Followership in Leadership Studies: A Case of Leader–Follower Trade Approach

The current article acknowledges the absence of followership from the leadership literature for many years. Major theories of leadership are reviewed to assert that (1) modern leadership studies have been developed strictly from the leader's perspective with little or no attention on followership, (2) leadership studies have primarily been based on the static understanding of leadership (leaders always remain leaders),¹ and (3) there seems to be a need for a new paradigm for leader–follower relationships, which may result in organic relationships between leaders and followers through exchange of leadership and followership functions and roles. Thus, it is argued that the mutuality of relationships and influence between the follower and the leader exists. To address the need for a new paradigm for leadership, the leader–follower trade (LFT) approach is introduced, which may result in the nonstatic and organic approach to leadership–followership as two valuable human behavioral functions. In this case, leadership and followership functions and roles may be traded or exchanged by the positional leaders and followers in different situations or organizational settings toward mutual respect, empowerment, and effectiveness.     

Disrupting Leadership Focus by Facilitating Social Construction of Followership in the Classroom: Student Responses to a Visual Method Pedagogy

When followership is incorporated into the classroom, it is often an adjunct to leadership and its theories and, thus, opportunities for the social construction of followership are diminished. The current paper provides insights into classroom practices used to develop students' constructions of followership through reflective and visual teaching strategies, facilitating co‐construction of meaning in the classroom. An agenda for increased focus on followership learning, underpinned by visual method pedagogy, is provided to inform and inspire others to apply this disruption in mainstream leadership programs across other academic (and corporate) institutions.     

Evolutionary leadership theory

This article reviews an important new monograph on evolutionary leadership theory by Mark van Vugt and Anjana Ahuja (Naturally Selected: The Evolutionary Science of Leadership. New York: HarperBusiness, 2011, 272 pp. ISBN 978‐0‐06196‐383‐4, $25.99, Hardcover). I summarize the main arguments of this work, which draws on evolutionary psychology and Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection to explain why and under what circumstances leadership and followership traits emerged in human societies. In so doing, I assess the extent to which it succeeds, as intended, in providing a scientifically rigorous framework for our understanding of leadership in the 21st century.     

The impact of implicit collective leadership theories on the emergence and effectiveness of leadership networks in teams

Leadership in today's high-performing teams is a relational process best understood from a multilevel emergent perspective. Implicit theories of leadership and followership play an important role in predicting leader emergence in more traditional hierarchical structures, but are inadequate for understanding and predicting leadership as networks in teams, as they do not consider the complex dynamics of leading and following activities inherent in such structures. To address this theoretical gap, we propose the concept of Implicit Leadership Network Theories (ILNTs) that integrates implicit leadership and followership theories with contemporary social network perspectives of leadership in teams to predict the shape and structure of leadership network emergence and subsequent team outcomes. More specifically, we propose that the combination of team member self-ILNTs (i.e., expectations regarding one's own role within a leadership network) and network-ILNTs (i.e., expectations regarding the prototypical team leadership structure) will shape the emergence and effectiveness of leadership in teams. We describe several prototypical team configurations of ILNTs and discuss implications for future research and human resource management.     

Using Followership to Develop New Leadership in Cultures with Greater Power Distance

Leadership theories abound in individualistic societies with the promise that anyone can become a successful leader by following certain guidelines. However, many of our existing theories are culturally specific to individualistic societies with low power distance. People from more collectivist cultures, in which power distance is greater, have a very different perspective of what they can do. In the current paper, I discuss how followership can be helpful for empowering people in large power distant cultures and offer five strategies, using Honduras as an example. The strategies are based on a theoretical examination of basic followership concepts with Hofstede's cultural dimensions of power distance and collectivism (Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010).     

Climate control? The relationship between leadership,climate for change,and work outcomes

Transformational leadership is seen as one of the most effective leadership styles from which the dynamic context of temporary work agencies may benefit. The current paper presents a theoretical framework that introduces participative leadership as an additional appropriate leadership style. The prediction is that transformational leadership and participative leadership both impact work outcomes via a climate for change. Data from 258 employees working for a large Dutch employment agency support these hypotheses. Results show that transformational leadership and participative leadership are both independently related to work outcomes. Moreover, results support an indirect process from participative leadership to work outcomes, via a climate for change.     

Managing employee innovative behaviour through transformational and transactional leadership styles

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the associations between leadership styles and employee innovative behaviour. We studied the implementation of an ambitious innovation strategy in a large Danish municipality and examined how transformational and transactional leadership styles relate to innovative behaviour. We combined data from two sources rating leadership styles of immediate supervisors and employee innovative behaviour. The findings suggest that transformational leadership and one component of transactional leadership, namely verbal rewards, are positively associated with innovative behaviour. The interaction between the two shows that innovative behaviour is most likely when the leader combines transformational leadership with verbal rewards.     

Adult attachment styles in the workplace

Prior research has demonstrated that attachment styles are important antecedents of interpersonal relationship quality and psychological well-being. Despite this, the theory of attachment styles has been largely ignored by researchers interested in workplace phenomena. The present paper aims to explain the theory of attachment styles, why researchers have overlooked attachment styles as an antecedent of organizational behavior, and a possible means of reconciling attachment theory with current models of personality. Moreover, I will review what existing research has actually demonstrated in terms of linking attachment styles to leadership, trust, satisfaction, performance and other outcomes. Finally, I will explore what possible future directions may be taken by researchers in the future in order to broaden and deepen our understanding of the role of attachment styles in the workplace.     

What Is Toxic Followership?

There has been some discussion on the subject of toxic followership, but it is as yet ill‐defined and deserves further evaluation and study. The current paper examines toxic followership using Kelley's typology of followers and provides potential methods of mitigating toxic followership. Just as toxic leaders harm organizations, so too can toxic followers. They both can cause good people to leave an organization, and put the organization's survival at risk.     

Public Leadership: A review of the literature and framework for future research

Abstract

This study analyses and reviews the literature on public leadership with a novel combination of bibliometric methods. We detect four generic approaches to public leadership (i.e. a functionalist, a behavioural, a biographical and a reformist approach) which differ with regard to their philosophy of science (i.e. objective vs subjective) and level of analysis (i.e. micro-level vs multi-level). From our findings, we derive four directions for future research which involve shifting the focus from the aspect of ‘leadership’ to the element of ‘public’, from simplicity to complexity, from universalism to cultural relativism and from public leadership to public followership.     

What is the role of perceived leadership capacity in presidential politics?

The relevance of leadership models in presidential leadership, and principally the role of perceived leadership in presidential election years, is an area of study with limited development but increasing importance. This study explores the relationship between young voters' leadership assessment of presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, and their reports of voting behavior during the 2008 presidential election. Leadership perceptions were collected from 812 respondents prior to the election. Results indicate that candidate leadership assessments have a significant effect on candidate preference after controlling for the impact of party identification and self‐perceived political efficacy. Further, political efficacy significantly impacted respondents' intent to vote in the election after controlling for these same variables. Party affiliation produced significant differences across the political ideology, leadership ratings, political efficacy, and likelihood of voting variables. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications as they pertain to political leadership.     

Western MBA Education and Effective Leadership Values in Developing Countries

Abstract

The study seeks to develop a leadership portrait of MBA graduates from developing countries. It examines the congruence between the effective leadership values as perceived by MBA graduates from developing countries and expected, accepted and effective leadership styles in their cultures. One-Way ANOVA and Duncan Multiple Comparison analysis revealed that MBA graduates from developing countries have the tendency to embrace western leadership values without forsaking traditional indigenous values. The research provides evidence to suggest that western MBA education is contributing to the conformity to the latest leadership paradigms across cultures and thus the formation of a shared knowledge structure which reduce the variability of future managers' perceptions towards leadership styles.

The study seeks to develop a leadership portrait of MBA graduates from developing countries. It examines the congruence between the effective leadership values as perceived by MBA graduates from developing countries and expected, accepted and effective leadership styles in their cultures. One-Way ANOVA and Duncan Multiple Comparison analysis revealed that MBA graduates from developing countries have the tendency to embrace western leadership values without forsaking traditional indigenous values. The research provides evidence to suggest that western MBA education is contributing to the conformity to the latest leadership paradigms across cultures and thus the formation of a shared knowledge structure which reduce the variability of future managers' perceptions towards leadership styles.     

The reception of Anglo leadership styles in a transforming society: the case of American companies in Vietnam

This article examines the transfer of Anglo leadership styles in a transforming society. It aims to investigate the transferability of two American leadership styles, namely performance-oriented and participative styles, to Vietnamese subsidiaries. Utilising an exploratory case study approach, this article presents evidence of a strong acceptance of these leadership styles, and tries to ascertain whether the adoption of a humane style of leadership in line with Vietnamese traditions is a means of leaders reconciling the cultural gap. Several complexities arise from the transforming nature of the Vietnamese socio-political and economic context. Specifically, the importance of subcultures – particularly those relating to generation – is highlighted. Situational contingencies, such as the skills set of the recipient group, also emerge as important considerations. Finally, the authors call for leadership dynamism as a means of facilitating congruence and adaptability between the leadership styles used and the various contextual complexities encountered in the transfer and reception process.     

Satisfied with red tape? Leadership,civic duty,and career intention in the military

We examine how the coerciveness of HR procedures and leadership behaviours affect job satisfaction (JS) and career intention (CI), and how civic duty (CD) mediates these relationships. Within the framework of the human resource management performance chain, we draw on leadership and motivational theories and test the proposed relations in a structural equation model with data from a survey of the Federal Armed Forces Germany (n = 1,331). The findings show that the behaviour of supervisors, rather than red tape, influences JS and CI. The results extend our understanding of the interplay between leadership behaviours and followership attitudes under high degrees of organizational coercion.     

How to identify leadership potential: Development and testing of a consensus model

Building on two studies, the current article responds to urgent calls in the literature for more empirical research on how to identify leadership potential. Based on an extensive review of the 1986–2010 literature, and applying a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques, we developed a model of leadership potential consisting of four quadrants: Analytical skills (containing the factors Intellectual curiosity, Strategic insight, Decision making, and Problem solving); Learning agility (containing the factors Willingness to learn, Emotional intelligence, and Adaptability); Drive (containing the factors Results orientation, Perseverance, and Dedication); and Emergent leadership (containing the factors Motivation to lead, Self‐promotion, and Stakeholder sensitivity). Notably, the developed model steers clear from some of the typical issues that tend to hinder valid assessments of leadership potential (i.e., the confound between performance and potential, as well as that between leadership potential and successful, mature leadership). Furthermore, high consensus was found between top managers, line managers, and HR managers about the practical relevance of the proposed model. The article concludes with some specific future avenues for research and practice. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Leadership styles in Central Eastern Europe: Experiences of Finnish expatriates in the Czech Republic,Hungary and Poland

Due to the current transformation of Central Eastern European (CEE) economies, not very much is known about managerial behaviour during that era. With a view of increasing such an understanding, this paper reports some observations on characteristics of the leadership styles of managers in CEE as experienced by Finnish expatriates. The emerging changes in these styles are also discussed. By reviewing relevant writings and studies, working hypotheses about expected differences between Finnish and CEE managers are formulated. Differences were identified and it was found that typical leadership styles among managers share certain common characteristics in three CEE countries but that the styles have already started to change. In conclusion, the implications of the findings for Western companies and for expatriate managers are discussed.     

Leaders' negative emotions and leadership styles influencing subordinates' well-being

Emotions are an important aspect of organizational life. However emotional issues, particularly negative emotions, have traditionally been largely neglected in organizational life. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles, and leaders' negative emotions perceived by the subordinates. The aim is also to investigate the influence of leadership styles on the subordinates' overall psychological health and well-being. The result challenges some of the earlier findings, suggesting that there is a need for a better understanding of how contextual factors might intervene in the relation between leaders' negative emotions, leadership styles, and subordinates' well-being.     

Examining the influence of servant and entrepreneurial leadership on the work outcomes of employees in social enterprises

Abstract

The present study examines the relative influence of two distinct leadership styles, servant leadership and entrepreneurial leadership, on the organizational commitment and innovative behavior of employees working in social enterprises. Analyzing data from 169 employees and 42 social entrepreneurs, we found that, although servant leadership was positively related to followers’ organizational commitment, the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and organizational commitment was insignificant. In contrast, whilst we found evidence that entrepreneurial leadership was positively related to followers’ innovative behavior, the relationship between servant leadership and employees’ innovative behavior was insignificant. Our research contributes to the underdeveloped literature on leadership in social enterprises by exploring the relative effectiveness of different leadership styles (namely an entrepreneurial leadership style and a servant leadership style) in promoting follower work attitudes and behaviors in social enterprises. In addition, our research demonstrates the importance of leadership over and above followers’ individual differences such as pro-social motivation and creative self-efficacy.     

The impact of personal and organisational variables on the leadership styles of managers

While several studies have examined only one dimension of the leadership styles of managers this study has investigated several variables for their possible individual and joint impact on the managerial practices of organisational leaders. The rationale for the study was to obtain a more complete and accurate picture of the variables related to leadership practice. Collecting data from more than 400 managers from UK industries, it finds that age is directly related to the consultative, participative and delegative leadership styles of managers. The older a manager, ceteris paribus, the more consultative, participative and delegative leadership processes s/he engages in, preferring more of collective decisions in contrast with younger managers who appear happy to take decisions that may not necessarily get the approval of the majority of workers. It was interesting to find that hierarchy is directly related to consultative and participative leadership style, but not to directive or delegative leadership. While gender alone does not appear to affect the result in any significant and systematic way, a number of multiple variables, including gender and hierarchy, for example, proved to be useful in explaining the complex styles of managers.     

Pervasive myths in leadership development: Unpacking constraints on leadership learning

Forty years ago, the questions most discussed among those who cared about leadership were “is leadership possible among those who don't have titles and positions?”; “what are the characteristics possessed by effective leaders?”; and “how do we find the people who are the best leaders and help them prepare for positions that will allow them to have an impact?” After many conversations, conferences, research studies, and books, the terrain has shifted among scholars. Now the conversations focus on questions such as “If leadership is a shared responsibility among members of groups, how can the full leadership potential of all be cultivated?”; “What role do collaborators play in empowering positive leadership and defending against those who misuse it?”; and “How can organizations cultivate cultures that support and encourage visionary leadership dedicated to benefitting all?” The shift in the questions that leadership educators now explore, coupled with the breadth and variety of the initiatives dedicated to nurturing it, demonstrate that leadership can be taught. More importantly, the practice of leadership demonstrates that many can pursue leadership and that they must if the opportunities of the 21st century are to be fulfilled. The conversations and the needs for leadership have both shifted and it is now incumbent on those who value leadership most to agree to unifying perspectives that can draw us together in common purpose. From your vantage point, what are the crucial conversations, next steps, and/or thoughts for consideration as we enter the second decade of the 21st century?