Discussion Response – Rethinking Followership

Discussion Response – Rethinking Followership

Masaki,

Thank you for sharing your post and personal experience.

According to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (2009), Asian countries, including Japan, tend to have a large power distance. Power distance is described as the extent to which persons who are less powerful in a society/organization/institution within a given country accept and expect an unequal distribution of power. The higher the power distance, the more submissive persons are to their seniors. Western countries such as the US and the UK have very low power distances where every person in an organization is expected to contribute to the growth of the business.

I can only imagine how challenging it was for you to shift from a yes society to a liberal one. However, organizations today are more diversified, and with that, managers need to be culturally sensitive while at the same time steering those that report to them to become more willing to adapt to the organizational culture (Eagly & Chin, 2010). For example, an Asian employee working in the US will find that the managers will expect their input, failure to which such an employee may be seen as unmotivated, uninspired, and lacking, in grasping a company’s vision and mission.

With reference to the last part where you said that a person cannot be alienated and a star follower, I happen to be one such person. I do not follow blindly on all directions crafted by persons in authority. I rely on the leading of the Holy Spirit, and if something is not right, I will speak out and withhold from following through. On the other hand, when the path is made clear, I immerse myself wholly and thus, become a star follower.

References

Eagly, A. H., & Chin, J. L. (2010). Diversity and leadership in a changing world. American psychologist, 65(3), 216.

Hofstede, G. (2009). Geert Hofstede cultural dimensions.

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Masaki

According to Riggio et al. (2009), there are five types of followers “The sheep”, “The yes-people”, “The alienated”, “The pragmatics”, and “The star followers”. The author defines that there is some influence by each culture. In fact, the majority of followers are the sheep and yes-people types in Japan. That is different from a company in the US when I worked there, where I saw the alienated, pragmatics, and star follower types. As a follower, I used to tend to adopt the yes-people style. However, after my experience working in the US for about five years and in Myanmar for one year, my attitude changed a little to adopt some portion of the star follower. The change is because I found some value in diversity by having some sceptics, challenges, non-positivism (it can be neutralism or negativism) to leaders. When I led a team or a branch, such challenges, skeptics generated some good discussions to think of backup plans like plan B in case of failure of plan A.

Discussion Response – Rethinking Followership

When the assignment asks the second question – do you tend to stick with one style or do you change styles depending on the leader?, my answer is yes to the latter one. To maximize the organization capability, I believe that it is necessary to change the followership style. For example, my boss when I worked in Asia was really severe. At the beginning, I tried to challenge him, however, the approach was not good. Then, I chose to simply be the yes-people. After coming back from Asia, I have changed to my current style which is 50% yes-people and 50% star follower. I believe that the approach matches the current position.

The third question – Can a person be a star follower in one situation and an alienated follower in another? My answer is No. I can be both the star follower and the yes-people. The two are mixed, not situational. “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). I found my followership style. I recommend people to find their own followership style as well as own leadership style.

Reference

Riggio, R., E., Chaleff, I., & Lipman-Blumen, J. (Eds.). (2009). The art of followership: How great followers create great leaders and organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.