Leader Member Exchange Theory : Leadership Essay

The Jake’s Pet Land case study is an example of leadership and follower situations, highlighting the key points of each role within an organization. This case is a study on how the leader-member exchange (LMX) impacts the outcomes of workplaces. According to Daft, LMX is individualized leader model that explores how the relationship between leader and follower develops over time and how the quality of the exchange relationship affects outcomes (Daft, 2015, p. 54). The LMX in many cases is the foundation an organization is built upon, because of this comes a great understanding between management and subordinates. There is a massive difference between being a manager and an effective leader, and throughout Jake’s Pet Land case study this notion is very evident.

Followers create the influence necessary for a leader to have authority. Without it the organization will stagnate.

The leader-member exchange theory often referred to as LMX, is a management theory which analyzes the relationship maintained between the manager or the leader and the members or subordinates within a group and organization. It further explains how this relation can either help the firm in growing or hold it back to its current position.

Antecedents that influence leadership include factors such as the leader’s personality and ethics, followers’ openness, and cultural norms. Furthermore, the leader’s behaviors affect the process. For example, a leader needs to be knowledgeable regarding an organization’s goals to effectively address and handle difficult situations. A servant leader assists followers in achieving purposes. A leader treats followers fairly and respects personal values. The leader helps followers learn to make choices. An ideal outcome is a favorable effect on the followers, organization, and community. The leader can determine which needs will help followers progress and plan to meet those needs through developing programs or obtaining funding (Northouse, 2016).Servant leadership is important for management because it affects employee’s productivity. While a manager requires work to be completed and appears unconcerned if an employee has a problem, the servant leader may help a follower so he or she can work successfully. For example, although a manager may penalize an employee for arriving late, a servant leader may ask the employee what he or she needs to arrive to work on time. After the leader and the employee successfully collaborate, the effect is that the manager is appeased and the employee keeps a job. A servant leader can help employees develop a supportive community

Adam and Phillip had a good leader-member exchange (LMX) relationship. It appeared that Phillip had established an in-group exchange relationship with his employees, which resulted in them having similar characteristics, one of which was a dedication to customer satisfaction. The benefits of having a good LMX relationship for the follower include more interesting assignments, greater authority, and tangible rewards such as pay increases. For the leader, benefits include increased effort and initiative of followers to carry out assignments and tasks successfully (Daft, 2015, pg. 54).

The book, Followership How followers are creating change and changing leaders, by Barbara Kellerman, publisher Harvard Business Press details an interpretation of followers with his or hers correlation to their managers. Kellerman portrays through her book from the leader-centric approach, which govern work on supervision and leadership. However, the book describes examples how a leader typically have power, authority, and influence over a stakeholder in settings of public, private and non-profit organizations sectors (Kellerman, 2008).

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

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 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).

Leadership is a process of influencing activities of a particular group of people with the aim of attaining certain stipulated goals. In defining leadership there is need to consider a particular group, the common goals and the duties that are allocated to specific members of the group depending on their abilities (Fiedler 1976). Leadership therefore cannot successfully occur unless members of the group are given different considerations in terms of personality, traits and responsibilities. In considering leadership, it is important to look at the leader, the group or organization they are leading, the members as individuals and the situation; these are

According to the leader-member exchange theory the relationship between leader and the member develops over a period of time.

As a good follower, I need to accept responsibility and I need to be aware of the tasks that I have to take on. I have to readily support my leader at all times and I should be able to voice my opinions to my leader in a very supportive way. Leaders can only lead an organization successfully if they have personalities that appeal to their followers. The individual reflection and big five

Although trait and skill theories have ideas that can be intertwined and can be compared

Many researchers have empirically found that LMX quality is quite unstable over time, in other words, relationships can develop and worsen over time (Bauer and Green, 1996; Epitropaki and Martin, 2005). Eberly et al. (2011, 2017) suggest that relational attributions can assist to figure out the circumstances where leader who trigger relational improvement behaviors would be inspired to develop an existing relationship rather than external or internal attributions, consequently help provide how LMX quality may be maintained and improved. Therefore, I hypothesize that

The leader and follower relationship is looked at as winners and losers, when it is actually a symbiotic association. (Chaleff) Leaders cannot exist without followers and followers cannot exist without a leader. Leaders can forget that they need the backing of a solid team of followers in order to succeed. Because they make the “important” decisions and enjoy an astronomical rate of pay, it is easy to overlook the loyal, hard working individuals that make everything happen under them. Followers too can forget that they are a valuable element of a successful organization, and that their feedback and ideas are welcome.