Another look at Robert E. Kelley’s “In Praise of Followers” Essay

The workforce within any organization is the engine that keeps the business moving forward. Positive leadership, as well as effective and competent following, could be the difference between success and failure for a business. Effective leadership and followers should have a symbiotic relationship, which is the most effective way a business will meet its goals. It can be seen within Jake’s Pet Land case study that there truly is a difference between leadership styles amongst different leaders. While Philip and Jan took a different approach to being a leader, Adam’s role of the follower stayed the same. Adam continued to exemplify the best characteristics possible as a follower in order to make the business as

In followership there needs to be a leader that inspires and bonds followers together as a unit moving in one direction. Today’s leader has to be more than someone that was placed in a position of authority, a person with a title and a higher salary level. A real leader is found when the behaviors and attitudes of their

Followership can be defined as the willingness to follow a leader, to work effectively as a team member, and exhibit loyalty to the leaders. Cadets exhibiting followership should not be afraid to ask for help from their leaders in order to improve themselves. When a follower feels the need to voice differences of opinions, it should be done so respectively.

Many times in life, we are convinced that leaders rise from the ground, pulling the rest of us up to meet them. Followers are portrayed as decorations to help enhance the leader. The relationship between them, however, is more closely resembling a tower. Followers support and build up to a major cause with the leader at the top, the figurehead of their ideals. The ideal leader is the ideal follower, which helps to portray outwards the qualities they're looking for and the goals they have. The difficulty arises when today's society raises everyone to believe that they must be a leader or they're a loser. As Reese Bobby in Talladega Nights said, "If you're not first, you're last." During my time on the girl's golf team, I was in no way the best

Effective followership is an essential component of effective leadership in that, without good followers, the leader’s work is difficult and cumbersome. The role of the follower is many times understated. As illustrated by Kelley (1998), “effective followers are thinkers; energetic and assertive, self-starters, independent problem solvers, and carry out their tasks with these characteristics (p. 143). Effective followers also are characterized by their ability to perform tasks with little supervision, their intelligence, and ability to think for themselves. We are all followers, even those who consider themselves leaders; so to encourage this effectiveness in others; we must be role models for those under us, so that they may also be effective at following. Chaleff (2009) observed that “all important social accomplishments require complex

In our book, "Followers are subordinates who have less power, authority, and influence than do their superiors, and who therefore usually, but not invariably, fall into line."

First, the passive people are not followers, which are different from the concept of other leadership theories. Other leadership theories are based on the organizations that hiring people instead of letting people do free participation. (so that) Therefore, those theories classify passive people as sheep followers. (Contrast) Instead, Dr. Rost’s statement emphasizes on an interactive relationship that if people are not active, they are not followers.

Followers help leaders manifest their vision. Successful followers (supporters or team members) come in a wide variety of personal characteristics. There are people who may be good followers who do not make good leaders or even want to be leaders, but there are no good leaders who are not good followers. A good leader was once a follower. Without followers there is no leadership in any organization. Leaders can develop effective followers as followers develop effective leaders. The performance of followers and leaders of an organization are variables that depend on one another. Both roles are proactive together they can

The current context of work, leadership, and followership is positioned in progressively multifaceted, uncertain, and dynamic business backgrounds with multiple realities founded upon various values, priorities, and requirements. The actual encounters demanded by globalization, amplified competition, far-reaching sociocultural and technological growths, and the acceleration of changes that are conveying new intricacies for organizations (Küpers, 2007).

The role of the follower and the quality of the relationship itself are informally negotiated between followers and their leaders over time (Gils, Quaquebeke, & Knippenberg, 2009). Based on the LMX theory, leaders build a special relationship with an inner circle, or “in-group”, of followers, who often get high levels of responsibility and access to resources. The in-group members work harder and are more committed to task objectives. They are also expected to be totally committed and loyal to their leader. Conversely, other followers fall in the “out-group" and are given low levels of choice or influence. Aggression, sarcasm and a self-centered view are qualities seen in the out-group. The quality of the LMX relationship varies and is better when the challenge of the job is extremely high or extremely low (Graen et al., 1982).

Overall, this assessment reveals both strengths and weaknesses from which I can learn and improve my effectiveness as a follower. From Kelley’s questionnaire, it can be seen that my strengths are commitment, enthusiasm for what I do, ability to make myself valuable, and understanding my leaders’ needs and desires. Conversely, my weaknesses in following can be summed up in a lack of initiative--a lack of initiative in bringing new ideas to the table, asking questions to gain a better understanding, and challenging other’s thinking when

2. Followership should be viewed as an active skill that must be developed in order to be considered an effective follower. According to the Air and Space Power Journal (Winter 2004), followership is considered a discipline that when viewed from a professional perspective is considered both an art and a science, requiring a balance between the development of skills and the understanding of followership roles within a professional

Leadership has been studied extensively and many varying definitions exist. Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy (2015, p.4) review many of these definitions and consequently describe leadership as ‘the process of influencing an organised group towards its goals’. Leadership involves the interplay of a range of different factors, not least the leader themselves, the followers and the situation. For

The study in to the area of followership has been overshadowed by leadership for many years, and continues to lack in research studies to examine this important topic. American culture may be partly responsible for “follower” having a negative connotation. Sayings like “always a leader, never a follower” help to reinforce this idea. Leaders are looked upon as an elite class, while followers are viewed as people who did not achieve.

Chapter one portrays the importance on followers and provides some insight and labels different types of followers. Riggio et al (2008), provides examples on the various styles of individuals as followers, for instance, the sheep, the yes-people, the alienated, the pragmatics, and the star followers. Furthermore, these classes of followers provide a better understanding to leaders on why one performs in an organization.