Kellerman Followership

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Another author that has investigated the followership topic but asserts a few qualifications between her work and others is Kellerman. She characterizes her work as more descriptive than prescriptive as she considers there must be such a variety of variables impacting the followers behaviors that it is hard to be instructive. According to Kellerman (2008), there are two conceivable definitions about followers: “Followers can be defined by their rank: They are subordinates who have less power, authority, and influence then do their superiors”. And “followers can also be defined by their behavior: they go along with what someone else wants and intends”. Kellerman (2008) uses rank and behavior as determinants to characterize followers, focusing …show more content…

They are excited, lively and locked in. “Activists” are illustrated by the Catholic congregation in New England who stayed within the church but raised problems until those priests guilty of sexual abuse were finally dealt with. e) Diehard: These followers are as their name infers, arranged to pass on if important for their reason, whether an individual, or a reason or both. “Diehards” are illustrated by the “Anaconda military operatives trying to chase down Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, despite inadequate military intelligence, supplies, and preparations Kellerman’s model is a little less clear cut than Kelly’s and probably more realistic because of this. It does acknowledge that each type will respond accordingly to how they see their situation in relationship to the organization and the leader. One thing that Kellermans model does not acknowledge is that an individual might move from one ‘type’ to another. Once followers are case into a type it gives no explanation as to how the followers (and leaders) might develop or change. Just like leaders learn from their mistakes (at least good leaders do), I think some people will not fully fit into these types on a regular basis (the lines between neighboring categories may be blurred). It is possible that as a bystanders see changes in to organization or leader he moved to be a participant (if he agrees with the direction) or isolate (if he

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