This paper examines the concept of followership in modern organizations, tracing how shifts in workforce demographics, education, and globalization have transformed the follower's role. Drawing on Robert Kelley's follower typology and the Curphy-Roellig two-dimensional model, the paper categorizes followers as conformists, pragmatists, passivists, exemplary types, self-starters, brown-nosers, slackers, and criticizers. It further outlines the developmental stages through which leaders can cultivate effective followership and identifies key obstacles leaders face in doing so. The paper concludes by addressing the importance of a global mindset in shaping followers who can operate across cultural boundaries.
Leaders in organizations of the past wielded all the power, while employees performed strict, routine functions and obeyed orders like machines (Curphy & Roellig, 2008). However, changes and developments over the last 40 years have led organizations to expect far more from employees. Several factors contributed greatly to a shift in the nature of following: successive waves of new workers, increasing levels of education and expertise, globalization, the flattening of organizational hierarchies, and frequent career changes and transfers between organizations. There is a new breed of followers today that organizations must contend with. The fundamental contentions remain, however, that everyone is a follower and that followers are the ones who 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 act alone, or easier than fighting to become the leader. Followers stay where they are until it is no longer profitable or until 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 overall direction, while the follower, on the other hand, focuses primarily on job security (Curphy & Roellig).
Robert Kelley (2003, as cited in Heremuru, 2011) enumerates four types of followers: conformists, pragmatists, passivists, and exemplary followers. Each type appears to develop out of an unmet need or a mistrust of a leader's style. Conformist followers will not challenge organizational standards and expectations for fear of punishment, and they cannot function well in a changing organizational climate. Pragmatic followers are products of an unstable organization; they choose to obey and remain subservient in order to keep their jobs. Passive followers lack a sense of autonomy, which makes them comfortable being led. Exemplary followers, by contrast, are proactive, creative, and innovative — they use their talents for the good of the organization (Heremuru).
An exemplary follower, for instance, might make suggestions to a department head or manager on how to improve systems or workflows. Those suggestions are then evaluated by leadership and, when sound, implemented — demonstrating the kind of proactive contribution that defines this follower type.
The Curphy-Roellig model is built on two dimensions: critical thinking and engagement (Curphy & Roellig, 2008). Critical thinking involves a follower's ability to challenge accepted practices and beliefs, distinguish what is important from what is not, ask useful questions, identify problems, and suggest sensible solutions. Engagement refers to the level of effort a follower invests in their work. Using these two dimensions, the model identifies four groups of followers: self-starters, brown-nosers, slackers, and criticizers.
Self-starters are part of the high-performing team — always thinking and characteristically impatient. Brown-nosers are loyal employees who will do whatever their leader tells them; they do not question decisions and are highly dependent on the leader for their own success. Slackers are unmotivated employees who exert minimal effort and avoid tasks whenever possible — sometimes called "stealth employees." Criticizers are strongly motivated to find fault in everything their leader does and are highly sensitive to organizational problems (Curphy & Roellig).
"Three organizational stages for cultivating followers"
"Challenges leaders face building effective follower teams"
"Global mindset and cross-cultural follower development"
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