Leadership and Followership

LEADERSHIP AND FOLLOWERSHIP While the focus of understanding leadership has typically been understanding who a leader is, what characteristics are possessed by the leader, what a leader does, and the match between leadership behaviour and the situation, a more recent trend in the leadership literature is to understand that leadership does not function in isolation - rather, it is part of a dyadic relationship with followership. The leader comes to rely on those who provide this support, which in turn can provide a positive exchange for both leader and follower. [...]followership can actually direct leadership through its expectations and can also, in part, explain leadership behaviours and effectiveness (Wang, Van Iddekinge, Zhang, & Bishoff, 2018). Sometimes leadership is given based on an expectation that there will be a reward provided for following a particular individual; or alternatively, in some cases, leadership is given through fear that there will be punishment or retribution if followership is not provided. [...]expectations inherent in particular situations can impact who is chosen to be a leader and the extent to which others are willing to follow that individual. LEARNING ABOUT LEADERSHIP AND FOLLOWERSHIP While every individual holds implicit ideas of what leadership is and is not, and what makes leadership a success or a failure, examining leadership through the lens of research helps to establish more generalized views of leadership, and can also aid in understanding how followership develops, and the role of followership in developing leadership.