Followership

Followership are the actions of someone in a subordinate role. It may also be considered as particular services that can help the leader, a role within a hierarchical organization, a social construct that is integral to the leadership process, or the behaviors engaged in while interacting with leaders in an effort to meet organizational objectives.[1] As such, followership is best defined as an intentional practice on the part of the subordinate to enhance the synergetic interchange between the follower and the leader.

In organizations, “leadership is not just done by the leader, and followership is not just done by followers.”[2] This perspective suggests that leadership and followership do not operate on one continuum, with one decreasing while the other increases. Rather, each dimension exists as a discrete dimension, albeit with some shared competencies.[3]

The study of followership is an emerging area within the leadership field that helps explain outcomes. Specifically, followers play important individual, relational, and collective roles in organizational failures and successes.[4][5][6] “If leaders are to be credited with setting the vision for the department or organization and inspiring followers to action, then followers need to be credited with the work that is required to make the vision a reality.”[7]

The term follower can be used as a personality type, as a position in a hierarchy, as a role, or as a set of traits and behaviors. Studies of followership have produced various theories including trait, behavioral attributes, role, and constructionist theories in addition to exploring myths or misunderstandings about followership.

  1. ^ Uhl-Bien, Mary; Riggio, Ronald E.; Lowe, Kevin B.; Carsten, Melissa K. (February 2014). "Followership theory: A review and research agenda". The Leadership Quarterly. 25 (1): 83–104. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.11.007.
  2. ^ Riggio (24 December 2014). "Followership Research: Looking Back and Looking Forward". Journal of Leadership Education. 13 (4). doi:10.12806/V13/I4/C4.
  3. ^ Favara, Leonard (1 January 2009). "Putting Followership On The Map: Examining Followership Styles and Their Relationship With Job Satisfaction and Job Performance". Journal of Business & Leadership: Research, Practice, and Teaching (2005-2012). 5 (2): 68–77.
  4. ^ Baker, Susan D. (August 2007). "Followership: The Theoretical Foundation of a Contemporary Construct". Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies. 14 (1): 50–60. doi:10.1177/0002831207304343. S2CID 220263425.
  5. ^ Kelley, Robert (1 November 1988). "In Praise of Followers". Harvard Business Review.
  6. ^ Koonce, R. (2016). All in “the family”: Leading and following through individual, relational, and collective mindsets. In R. Koonce, M. Bligh, M. K. Carsten, & M. Hurwitz (Eds). Followership in action: Cases and commentaries (pp. 3-13). Bingley, England: Emerald.
  7. ^ Carsten, M.; Harms, P.; Uhl-Bien, M. (2014). "Exploring Historical Perspectives of Followership: The Need for an Expanded View of Followers and the Follower Role". In LaPierre, L.M.; Carsten, M.K. (eds.). Followership: What is it and why do people follow?. Bradford, GBR: Emerald Group Publishing. pp. 3–25.