Followership Concept: Impact on Leadership Practices Analysis

This literature review examines the concept of followership and its influence on leadership practices in the current business environment. The essay explores the importance of followership, emphasizing its role in facilitating leadership success and organizational effectiveness. It analyzes the advantages, such as improved communication and ethical behavior, and disadvantages, including potential conflicts and time consumption in decision-making. The analysis incorporates diverse perspectives from various authors, offering insights into the positive and negative impacts of followership on leadership effectiveness. The review concludes that while the concept of followership is critical for leadership, its effective implementation requires careful consideration of its potential challenges and benefits to maximize organizational outcomes.

Running head: CONCEPT OF FOLLOWERSHIP
Concept of followership
Name of the student
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Introduction
In the current business scenario, leadership roles are being determined by different
factors in line to the complex situations in the global business state of affairs. Leaders in the
present time should have to consider more diverse factors compared to what they had to a few
years ago. One of the major factors to be considered by the leaders in the current time is the
followership, which refers to the willingness of the subordinates of the leaders in accomplishing
the objective stated by the leaders and agreeing with the leadership vision. Thus, the concept of
followership reviews leadership theory from the different perspectives. However, it should be
noted that different authors have given different views and opinions regarding the concept of
followership and how it is having impact on the leadership approach and its importance.
This essay will critically analyze the concept of followership and its importance in the
business affairs. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of followership will also be
critically analyzed on the basis of different views of the different authors.
Importance of followership
It is important to have the proper understanding of the concept of followership prior to
determination of its advantages and disadvantages. One of the major importances of followership
is to ensure the success of the leadership role. As per Uhl-Bien, Lowe and Carsten (2014),
without the relevance of followership, the concept of the leadership will not get succeeded due to
the reason that without the followers in the form of subordinates, leaders will not be able to carry
forward their vision. For instance, in a business workplace, if the leaders are not having
followers to implement their objectives and strategies in place, then irrespective of the effective
approach of the leadership, it will not get succeeded in the workplace. Thus, it is important for

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the leaders as well as for the entire organization to have the effective followership in place for
effective implementation of the leadership vision and strategies. In this case, it is further stated
by Junker and van Dick (2014) that followership is also important for the proper organizational
settings. This is due to the reason that with the help of the followership in the workplace, the
relationship and bonding between the employees and the leaders will be efficient and it will
contribute in the effective internal management. This should also be noted that proper
followership concept will also ensure the productivity of the internal stakeholders. This is due to
the reason that the subordinates will ideally follow the stated approaches and strategic intents and
will reflect in better outcome.
Not only the followership will reduce the barriers for the leadership roles but also it will
enhance its effectiveness. Oc and Bashshur (2013) stated that with the help of the effective
followership concept, leadership roles in the workplace will get further enhanced and enriched.
In addition, the leadership roles if being ineffective can still offer better outcome with the
involvement of the effective followership. As per the authors, the feedback and citizenship
expected from the effective followers helps the leaders to witness greater effectiveness and
performance from their approaches. In comparison to the leaders with having same level of
effectiveness and efficiencies still show different intensity of productivity with different levels of
followership. Leaders with having lower level of followership will face difficulties in
implementing their approaches and strategies and vice versa. Thus, it can be concluded that
followership is having a major importance in the case of determination of the effectiveness of the
leadership.
However, on the other hand, there are different views also being identified and it is stated
by Ford and Harding (2018) that the theory of followership is more of fictional rather than

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having any practical influence on the leadership effectiveness. This is due to the reason that
followership is not depended on the leadership approaches and vice versa. The authors have also
stated that it is the suitability of the leadership roles, which influence the extent of followership
in the workplace and it is the effectiveness of the leaders to create influence among the
followers. Thus, as per these authors, the concept of followership is not more than any illusion.
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that different authors have different views
regarding the importance of followership in the workplace. However, the followership is still
relevant in the current workplace scenario and it is surely having influence on the effectiveness
of the leadership processes.
Positive impact of followership on leadership
Apart from the determination of the importance of followership, it is also important to
analyze the advantages that can be gained from having followership concept in the workplace.
As per Epitropaki et al. (2017), one of the major advantages that can be gained from having
followership is the judgment and critics of the leadership. It is important for leadership roles to
face the critics and judgment from the subordinates in order to review the effectiveness. The
more will be the judgment and critics for the certain leadership approaches, the more will be the
identification of the limitations. Thus, the leadership process will get enhanced in the long term.
In addition, it is further stated by Brumm and Drury (2013) that followership will also enable the
leadership roles in having better communication with the subordinates. This is due to the fact that
if the more will be the followership among the subordinates, the more they will be critical and
vocal towards the leadership approaches, which will ensure that the connection between the
leaders and their subordinates is getting more. Thus, with the enhancement of the connection

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between the lower and upper level management, the vision of the leadership will get more reach
and effectiveness in the workplace.
According to Foti et al. (2017), presence of followership will also have the advantage
over the leadership roles in terms of managing the work ethics. This is due to the reason that if
the unethical practices and processes are being promoted by the leadership roles in the
workplace, it will be detected by the followers and they will be vocal against it. The authors have
also stated that they will more vocal against the ill treatment of the employees in the workplace.
Hence, the probability of emergence of unethical practices in the leadership activities will get
lowered with the presence of followership. Effective implementation of the strategies stated and
planned by the leadership roles is also a major advantage of followership. According to
Malakyan (2014), the more effective will be the followership, the more it will get easier for the
leadership roles to get their strategies and vision followed in the workplace without any barriers
or resistances. This is due to the reason that in the case of effective followership, subordinates
will follow the strategies and vision of the leaders without any resistances and thus the
implementation process will get more effective and efficient. This is another advantage of having
effective followership and the extent to which it will have positive impact on the leadership.
Negative impacts of followership on leadership
Apart from the positive impacts of the followership on the leadership, there are few
negative impacts also being stated by different authors. One of the major negative impacts of the
followership will be the emergence of diverse views for the leaders. According to Dinh et al.
(2014), in the case of the followership, employees and the subordinates will come up with
different views, which will create further challenges of the leaders in implementing their vision.

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If the different subordinates are having different sets of feedback and views, then it will be a
complex situation for the leaders to ensure the consideration of the views of different employees.
On the other hand, it is stated by Carsten, Harms and Uhl-Bien (2014) that different views of the
subordinates will be complex due to the reason that if the consideration of one views of the
subordinate cannot be considered, then it will create dissatisfaction among them. This will affect
the entire process of the leadership. It can be concluded that followership can also bring complex
situation for the leaders in managing the employees.
It is stated by Junker et al. (2016) that followership can also cause issues between the
leaders and the subordinates. This is due to the reason that in the case of effective followership,
subordinates will be critical to the views and vision of the leaders. Thus, the probability of the
issued between the two will be more. As per the authors, the counter followership will also cause
major concern in the leadership roles because the employees will be critical in each of the vision
of the leaders and will create resistances in the process. Excessive critical of the leadership
approach will only reduce the effectiveness of the entire process. For example, the leadership
roles in a certain workplace initiated a change process in improving the internal effectiveness. In
this case, if the subordinates are offering views and feedbacks, then it will be beneficial for
enhancement of the change. However, if the subordinates get extremely critical and resistances
towards the vision of the leadership, then it will be difficult for the leadership to implement the
change and the relationship between the subordinates and the leaders will get affected.
According to Cunha et al. (2013), involvement of the followership will also increase the
time consumption in the decision making process. This is due to the reason that critical views of
the subordinates and consideration of these views by the leaders will cause more time
consumption in the decision making process. Thus, irrespective of the fact that leadership

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process is effective enough, the decision making process will involve more time consumption,
which will be further detrimental in the organizational effectiveness and efficiency. Hence, it can
be concluded that apart from the positive impacts of the followership, there are few negative
impacts also relevant in the process.
Conclusion
This essay concludes that followership is an inevitable and important aspect of the
modern day business scenario. This is due to the reason that without the presence and relevance
of followership, effectiveness of the leadership roles cannot be determined. The critical analysis
in this essay identified that the concept of followership is important for the leadership
effectiveness while there are few counter arguments also identified that termed this concept as
fictional. In addition, it is also identified that followership is having both positive and negative
impacts on the leadership. Both these factors are identified and it is important for the business
entities to ensure that followership in the workplace is complementing the leadership process
rather creating barriers for it. The more positive advantages of the followership can be explored,
the more will be the probability of witnessing the maximum effectiveness and suitability of the
leadership roles in the organization.

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Reference
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