual can in reality attain this ego ideal, we nevertheless strive to preserve a positive sense of ourselves, to maintain and enhance self-esteem—the degree of correspondence between our actual and ideal concepts of self.

Narcissism is most usually regarded as a personality type characterized by, for example, strong egocentricity, great self-confidence, exploitativeness, exhibitionism, vanity, and a highly developed sense of self-importance. Distinctions are sometimes made between healthy and unhealthy narcissists, and between those whose narcissism is robust and others whose narcissism is more fragile. While Freud's ideas are still a potent force in modern psychoanalysis and an important influence within personality psychology more generally, they have increasingly found new applications in other fields. Scholars in management and organization studies have drawn on these ideas in their efforts to understand and to theorize the behaviors of individuals, groups, and organizations, while sociologists have used the concept of narcissism to explore cultures and societies. Although some uses of the concept of narcissism owe more to popular conceptions of narcissists as [Page 942]self-centered egotists than to Freud, other studies have drawn on Freud's theories in quite sophisticated ways. The result is a literature that, although small, is one that is nevertheless marked by quite considerable differentiation and divergence of view.

Theories of narcissism have had most impact on the literature on leadership. Much of the debate here has focused on the pros and cons associated with narcissistic leaders. On the one hand, most authors recognize that every leader and manager needs a healthy degree of narcissism in order to deal with the vicissitudes of organizational life. Indeed, many theorists, notably Michael Macoby, suggest that the narcissistic personality type has many advantages that not only lead them to be successful as individuals, but which can benefit their organizations. Narcissism has been associated with having an impressive personality, being able to act as a support for others, being prepared to take risks, and having the confidence to outline a new vision and to accomplish great change. Many authors have suggested that the personal qualities of charismatic leaders, such as the desire for power, self-sufficiency, and magnetic personality, are also narcissistic traits, and that charismatic leaders may often be narcissists. On the debit side, narcissistic leaders have been charged with being emotionally isolated, highly distrustful, prone to irrational behaviors, and conceited. This has led to assertions that there is a “dark side” to narcissistic-charismatic leadership, and to a range of efforts to distinguish between “productive” and “unproductive” and “constructive” and “destructive” narcissists and their implications for organizations.

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