data summary
Research Question 1: How do individuals who have held subordinate roles view the role of follower?
the data…
- Subjects (generally) view followers:
- mostly mundane
- do as told
- as a “less than” position
- as subject to the direction of leaders without input
- having a duty to “serve” their employer
- Individuals with prior leader roles (generally) saw follower roles as supportive opposed to obedient
- Follower’s reported high expectations for their own attitudes and behaviors, even when they were dependent on supervisor interaction for duty performance. They generally reported high levels of commitment to a strong work ethic, maintaining credibility, discipline, and doing their best as their most common expectations for themselves.
- Followers reported that their supervisors provided technical job expectations to them either verbally or in writing and provided follow-up accordingly. All participants reported that their employers did not address attitude or values driven expectations like respect, discipline, timeliness, loyalty, team player, etc. Most expressed that these attitudes and values were implied, which may contribute to the absence of feedback in these areas.
- Supervisor expectations – technical requirements and legal/ethical information were provided in writing when employed by a large corporation and provided verbally in small businesses. No examples of supervisor expression of non-technical skills such as integrity, communication, loyalty, initiative, respect, etc.
Research Question 2: How do individuals who have held follower roles understand the term followership?
the data…
- Experience with the term: Through inductive reasoning, most participants concluded that followership was complimentary to leadership.
- Of 13 interview subjects, only one had prior knowledge of “followership” through a corporate mentorship program.
- Four participants related (inductively constructed) followership and leadership as a cooperative relationship based on attitudes centered on organizational or task success, the balance either did not know or conflated leader/follower with leadership/followership.
- Three participants who personally constructed a definition for the term “followership,” equated the term with “work ethic,” and provided no expression of commitment to higher objectives.
conclusion
This foundation building study found that participants generally held a negative view of the term “follower,” while simultaneously inductively providing a very complimentary view of “followership.” Considering these findings, it is clear that opportunity exists in civic, academic, relationship, business and other organizational settings to introduce followership development programs, similar to leadership development programs, that reinforce the positive views of followership attitude to shape the behavior of people in follower or peer roles.
adapted research proposal adapted literature review colloquium poster
followership 