CJUS 610 Liberty Narcissistic and Covenant Leadership Comparison Paper Narcissistic Leadership Project Instructions Some say that narcissistic leaders and

CJUS 610 Liberty Narcissistic and Covenant Leadership Comparison Paper Narcissistic Leadership Project Instructions

Some say that narcissistic leaders and narcissistic leadership, albeit annoying to subordinates, gets the work of the organization done. Others say that the damage done by narcissistic leaders and leadership creates an unethical environment that is virtually irreparable. What is narcissistic leadership? What are a narcissistic leader’s traits? What are the organizational benefits and pitfalls of a narcissistic leader? Study covenant leadership. What is covenant leadership? What are the traits of a covenant leader?

For this project, compare and contrast the traits of a narcissistic leader with that of a covenant leader. What is the organizational impact of a narcissistic leader and a covenant leader? Imagine that you were a recently appointed chief of police in a large local police organization where the former police chief was not only a narcissistic leader but also promulgated narcissistic leadership qualities throughout all levels of leadership within the department. Develop a change plan in order to develop your organization with covenant leadership principles. Specifically, how would you do this in a police organization? Detail changes in your mission, small changes you may make, large changes you may make, and the potential pitfalls and successes you may realize.

Write a paper on this subject that is not less than 8–10 pages in current APA format. The page count does not include the title page, abstract, reference section, or any extra material. In order to incorporate a solid Christian worldview, you must use 10–15 sources with at least 1 source being the Holy Bible.

The Paper is already done. I just need you to reword it for me!!!! Narcissist and Covenant Leadership Styles
Liberty University
CJUS 610
Abstract
Narcissistic leaders are defined in this paper as the leaders, who are exploitative, controlling and
commanding, all emanating from their endeavor to feel good, boost their self-esteem and ego. However
in the literature, it reveals that though to a great extent this leadership style is perceived negatively,
sometimes it has proven successful, mostly in situations where there is adequate aid from assistants. On
the other hand, covenant leadership is viewed as the all-inclusive type of leadership where each and
every member feels valued by being engaged in the organization’s activities. However, deeper in the
paper, it is acknowledged that this leadership style requires a great deal of relationship building, which
many may not be ready to engage into. So, both leadership styles have their pros and cons.
Narcissist and Covenant Leadership Styles
Explanation of narcissistic leadership
The narcissistic individual is someone who is always in need of absolute attention from his
followers, and always strives to be in the leadership mantle, where he controls everyone else. As Stein
(2013) argues, given the fact that a narcissistic personality is always in need to be in control, many
people consider such a personality a bad character trait. Consequently, this type of leadership entails
ruling and leading with a commanding style, where the people at the helm tend to control and make
their followers adhere to their sole directions and commands through unfriendly means such as
intimidation, coercion, as well as exploitative means (Ronningstam, 2012). However, in regardless of
the negativity that people see in such personalities, the fact remains that people with such traits tend to
bring some positive benefits to the organization they are heading.
Traits of a Narcissistic Leader
Narcissists are people who when they get to the leadership positions will largely tend to
manifest their exploitative nature, superiority, along with grandiosity. They are at all times showing
their magnificence through arrogant behaviors, inflated self-esteem and also interpersonal behavioral
issues (Ronningstam, 2012). Most of the individuals who manifest this type of leadership trait tend to
portray dysfunctional issues characterized by self-esteem issues and emotional instability. This shows
that to a great extent, narcissist leaders tend to portray some tough traits such as being commanding,
coercing, as well as manipulating their followers. So to a large extent, narcissistic leadership is all
about exploiting people, making people vulnerable so as to be able to control, and dominate people.
Benefits and pitfalls of narcissistic leadership
Pitfalls
Narcissistic leaders tend to satisfy their ego and esteem by portraying traits that manifest their
extreme obsession with image and appearance; critical traits that makes them in some occasions
preclude any regard for reality or substance (Ronningstam, 2012). In such situations, these kinds of
leaders tend to create a very unfriendly environment, which turns employees’ against their leaders thus
disorienting the organization from achieving its core objectives and goals.
Benefits
Narcissistic leaders tend to bring the focus and absolute commitment of the employee to the
organization by strongly embracing unique qualities such as being highly confident, assertive, as well
as highly driven to realize the set organizational objectives (Stein, 2013). With such positive traits,
these leaders are able to robustly guide their followers towards meeting the organizational goals.
Covenant Leadership
Covenant leadership is all about relinquishing your powers so as to accommodate others,
putting others first, and creating a cordial relationship with others (Ackerman, et.al, 2010). One best
example of covenant leadership is God himself. Looking back at the holy bible, there are various
people such as Moses, Noah, Sarah and Hannah who God made up covenants with to help save all
mankind. The culmination of such covenant resulted in God giving his beloved son, Jesus Christ to
save all mankind (Committee on Bible Translation, 2011). This is what covenant leadership is all
about. Being mindful, and sacrificing for others.
Comparing and Contrasting Narcissistic Leadership Traits and Covenant Leadership Traits
The majority of narcissistic leaders tend to become more narcissistic as they continue to
accumulate and consolidate the power. For instance, as shown by Stein, (2013) one of the key obvious
examples of such a leader is Adolf Hitler, who while in his earlier days portrayed some charismatic
traits of leadership, went ahead to become more power hungry, as his power increased. Narcissistic
leadership is also put on the alert in the holy bible; in 2nd timothy, 3: 1-7; whereby the holy book states
that in the last days, there will come the days of difficulty when individuals will change and become
lovers of self, and money. It continues to states that people will become more arrogant, unholy,
abusive, treacherous, heartless and reckless (Spencer, 2014). This is a clear portrayal of how narcissist
leaders are in the modern day world. Normally due to their eagerness to be in control, and manifest
themselves to be extremely powerful, narcissistic leaders tend to portray extreme dictatorial traits
including being exploitative, and always trying to show a sense of resentment, superiority, and
exhibitionism (Rosenbach, et.al, 2012). All these extreme traits are all meant to help them deal with
several dysfunctional issues such as self-esteem issues and emotional instability.
Unlike narcissist leaders who are always trying to embrace headship style of leadership, by
winning friends, and influencing them into adhering to their directions and commands, covenant
leaders are largely more different. They tend to manifest quite different traits, as opposed to those of
narcissist leaders. For instance, covenant leaders, unlike their counterpart who are exploitative; tend to
show ethical traits including equity, fairness, and inclusiveness (Spencer, 2014). They on a daily basis
endeavor to create a favorable relationship between themselves and their followers, without having to
rule with an iron fist. The fairness, equity, and inclusiveness traits adopted by these types of leaders
are all but meant to create a conducive and participatory agreement between the management, the
workers, and the co-workers. In such an environment, the whole situation leads to a scenario where
each and every member of an organization has his precise duties and responsibilities to each other. In
other words, with such qualities and traits, covenant leaders create a conducive working environment,
where everyone is a brother’s keeper.
Contrastingly, whereas narcissistic leaders are concerned with fulfilling their ego, and selfesteem; covenant leaders are leaders who are already friendly and have inter-connected traits that allow
them to create an ample working relationship with their juniors based on mutual trust, respect, and
values (Pava, 2003). They mainly portray hope, trust, and love to their followers, traits that allow them
to create an organizational environment that is bound together by a common and ethical purpose. In
organizations led by covenant type of leaders, the common and ethical purposes become more central
agendas and goals. In fact, such virtues and values are bigger and also more important than any other
individual (Moisan, 2007). This in a huge way ensures that each and every follower in that organization
gets the meaning and hope of being included and valued in the organizational operations and long-term
plans.
However, while a long list of contrasting between the narcissistic leaders and covenant leaders
has been developed, and shows that there are more differences between these two kinds of leaderships,
the fact remains that regardless of the significant differences exhibited by these two types of
leaderships, to some extent they tend to share some commonalities (Pullen & Rhodes, 2008). This can
be directly revealed through a comprehensive comparison between these two types of leadership styles.
For instance, as Pullen & Rhodes, (2008) shows, there are a good number of narcissistic leaders who
have proven to be very successful in their leadership roles. Such leaders have exhibited some unique
qualities such as being highly confidant, assertive, as well as highly driven to realize the set
organizational objectives. With such positive traits, what these leaders largely need is a balance to
keep them from allowing this nature from becoming evil and destructive.
Given the fact that they are driven, and relentless in their endeavor for success, such leaders
tend to always have partners or assistants who help them to realize the needed balance, or as Ong, et.al,
(2015) term it, a trusted sidekick. This is exactly similar to what covenant leaders do. They are always
optimistic, positive minded and assertive towards success. To accomplish their organizational goals,
these types of leaders, similar to the concept of trusted sidekicks, goes ahead to create a proper way to
delegate duties and responsibilities to their trusted allies and junior employees (Moisan, 2007). This
serves as a sign of giving credit to others who have shown absolute commitment to the work that the
organization is engaged into. In such a manner, covenant leaders end up building other workers careers,
simply the same way the narcissistic leaders do to their trusted sidekicks. In the biblical concept, such
an act of entrusting others with assistive roles is known as head; which in layman terms refers to a
fundament relationship that has reciprocal duties and responsibilities for others in a relationship
(Lavender, 1998).
So, overall, regardless of the fact that in many occasions the negative side of the narcissistic
leader, where he or she in the pursuit of organizational goals end up becoming ruthless, thus showing
no care for fellow employees, as well as create a collateral damage in their wake, is mostly portrayed
frequently in the literature, this doesn’t mean that they don’t have a positive traits similar to those
evident in the covenant leaders. They are largely optimistic, confident and assertive towards
organizational goals just like the covenant leaders are, only that in some occasions they end up
becoming extreme, thus making them lose empathy, and be more sensitive to criticism.
Organization Impact of Narcissistic and Covenant Leadership
From a very conservative approach, as Ackerman, et.al, (2010) shows; the effects of
narcissistic leader can be dire in an organization. With their extreme unbearable approaches and
behaviors, narcissistic leaders can create a working situation whereby there is a strong feeling of us
against them. This has largely been a common experience in most police department and stations,
where leaders are narcissistic, as officers tend to largely think that it is only them. This even extends to
police departments, where officers start to divide themselves between line officers and others in the
department (Pullen, & Rhodes, 2008). Generally, under a narcissistic leader, middle management, as
well as line management is never at any occasion free to express their own opinions and feelings; this
forces them to always adhere to and comply with the commands, directions, and beliefs of their senior
leaders (Ackerman, et.al, 2010). In such a situation, then there tend to be a feeling of un-appreciation,
and generally, the followers tend to develop a deep hatred and negative feeling against their leaders;
and as a result, this ends up with a scenario of us against them.
However, the adoption of covenant leadership in an organization is different. In fact, as
literature by Guzman, (2015), shows, covenant leadership leads to an atmosphere of trust. Under
covenant leadership, a workplace environment is more conducive and ample for each and every single
employee in the organization to feel valued and accepted. This is because, under such leadership, there
are various benefits enjoyed including; the building of a positive environment where there is promotion
of common good, fostering of relationships leading to mutual prosperity, and also a creation of
synergy, emotional attachment and support principles and liberty; activities which lead to increased
social capital (Committee on Bible Translation, 2011).
As largely discussed by Pava (2003), the covenant leadership goes beyond the basic
relationship of two or more people, and largely entails a comprehensive process that leads to the
creation of a working relationship and building of relationships on many dimensions. Therefore, in a
police department, such type of leadership will bring a significant positive change in the way police
departments interact not only (internally) with their fellow officers and staff members but also with the
larger community and society where they are obligated to maintain law and order. Such type of
leadership will ensure that there is a valid covenant between the police department, and the community,
the police department and the city government, and this will in the long-run lead to moral commitment
with society as a whole (Moisan, 2007). This is exactly an opposite of what narcissistic leadership will
result into; given the level of self-interest, mistrust, and detachment are the key features and the order
of the day.
Covenant Leadership Development Plan
The most critical reality that has to be acknowledged before even going ahead to commence the
whole development plan is the fact that building and implementing such a covenant plan is never going
to be a fast project. The process of building covenants, as Stein (2013); argues ought to involve total
honesty regarding negative emotions, fear, anger as well as doubts that may exist within the system or
department. Therefore, taking the time to address the already established system of vulnerability,
brokenness and loneliness will be key since it will be the best way to allow the involved members to be
open to starting building new relations.
To start with the plan, the initial stages will entail the development of community acceptance
and building of covenant between the community and the police department. As Pava, (2003) defines
it, development of community relationship involves the comprehensive integration of locals into the
policing agendas and creating a unified environment where there will be coordination between the
department officers, and the locals towards the realization of compatible goals. This in other terms will
entail the creation of community policing programs.
The largest aspect of change that will be made will be emphasizing the message of integration,
and try living it. This means that irrespective of how rejected the officers for relationships will be, the
aspect of keeping faith in the whole community policing plan will be emphasized (Moisan, 2007). This
will commence by redefining a community-policing element within the department. The redefining of
community policing, and trying to show the narcissistic leaders within the hierarchy of the department
the necessity to be more inclusive and collaborative will serve a long way in allowing for a more loose
management, that will lead to a more flexible environment (Guzman, 2015). This could be the
beginning of the positive change that will critically be needed in the department.
After stating the need for a more flexible policy towards community policing, as the chief
officer, then there will be a huge need to initiate strategic meetings with the traditional captains on
ways they can change their approaches to leadership (Brown & McKim, 2016). Such strategic
meetings will involve giving them credits for actions within their ranks, as well as giving them
educational materials on management. This way, a change of attitude towards power and control will
start taking place amongst the senior officers.
Additionally, another major change will be to start a comprehensive review of the management
style of all upper and middle level management, and in most cases, assigning the assistants (sidekick)
to those leaders who are strongly entrenched on the narcissistic leadership style (Lavender, 1998). This
will be critical in helping them achieve the needed balance, thus keeping them under control throughout
the transition period.
Apart from the above major changes, there are other smaller changes that will be embraced to
enhance a speedy and smooth transition. For instance, as the chief officer, there will be a huge need to
become more visible in regard to making regular visits to the line officers, and the lower level
supervision; as this will show a real concern for their needs (Brown & McKim, 2016). Additionally,
there will also be a robust adoption and use of social media in the office so as to help draw the
community at large into a better relationship. Such a platform will enhance interaction between the
officers in the department and the residents.
Challenges
Being a new chief officer, there will be a number of challenges that will be expected in all the
effort of transforming managerial style of the department. For instance, the fact being that there is a
narcissistic leadership throughout all the departmental levels of leadership; it will be a difficult thing to
convince all the levels to accept and adapt to change (Lavender, 1998). Secondly, it is known that
covenant leadership always depends on the building of relationships that normally take a long time.
However, as a matter of fact, most police chiefs tend to be regularly transferred, and this may mean that
there may be limited time to stay with the department enough to realize the needed comprehensive
transition.
Success
In the long-term, all the transition efforts will result in some leaders accepting and wanting the
covenant leadership concept (Brown & McKim, 2016). So, this means after a real effort from the
chief officer, changes will begin, and though it may take time due to the hesitation of some few leaders,
in the end, the wave of change will take effect, and the transition will be realized. This will also bring
positive work atmosphere within the department especially as it relates to morale amongst the line staff.
Conclusion
As literature suggest, there is no single leadership style that is totally bad or good. For instance,
in many cases, narcissistic leadership style has been critiqued, but literature reveals that when
appropriately controlled, narcissistic leaders achieve immense success. While covenant leadership may
appear more appropriate, its success largely depends on the followers, and in most cases, some
followers lack the compassion to build the needed relationships as needed in covenant leadership.
Ultimately, what matters overall is the honesty and ethics of involved individuals in any type of
leadership
References
Ackerman, R. A., Witt, E. A., Donnellan, M. B., Trzesniewski, K. H., Robins, R. W., &
Kashy, D. A. (2010). What Does the Narcissistic Personality Inventory Really Measure?
Assessment, 18(1), 67-87. doi:10.1177/1073191110382845
Brown, W. P., & McKim, D. K. (2016). Covenant. Louisville, KY: Congregational
Ministries Pub., Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.
Committee on Bible Translation. (2011). Holy Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.
Guzman, N. (2015). The Leadership Covenant: Essential Factors for Developing Cocreative
Relationships Within a Learning Community. Journal of Leadership & Organizational
Studies, 2(4), 151-160. doi:10.1177/107179199500200412
Lavender, E. (1998). Covenant leadership. Nashville, Tenn.: Gaylor Multimedia.
Moisan, L. J. (2007). Leadership is a covenant: Leading people and living life more
effectively. Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse.
Ong, C. W., Roberts, R., Arthur, C. A., Woodman, T., & Akehurst, S. (2015). The Leader
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