Organizational complexity
Organizational complexity allows unethical behavior to escalate. When Hugh McColl was nearing the end of his tenure as CEO of Nations Bank (now Bank of America), he remarked that the complexity of the banking industry made him feel out of control: “Given the speed of change and the complexity of new products, I feel like I don't understand all of the various elements of our bank.” In the U.S. financial debacle of 2008, the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury perhaps failed in three respects to keep pace with the complexity in the financial markets.104 Specifically, they failed to develop solutions limiting financial excesses; stay current with the transformation of the markets; and understand and price new credit instruments. Greater environmental complexity is associated with higher levels of toxic leader behavior and more pervasive and enduring destructive outcomes.
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