Summation Paper 1
Summation Paper
Benjamin Kim
Liberty University
MGMT 501 – Executive Leadership and Management
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Introduction
Throughout the course, Executive Leadership and Management, there was a lot of
material covered, but it all came back to the same foundations – leadership, foundation, and to a
slightly lesser degree, followership. The purpose of this paper is to take what was learned from
this course and apply it to examine previous employment situations. With the knowledge gained
from this class, the concepts of followership, power types, and leadership styles will be
examined, evaluated, and improvements will be suggested for a recent employer. My previous
place of employment was academic medical research, where many projects were studied and
researched across a variety of subject matters.
Concepts affecting my company
Three concepts that will be addressed are followership, power types, and leadership style.
Followership
Without followers, there is no leader. An organization’s success will depend not only on
the leader, but also on the followers. The importance of followership for an organization is that
“by mastering the role of followership, a subordinate prepares for the role of leadership”
(Satterlee, 2018, p.7). Not only is the relationship between follower and leader important and
necessary for an organization, but more importantly, the transition from follower to leader makes
the concept of followership so critical. Adding to the importance of effective and positive
followership is the recent trends of “flattening organizational structures and the growing
proportion of high-skilled workers” (Brutus & Vanhove, 2017, p.261). These growing trends are
resulting in those in follower roles being expected to fulfill the responsibilities previously placed
only upon those in leadership roles. As a result of the flatter organizations, greater expectations
for self-managed followers and teams have arisen (Brutus & Vanhove, 2017).
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The concept of transitioning a follower to a leader is the important point to focus on here.
In our lab, we took on many different research projects, covering a range of different subjects.
However, the decisions for which projects the lab took on were all decided by the principal
investigator. This structure can lead to subordinates who end up being very dependent on the
principal investigator because they have no mastery over the subject projects. Followership will
be critical in this scenario in order to achieve efficiency and effective operation in the lab without
an overdependence on the principal investigator. This will allow more projects to be taken on for
the lab and thus greater progress to be made. This was however, not the case in our lab as
members simply did no more than just what they were told to do. Thereby creating a system that
was heavily dependent on the leader, the principal investigator, to be actively involved in every
project. This is the change that should have been made – for followers in the lab to master the
role of followership so that they can take on the roles of leadership.
Power types
In the relationship between manager and the workers, there also exists the exercise of
power to make the workers behave a certain way. According to Satterlee (2018), there are five
types of power: legitimate power, reward power, coercive power, expert power, and referent
power. To briefly explain, legitimate power exists in the title of manager; reward power exists in
the ability to give (or withhold) something to a worker as a reward; coercive power is the ability
to force compliance; expert power exists due to possession of special knowledge, skill or ability;
and referent power exists due to the traits and characteristics of a person.
With the use of power, if possible, it can be beneficial to exercise different power types
when dealing with different followers and situations. Not all followers and not all situations can
and should be approached in the same manner. Each power type has its use and advantage and a
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good leader should be able to evaluate the situation and individuals correctly and exercise the
right power types accordingly. Power “can be a major determinant in the success or otherwise of
collaborative arrangements” (Saito & Ruhanen, 2017, p.189). In our lab, there were many
collaborative projects we were involved in that unfortunately experienced many more
complications and tensions than were necessary. Situations where more persuasive powers, along
the lines of expert power, could have been used, every situation was always approached only
with legitimate power. This improper and incomplete use of the various power types resulted in
limited success.
Leadership styles
When it comes to leadership, there are different forms of leadership practiced. Different
leadership paths can vary in their styles, relations to subordinates, types of power used,
orientations, and several other factors. Some of the more common and prevalent leadership styles
exercised are transactional leadership and transformational leadership. These two leadership
styles operate on opposite ends of the spectrum – transformational leaders are more dynamic,
focusing on the individuals rather than the tasks, while transactional leaders are more rigid with a
reward-for-performance perspective (Satterlee, 2018). Some of the other leadership styles
discussed in our textbook (Satterlee, 2018) are servant leadership, principle-centered leadership,
change leadership, and ethical leadership. Principle-centered leadership emphasizes core values
and principles that are aligned with the organization. Change leadership is founded on the idea
that change must always occur and it is the responsibility of change leaders to help guide and
change attitudes towards the desired change state. Ethical leaders place the focus on how
ethically leadership is carried out.
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The importance of leadership cannot be stressed enough as it will play a major role in
influencing the success and performance of an organization. Anderson & Sun (2017) review the
various leadership styles, but give priority to the two major leadership styles – transformational
and transactional. Every situation and environment can have optimal leadership styles that would
most benefit the organization and followers. The principal investigator in our lab functioned as a
transactional leader, always keeping a very active monitor on every project and every process
happening in the lab. What resulted was a lot of disorderly chaos because it was simply too much
for the number of projects we had taken on. For a more optimal and better operation in our
context, a transformational leadership style would have been more ideal, where the subordinates
could have been raised and developed to be more capable so that the principal investigator
wouldn’t have to always be so involved.
Conclusion
With all the knowledge gained from this course, there is a new perspective and viewpoint
gained especially looking at organizational settings with leader-follower dynamics. There are
many factors to be considered, from both sides – leaders and followers. It all starts with the
leader and the type of leadership style he exercises. Obviously, not everyone is capable of every
leadership style, but some can be learned, whereas others just are innate. However, whatever the
situation might be, it is important to be able to examine and evaluate what type of leadership
would be optimal for a given situation. Likewise, from a leader’s end, the way they exercise their
power can make all the differences in the effectiveness and successful implementation of that
power. It doesn’t all rest on the leader though, followers have their roles to play as well.
Depending on what type of follower they choose to be, they can either help build the
organization or watch and be a part of it slowly but surely going towards failure. Having the
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knowledge gained from this course, I feel more prepared with regards to being able to think and
consider more deeply and vastly about what it would take for an organization to be successful.
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References
Anderson, M.H., Sun, P.Y.T. (2017). Reviewing leadership styles: Overlaps and the need for a
new ‘full-range’ theory. International Journal of Management Review, 19. 76-96.
https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1111/ijmr.12082
Brutus T., & Vanhove A. (2017) Leading by serving: Redefining the roles of leaders and
followers in today’s workplace. In Davis C. (Ed.) Servant Leadership and Followership.
Palgrave Studies in Leadership and Followership (261-288). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59366-1_11
Saito, H., Ruhanen, L. (2017). Power in tourism stakeholder collaborations: Power types and
power holders, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 31. 189-196. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1016/j.jhtm.2017.01.001
Satterlee, A. (2018). Organizational management and leadership: A Christian perspective (Third
edition). Raleigh, NC. Synergistics International.
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