Followers And The Co-Construction Of Leadership Summary

When researching leadership studies and the overall leadership process, it is safe to say that leaders and followers are the building blocks of leadership. One can assume that just as a follower needs someone to lead them, a leader can’t lead without followers. However, in most leadership studies and research, the results and information are usually leader centered. Heller and Van Til define leadership as an action more readily defined through the eyes of a follower.
“While individuals may look to a leader to frame, and concretize their reality, they may also react against, reject, or change the reality thus defined. The leader must lead, and do it well to retain leadership, the follower must follow, and do it well to retain followership.”1
At a very basic level, followers can make or break leadership. Only they can choose to be led, and the way that is initiated guides the duration of subjective leadership circumstances. We will explore the various levels of leadership and what role followers play in the leadership process.
Leadership is typically very glorified in our culture. Many times you will hear young children say they want to be the “line leader” or “take names” while the teacher is out of the room. At such an early age, the idea of power in leadership seems to form in young minds. It is seen as a positive thing to be, to lead and take charge of things in your own way. There is a great amount of money spent by various businesses and organizations to send their employees to leadership summits and other leader capacity building trainings to make their organization more effective. However, because of this stigma there are some leaders who would be better off as followers. In the journal article written by Grayson & Speckhart, titled “The Leader Follower Relationship,” they explore some of the issues involved with classifying leaders and followers.
“As a result of this glorification of leadership, many who strive to be leaders would actually make better followers, as well as be more satisfied in the followership role. Perhaps they would be content to be followers if it were seen as a more noble position. We have consulted with numerous leaders who, when honest with themselves, do not wish to be in a leadership role and long for the days when they were the individual contributor, the salesperson or the engineer.”2
In other words, because it is considered more favorable to be a leader, most people will attempt to be leaders. The fact that everyone is not the best fit for leadership positions is what causes the breakdown of the organizational system. Leadership requires creativity and innovation, but if everyone is trying to be innovative then no one is following through with the actions it takes to make changes. The writers of “The Leader Follower Relationship” further explain the problems that improper leadership and followership create.
“For everyone to try and lead or to innovate is a waste of resources. Innovation requires a significant commitment of time, energy and money. Most individuals and organizations would be best served by letting others, with more capabilities and resources, lead. Those municipalities dedicated to innovation only end up wasting scarce resources. It makes far more sense for those municipalities who have the financial resources and who can hire the “best and the brightest” to provide innovation for other municipalities to follow when appropriate.”3
It might be most necessary to explore the different facets of followership. Since people find it nobler to be a leader than a follower and this connotation over time hurts workforce productivity, the most reasonable idea would be to redefine the follower relationship and express it terms of the power of followership. As we know, one cannot be a leader without followers or even have followers until they have made a distinct choice to follow the leader in question.
As a leader, you must appeal to those you expect to follow in some way to gain their interest. Typically, people choose leaders that have upstanding characteristics and a certain level of morality. Brown and colleagues from the publication, “Ethical Leadership and Follower Helping and Courtesy,” classify this type of leadership as its own leadership style.
“[They] define ethical leadership as a leadership style that entails “the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement and decision-making”. Ethical leader behaviors include acting fairly, allowing voice, demonstrating consistency and integrity, taking responsibility for one’s actions, promoting ethical conduct, being concerned for others, and rewarding ethical conduct.”4
This type of leadership can be classified as the most ideal leader. Having an ethical leader translates into more ethical followers, who ,in turn, use those morals and ethics to build a better organization overall. Brown also stated,
“Social learning theory suggests that when employees observe their leader acting as an ethical role model, they are likely to copy the leader’s fair, ethical, and trustworthy behavior and translate this into their own behavior by showing helping and courtesy. Thus, we expect that in a low moral awareness climate, ethical leadership relates more strongly to followers’ helping and courtesy than in a high moral awareness climate in which other proximal cues for how to behave are present and followers more easily recognize the need to act pro-socially without the leader’s role modeling.”5
An interesting part of the excerpt portrays that in a work situation when dealing with a low morality leader, it is more so up to the followers to display characteristics of dependability and fairness. Basically, the followers determine the flow and productivity of business based on how they react to their current management’s leadership style. Overall, the idea is that through repeated situations of fairness and trustworthy behavior from a leader, people then become true ‘followers.’ This means they not only do what the leader says, but they want to because the leader has always had what’s best for employees and business at the forefront. This in turn, motivates the workers inherently and makes them feel more connected to the organization. In the reading titled, “Relationships between Transformational and Active Transactional Leadership and Followers’ Empowerment” discusses how follower organizational commitment through proper leadership is a major way to empower and affect your organization.
“Yukl (2010) proposed that leadership can enable the process of building commitment to the organization’s objectives and can empower followers to accomplish these objectives. Followers who feel more empowered tend to reciprocate by being more committed to their organization (e.g., Koberg et al., 1999; Wang & Lee, 2009), which suggests that followers may be more likely to identify with their organization, given the conceptual and empirical similarities between organizational identification and affective organizational commitment (Riketta, 2005).”6
Followers play a huge role in their organizations. Whether it is through motivation by leaders or belief in the organization, whatever the followers feel is most likely going to be the product of your organizational culture as a leader. Even now, after all we know about leadership being a reciprocal process with followership, some still believe that it is not the followers’ choice to follow.
Most people assume that if you aren’t the leader then you’re definitely the follower, however, it takes more to be a follower than lack of a more esteemed position.
Followers hold the power when it comes to what leadership can get subordinates to do. One must be accepted as a leader, not just a boss. In the reading, “Followers and the co-construction of leadership,” Susanne Kean discusses the different types of followership and the real power it subjectively has over leadership and other management outcomes in the workplace.

“Collinson (2005), drawing on Giddens research, asserts that asymmetrical power relations are a two-way process. Subordinates do resist, refuse or sidetrack attempts at leadership suggesting that the notion of leaders holding all the power is counterintuitive (Bratton et al. 2005).”7
Apparently, it is very important for leaders to gain the respect and trust of employees so that they will have no doubts about becoming willing followers. There will be no advancement of the organization until followers have accepted a leader and a general flow of tasks. According to the journal article, “Who Is Worthy of Being Followed? The Impact of Leaders’ Character and the Moderating Role of Followers’ Personality,” they discuss the importance of followers finding worth in the leader to accept their subordinate position in the organizational hierarchy. In a summary of the research, they addressed highlights of the impact of leader character on follower perception and behavior.
“The study of character found its way into leadership research through different kinds of leadership concepts. And indeed, there are some significant reasons for why character is worth studying and cannot be left out of the leadership equation. However, the explicit study of certain aspects of character is rare. Therefore, this study examined the impact of three aspects of leaders’ character (integrity, humility and forgiveness, and interest and gratitude) on followers’ perceptions of the leader 's worthiness of being followed, followers’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and followers’ voice behavior. In addition, the moderating effects of followers’ personality traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism) were examined. Data from 626 participants of a scenario experiment supported the impact of leaders’ character as well as the moderating impact of followers’ personalities.”8
The results supported the hypothesis that followers’ personality traits need to mesh with the leaders’ character to see the most success. Followers must feel like they are “handing off their power” to a leader that they can believe in and know that everything that is decided is in the best interest of the organization and its employees.
Leaders have a strong impact on the behavior and perceptions of followers, yet followers have a great deal of understated power. Most don’t realize that followers can impact leaders as well. In our textbook, “Leaders and the Leadership Process,” the writers discuss how followers can have an effect on leaders just as leaders are expected to have an effect on followers.
“There are sound theoretical bases for which one can argue that subordinate performance and, in addition, subordinate satisfaction can cause the leader to vary his style of leadership. For example, Katz and Stotland (1959) in their “functional view of attitudes” postulate that a person will develop positive attitudes toward objects which are instrumental to the satisfaction of his needs. This proposition can be applied to leader-subordinate relationships to the degree that the organization makes rewards bestowed on the leader contingent upon his subordinates’ performance; in such an organization, the leader may develop more positive attitudes toward his high performing subordinates. The expectation is that the person whose behavior causes another to be positively reinforced will in return be rewarded by the other. A further expectation is that low performance by a subordinate will cause the leader to restrict or to further specify the subordinates work activites (both are forms of increased initiating structure) in attempting to improve his performance and, further, to express disapproval (a form of reduced consideration). Conversely, the leader would be expected to see little need for structure and thus engage in less structuring behavior with the high performing subordinate and further, to show greater approval and concern for the subordinates own interests (both are forms of increased consideration). Similar predictions can be made about the influence of subordinate satisfaction on leader behavior to the extent that a subordinate’s expression of satisfaction with work is perceived as reinforcing to the leader.”9
Leadership is not a one way street for leaders. It is a very dependant situation in which there is give and take from leadership and followers to meet the requirements for daily tasks on the job. The information from the textbook basically expresses that the power given to the leader from the followers and subordinates can be manipulated over time. Just as the leaders’ behavior affects followers, followers’ output can affect leaders’ behavior. If a subordinate is performing very well at work, they might receive more positive reinforcement from the supervisor, thus make the leader’s behavior an effect of their performance. The good worker will most likely receive less hands on guidance because they have shown a certain level of dependability to the supervisor. If a worker is performing badly on the job, this will prompt the leader to suggest other methods to boost performance, thus provoking problem solving and or negative feedback behaviors from the leader. The leader might offer more directions on how things should be done to put the follower on the right track. Leaders will develop more transcending relationships with workers who affect their managerial outcomes. This could be indicative of an organizational situation where the supervisor or department gains recognition for the carrying out of specific tasks by the subordinate.
The reading also addresses the importance of consideration and satisfaction on subordinate performance. Consideration is the display of actual concern for the follower from the supervisor about things not necessarily related to workplace tasks, but more personal to the worker. This causes subordinate satisfaction because it inherently motivates the subordinate to continue working hard because they seem to be recognized by the “higher ups,” or supervisors of the organization as more than mere workhorse, but a person with a life and dynamic situations and interests. According to the text book,
“The “consideration-causes-subordinate satisfaction” coefficients were relatively strong (.40, .34, and .45, for three respective time periods; all p’s< .001) and considerably stronger than the SC cross-lagged coefficients….”10
This excerpt means that consideration and satisfaction are correlational. The relationship is numerically stronger when it comes to leaders who seem to care about the lives of their employees. This will increase motivation and eventually organizational satistfaction and productivity.
It would be very beneficial to the leadership process if leaders saw themselves as followers and vice versa. This would help to refresh the outlooks of both groups to improve overall understanding of the challenges that leaders and followers face daily. In the publication, “The Leader Follower Relationship,” they discuss some of the benefits of looking at these positions as interchangeable.
“Leaders and followers are more similar than different, and would do well to act that way. Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee (2002) described followership as the mirror image of leadership. Raelin (2003) cited a number of studies that point to a false dichotomy between leaders and followers. Amar (2001) described leadership and followership as intertwined concepts that cannot be separated from one another. In fact, the practice of Japanese business schools is to teach leadership and followership as two integrated facets (Amar, 2001). In practice, the distinction between leaders and followers appears small. Authors and consultants have exaggerated the differences between these two societal and organizational roles. To optimize effectiveness, leaders would benefit from “stepping down” and demonstrating greater collaboration, while followers need to “step up” and assert greater leadership. Perhaps a new model for the leader-follower interaction would be helpful.”11
Overall, my opinion is that followers are actually a type of leader. They dictate the outcomes virtually any situation in the workplace. This is simply because they are expected to carry out organizational tasks to the best of their ability, and have the option not to, based on the current climate of their organizational relationship with their leaders. Leaders sometimes forget the influence that they have was selectively given to them by the people whom they assign tasks. Followers, more importantly, can influence the way other people feel about working with your organization, which can affect profits and outside business relationships. “The Leader Follower Relationship” explains,
“In our experience, it is the follower who often contributes directly to organizational success. There’s the rental car counter employee who is so pleasant and cheerful that he has developed a following. There’s the municipal arts employee who philosophizes, “It takes just 10 percent more effort to get to a ‘yes’” and causes the organization to receive accolades for innovative programs. There’s the engineer who risks his job by speaking candidly to the firm’s president about problems in the field. Through articulating the desired characteristics for successful followership; by training, coaching and mentoring for successful followership; and by rewarding successful followership, organizations will become more successful.”12
The selected text expresses that the way followers choose to correspond with customers and other people on the job dictates what their following style most likely is. Varying following styles are very important to the organization as whole. It is vital to include as many different personalities in your workplace hierarchy as possible to ensure you are providing the most balanced and inclusive organizational structure. Followers arguably make the largest contribution to organizations due purely to their intrinsic ability to give power and adhere to it , as stated in another excerpt from “Followers and the co-construction of Leadership.”
“In other words, successful leadership is dependent on the actions and accomplishments of many within organizations (Goodwin 2006, Peck & Dickinson 2009, Yukl 2010).
Following is a complex process which was based on followers socially co-constructed views of leaders, the different ways they were doing following by, for example, supporting others or being diplomatic in suggesting changes and ideas from their own ranks, standing by, indicating disengagement with their leaders, or by actively resisting following because, for example, the change was not in the interest of nurses. In the light of current follower typologies, it is important to remember that followers do not necessarily fit into one category but might well move between categories, depending on the situation. This suggests a self-interest of followers which is influenced by their own and shared belief(s) and value(s) systems but also by the situational context. A key message for leaders in community nursing is therefore that successful leadership is the result of a co-constructed process between leaders and
followers.”13
I feel that followers are highly underrated, and through my experiences in the workplace I think all of the above information fully expresses the importance of that work group. Followers’ personality really does affect the leader relationship a great deal. As a self-proclaimed introvert when it comes to the workplace, I have experienced the strain of leadership relationships. According to previous research, it can be harder for those higher in consciousness and introversion to connect with leaders. I typically am very willing to complete tasks, but need some sort of guidance on when it is due and a preference on how to do it. This can complicate task delegation and consideration from leadership because statistaclly leaders show more consideration to those with high extraversion. This element holds true in my workplace as well, where those who are more open with the boss and handle task delegation more independently seem to be more well-liked or esteemed in the supervisor’s eyes.
I think one of the main reasons I chose this topic is because I always seem to fall into the followers’ category, unless it is a specific topic I know a great deal about. I always wondered if personality type was the main factor in leadership choices since I do relate more with introversion, but did not want to believe that the follower position would never be considered “as important” as being a leader. Through this research, I learned that followers are the building blocks to leadership, and if they aren’t properly recognized and trained to be good followers, the building will not serve its full purpose. Apparently, it is as important if not more important than leadership, and hopefully other businesses and organizations are able to understand that concept for the betterment of the people they employ and the resources they provide.

Bibliography
Grayson, Don, and Ryan Speckhart. 2006. "The Leader Follower Relationship." Leadership Advance Online (School of Leadership Studies, Regent University) (6).
Heller, T., and J. Van Til. 1982. "Leadership and Followership: Some Summary Propositions." Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 18 (3): 405-411.
Kalshoven, Karianne, Deanne N. Den Hartog, and Annebel H.B. De Hoogh. 2013. "Ethical Leadership and Follower Helping and Courtesy: Moral Awareness and Empathic Concern as Moderators. ." Applied Psychology: An International Review 62 (2): 211-235.
KEAN, SUSANNE. 2011. "Followers and the co-construction of leadership." Journal Of Nursing Management 19 (4): 507-516.
Liborius, Patrick. 2014. "Who Is Worthy of Being Followed? The Impact of Leaders’ Character and the Moderating Role of Followers’ Personality." BPA - Applied Psychology Bulletin (Bollettino di Psicologia Applicata) 148 (3): 347-385.
Pierce, Jon L., and John W Newstrom. 2011. Leaders and the Leadership Process: Readings, Self Assessments, and Applications, Sixth Edition. New York: McGraw Hill.
Weichun, Zhu, John J. Sosik, Ronald E. Riggio, and Yang Baiyin. 2012. "Relationships between Transformational and Active Transactional Leadership and Followers ' Organizational Identification: The Role of Psychological Empowerment." Journal Of Behavioral & Applied Management : Academic Search Premier, (Institude of Behavioral and Applied Management ) (3): 186-212.