The Importance of Followers

Gordon Lam in his blog post raised a very interesting issue. The media, history and textbooks have long focused on the importance of leaders. However, there is no leader without followers and thus followers are equally important. Our professor showed us a video in class. The video portrayed people who were sitting on the grass in the middle of a sunny day when a person decided to start dancing. For some time, he was dancing on his own, so it seemed like he was embarrassing himself. This all changed when a few followers joined him. Then within a few minutes his dance became a massive event full of people who seemed to enjoy themselves. At that point the people outside the dance were outsiders. This outlines the importance of followers, because without them, there is no group.

Gordon Lam points out that although “everyone aspires to be a leader,” “there must be followers.” Followers can be leader themselves and may have followers of their own, which is often the case in organization. Followers can also depend on one another, which another form of power. Gordon explain that followers do not have to agree with everything the leaders say. In contrast, if they absolutely disagree with the leader’s decision, they can threaten the leader, if not the entire organization or government, by stop working. An example is Apple. Although Steve Jobs was the leader of the organisation, if it wasn’t for the engineers and the rest of the employees with the know-how and the expertise, the iPhone would have never been built. Thus the threat of employees going on strike, gives them a lot of power over the decision making process.

The leader’s job is to make the followers willing to follow him. Effective leaders enable their employees to feel useful, included and unique. As Harper Zhou mentions in her blog, in Eastern cultures such as China and India “leaders often maintain a supreme power over the decision-making power.” While in western cultures where “individualism” and individual traits are valued more, leaders tend to me more “democratic”. The leader’s behavior is important because it determines willing followers are to follow and thus how functionalthe firm is.

7 thoughts on “The Importance of Followers

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  3. Hanna Kay

    Lam further emphasizes that followership entails agency and influence, as seen in examples like employees in organizations having the ability to challenge leaders through actions like strikes. This underscores the interdependence between leaders and followers, where each holds sway over the other’s decisions and actions. For individuals seeking guidance or resources on understanding this interplay, resources like hrm thesis help services can offer valuable insights and support.

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