Which toxic behavior is described as meddling to establish personal power, leading to decreased cohesion and performance?

• A. Team Sabotage
• B. Indifference
• C. Passive Hostility
• D. Shaming

Answer: (A)

The right choice describes sabotage: actively meddling in a team’s work to gain personal power. When someone interferes with tasks, changes plans behind the scenes, or undermines others to look essential or dominant, trust and collaboration suffer. The team becomes fragmented, communication breaks down, and coordination fails—so cohesion and overall performance decline. This pattern fits the idea of using meddling as a way to seize power, which is exactly what team sabotage captures.

Indifference is about not caring or disengaging, which hurts energy and accountability but doesn’t involve active meddling to seize control. Passive hostility involves covert, indirect hostility, which damages morale but isn’t primarily about interfering to establish personal power. Shaming uses humiliation or blame to control others, which is harmful but centers on different tactics than deliberate interference to consolidate power.