case study

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ORG30002 – LEADERSHIP SKILLS AND PRACTICE

Topic: Followership

Week 8/S1- Workshop

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Great followership has never been more important, if only because of the seriousness of the global problems we face and the fact that they must be solved collaboratively, not by leaders alone, but by leaders working in tandem with able and dedicated followers – Warren Bennis -

2008:xxvi

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• Leadership requires followers, and any understanding of leadership is incomplete without the agency of followers(Brown, 2018)

• Followers are not passive sheep but are active powerful players in the leadership process (Collinson 2006)

FRAMEWORK FOR CONTINGENCY LEADERSHIP VARIABLES

• Effective leaders have an appropriate fit between the leader’s behavior and style and the followers and the situation.

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Fiedler’s Contingency Theory Of Leadership Effectiveness

• Fred E. Fiedler developed a contingency model that holds that the best style of leadership is determined by the situation in which the leader is working

• Fiedler’s theory classifies a manager’s leadership style as relationship-motivated or task-motivated

• The intermediate style, which receives little mention is labeled socio-independent

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Measuring Leadership Style: The Least Preferred Co-worker Scale

• According to Fiedler, leadership style is a relatively permanent aspect of behaviour and thus difficult to modify

• The least preferred coworker (LPQ scale) measures the degree to which a leader describes favourably or unfavourably an employee with whom he or she could work the least well

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Measuring The Situation

 Leadership situations are classified as high, moderate, or low control

 More controllable situations are viewed as more favorable for the leader

 Control is determined by three dimensions: • Leader-member relations

• Task structure

• Position power

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Leader – Member Exchange (LMX) Theory

In most leadership situations not every follower is treated the same by the leader. Leaders and followers develop dyadic relationships and leaders treat individual followers differently, resulting in two groups of followers an in -group & an out- group

• The in-group consists of a small number of trusted followers with whom the leader usually establishes a special higher quality exchange relationship

• The out-group includes the followers with whom the relationship of the leader remains more formal

Leaders who adapt their style to different individuals within the group, or have different quality relationships with individual group members, are essentially practicing contingency leadership

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LMX CONCLUSIONS

• Leaders tend to give members of their in-group more favorable performance ratings than they give to out-group members, even when objective performance is the same.

• Leaders do not always develop entirely different relationships with each group member, but may respond the same way to a few members of the group.

• Larger groups tend to result in differences with respect to leader-member exchanges.

• Managers are more likely to use servant leadership in groups with whom the leader has high-quality exchanges.

• Leaders are more likely to use empowerment with group members with whom they have high-quality exchanges.

• LMX quality median influences how leader-member exchanges and differentiation affect team performance.

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What Is Followership?

• Followership is the ability to effectively follow the directives and support the efforts of a leader to maximize a structured organization - Bjugstad et al. (2006:304)

• Followership is a process in which subordinates recognize their responsibility to comply with the orders of leaders and take appropriate action consistent with the situation to carry out those orders to the best of their ability - Townsend and Gebhart (1997:52).

• Leaders and followers, in any context, share a common fate of responsibility for their family, group, organization, or nation. From their joint participation emerges the success or failure of their enterprise - Heller and van Til(1982: 406).

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The Art Of Followership

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What Your Leader Wants From You?

• A make-it happen attitude

• A willingness to collaborate

• The motivation to stay Up-to date

• The Passion to Drive your own Growth

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Strategies For Managing Up

• Understand the Leader

• Does the leader wants all details (micro-manage)or just a bigger picture?

• Is the leader controlling or empowering?

• Does the leader like to carefully analyse information and alternatives before making a decision?

• Is the leader a reader or listener?

• Is the leader a numbers or word person?

• Is the leader an extrovert or introvert?

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Tactics For Managing Up

• Be a resource for the Leader

• Help the leader to be a good leader

• Build a relationship with the leader

• View the leader realistically

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The Power And Courage To Manage Up

• Sources of Power - Personal and Position

• Necessary Courage to Manage Up

• The courage to assume responsibility

• The courage to participate in transformation

• The courage to serve

• The courage to leave

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What Followers Want From Leaders?

• Clarity of direction

• Opportunities for Growth

• Frequent, specific, and immediate Feedback

• Make it timely

• Focus on the performance not the person

• Make it specific

• Focus on the desired future

• Protection from the Organisational intrusion

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Rank Order Of Desirable Characteristics

Desirable Leaders are…. Desirable followers are…

Honest Honest

Forward thinking Cooperative

Inspiring Dependable

Competent Competent

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Source: Kouzes & Pozner(1993). Credibility: How leaders Gain and Lose it. Why people demand it. p.255.

as in Daft (2018).

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Typologies of Followers

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Typology of followership – Kelly, 1992

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Kouzes And Posner’s Transformational Leadership Model

Leadership practices include:

❖ Challenging the process

❖ Inspiring a shared vision

❖ Enabling others to act

❖ Modelling the way

❖ Encouraging the heart

(Source: Kouzes and Posner (2002), Leadership Challenge, 3rd edn, Jossey-Bass, san Francisco, CA.)

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Implicit Personality Theory Implicit Personality Theory(IPT) is a set of concepts and assumptions that we use to describe compare and understand people.

• IPT refers to co-occurrence expectancies among traits and behaviours;

• For example, individuals expect, that talkative people are sociable as well; or

• Friendly people are not liars

• Two traditions are represented in the notion of implicit personality theory.

• The first concerns the role of general bias in judgments of others, and the second has to do with individual differences in person perception.

• A second major tradition has been more concerned with individual differences among perceivers.

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Bass And Steidlmeier’s (1999) Authentic And Pseudo-transformational Leadership.

Authentic transformational leadership – Ideals for

their followers

Pseudo-transformational leadership –

Idols of their followers

Charisma or

idealised

influence

Env isioning, confident, sets high standards for emulation.

Values: universal brotherhood. Promote ethical policies, procedures and processes. M ust ‘ev entuate in the

internalization in all the organization’s members of shared moral standards’

Seek power and position, and indulge in fantasies of power and success.

Values: flamboyant, fictitious we-they relationships that divide. Inconsistent and unreliable. False to organisation’s purpose. Outer shell of authenticity but it is a

mask

Inspirational

motivation

Focus on the best in people, and harmony, charity and good

works. Empowerment to transform the person. Inwardly and outwardly concerned about the good of ev eryone.

Focuses on the worst in people, on demonic plots, conspiracies, unreal dangers,

excuses and insecurities. Talk about empowerment but only to seek control. M ay give impression of

concern for the good, may be idealized by their followers, but inwardly concerned only about the good for themselves

Intellectual

stimulation

Openness, with a transcendent and spiritual dimension, allows

followers to question assumptions and generate more creative solutions. Altruism is a fundamental question.

Use persuasion to conv ince others on the merits of issues. Bring about change in followers’ v alues by the merit and relevancy

of their ideas.

Uses a logic of false assumptions to ‘slay the dragons’ of uncertainty, take credit

for other’s ideas, scapegoat them for failure. Use anecdotes rather than hard ev idence. Impostors who feed on the ignorance

of their followers. M anipulate the v alues of followers. Only does the right thing when it coincides with their self-interest.

Intolerant of other v iews, substituting emotional argumentation for rational discourse

Individualized

consideration

Underscores necessity of altruism. Treats each follower as an

individual, coaches and mentors. Concerned about dev eloping their followers into leaders.

Promote attainable shared goals. Helps followers to dev elop their leadership skills.

Channel their need for power into the serv ice of others.

Concerned with maintaining the dependence of their followers. Exploit followers’

feelings to maintain deference. Expect blind obedience.

Encourage fantasy and magic. Foments fav ouritism and competition among followers. Seeks a parent–child relationship.

Uses power for self-aggrandisement. Privately scathing of those they are ‘supposed to be serving as leaders’.

Public image (that of sav iours) contradicts their private selves.Diana@2020

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There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it - Edith Wharton (1862 - 1937)

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