¶ … Leadership Followership, Types and the Workplace

Leaders in organizations in the past used to wield all the powers and employees performed strict and routine functions and obeyed orders like machines (Curphy & Roellig, 2008). But changes and developments in the last 40 years led organizations to expect more from employees. Other factors contributed greatly to a change in the nature of following. These are new and successive waves of workers, increasing levels of education and expertise, globalization, the flattening of organizations and frequent changes in careers and transfers between organizations. There is a new breed of followers today that organizations must contend with. But the fundamental contentions are that everyone is a follower and that followers make things happen in an organization (Curphy & Roellig).

Science assumes from evidence that most people choose to follow because it is more profitable or convenient to do so than to do things alone or easier than to fight to become the leader. Followers stay where they are until it is no longer profitable or when they move to other organizations. In the workplace, followers and leaders have different motivations. A leader aims at maximizing the group's financial performance and shape. The follower, on the other, focuses on job security (Curphy & Roellig).

Types

Robert Kelley (2003 as qtd in Heremuru, 2011) enumerates the different types of followers as conformists, pragmatists, passivists, and exemplary. Each type seems to develop out of an unmet need and mistrust of a leader's style. Conformist followers will not challenge organizational standards and expectations for fear of punishment. They cannot function well in a changing organizational climate. Pragmatic followers are creations of an unstable organization. They choose to obey and remain subservient in order to keep their jobs. Passive followers do...

And exemplary followers are those who are proactive and creative as well as creative. They innovate and use their talents for the good of the organization (Heremuru).
I believe I am an exemplary follower. I make suggestions to our department head or manager on how to improve our work or systems. My suggestions are evaluated by our boss and sometimes implemented.

The Curphy-Roellig Model

It is made up of two dimensions, namely critical thinking and engagement (Curphy & Roellig, 2008). Critical thinking involves the follower's ability to challenge accepted practices and beliefs; distinguish what is important and what is not; ask useful questions; perceive problems; and suggest sensible solutions. Engagement refers to the level of effort placed into work. It uses four groups of followers, namely, criticizers, self-starters, slackers and brown-nosers . Self-starters are part of the high-performing team. They are always thinking and characteristically impatient. Brown-nosers are loyal employees who will do whatever their leader tells them, do not question his decisions and are highly dependent on him for their own success. Slackers are un-motivated employees who do not exert much effort to perform. They, in fact, avoid tasks as far as possible. They are also called stealth employees. And criticizers are employees who are strongly motivated to find fault in anything their leader does. They are sensitive to anything wrong that happens in the organization (Curphy & Roellig).

Steps

A leader should be able to detect followers and their different types as the organization passes through different stages ((Heremuru, 2011). The leader can adjust his leadership style to help followers or employees contribute to the success of the organization. The first is the entrepreneur stage, which requires creative…