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Less followership, less leadership? An inquiry into the basic but seemingly forgotten downsides of leadership.

Alvesson, Mats LU and Blom, Martin LU orcid (2015) In M@N@Gement 8(3). p.266-282
Abstract
Leadership is generally viewed as important and beneficial for

individuals as well as organizations. The term, however, also implies followership and the targets for leadership may be less enthusiastic about adopting a follower position. From a follower’s point of view, there might be downsides associated with a leadership/followership relationship, including negative effects on identity and reduced autonomy. These often neglected downsides may lead to a dampening of the enthusiasm for leadership in practice and form a counterforce

to the prevalence of leadership. This aversion towards followership may therefore mean ‘less’ leadership, for instance less salient ‘leader/follower’ qualities in relations and interactions... (More)
Leadership is generally viewed as important and beneficial for

individuals as well as organizations. The term, however, also implies followership and the targets for leadership may be less enthusiastic about adopting a follower position. From a follower’s point of view, there might be downsides associated with a leadership/followership relationship, including negative effects on identity and reduced autonomy. These often neglected downsides may lead to a dampening of the enthusiasm for leadership in practice and form a counterforce

to the prevalence of leadership. This aversion towards followership may therefore mean ‘less’ leadership, for instance less salient ‘leader/follower’ qualities in relations and interactions than is generally assumed in leadership/followership studies. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
M@N@Gement
volume
8
issue
3
pages
266 - 282
publisher
AIMS
external identifiers
  • wos:000366567400006
  • scopus:84953287382
ISSN
1286-4692
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
86af0499-9e62-4280-819e-ede9d76a0433 (old id 8047705)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:51:39
date last changed
2024-04-09 20:58:23
@article{86af0499-9e62-4280-819e-ede9d76a0433,
  abstract     = {{Leadership is generally viewed as important and beneficial for<br/><br>
individuals as well as organizations. The term, however, also implies followership and the targets for leadership may be less enthusiastic about adopting a follower position. From a follower’s point of view, there might be downsides associated with a leadership/followership relationship, including negative effects on identity and reduced autonomy. These often neglected downsides may lead to a dampening of the enthusiasm for leadership in practice and form a counterforce<br/><br>
to the prevalence of leadership. This aversion towards followership may therefore mean ‘less’ leadership, for instance less salient ‘leader/follower’ qualities in relations and interactions than is generally assumed in leadership/followership studies.}},
  author       = {{Alvesson, Mats and Blom, Martin}},
  issn         = {{1286-4692}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{266--282}},
  publisher    = {{AIMS}},
  series       = {{M@N@Gement}},
  title        = {{Less followership, less leadership? An inquiry into the basic but seemingly forgotten downsides of leadership.}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/3018548/8051607}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}