Jackson Parry - Leadership, Chp 3, 41-60.pdf

Follower-centred Perspectives on Leadership5SF_ser.es or influential others who reporr on these interactions.Ii- ......-.-:==nes, when leaders are seen to fail in a major way, fo llowerst '" e so disenchanted and angry that they arc forced to demolish.:onsrructions and seek an alternative leader. Because most of these---" iM JeS ha ve been preoccupied with explicating how leaders are cre­~ me processes by which leaders are deconstructed, or if you like~-ea [ e d ' , are relativel}· unexplored.Follower-centric theories have sought to turn a lot of the conven­=e=ral leade r-centric research that was discussed in Chapter 2 on its"..,.-i They have shown that there is indeed much to be gained by start­~ our study of leadership with the fo llower and not the leader. In this~-d they have provided a much-needed correction and counterbal­~ \0 the dominant preoccupations of leadership schola rs. In fact we~ t even go so fa r as to ask, given the influence that foll owers can:::en over leaders, why we might not consider the possibility of fo llow­~ acring as leaders. Indeed why not get rid of the leader-follower~wm )'altogether? Tt is to this possibility that we now briefly turn.followers as leaders: shared leadershipapproach is techn ica lly neither leader-centred nor fo llower-centredX'O,use it rejects the distinction between leaders and fo llowe rs.~rs h i p is seen not as a role, but as a function or an activity that can.Jtared among members of a group or organization. Fundamentally, at"3C' core of this approach is a belief that followers can and should be given=-or chance ro lead, as it is not only the right thing to do but also theiC.l.11'est thing to do. Traditional command-and-control, hierarchically­~ organizations arc seen as being no match fo r the flat, brerally-.rgratcd network organizations in the cOntext of a ra pidly changing_ ""TIpetitive global economy.~.,1e can think of the va rious theories which advocate that followers"';"'Quld act as leaders along a continuum. At the more conservative end of~ continuum is the notion of 'co-leadership', which recognizes that lead­=-Jup is rarely the preserve of one individual but frequenrly is exercised by.: :"'J.lr of individua ls, a 'Number One'J