Comparative Essay Of Followers And Leaders

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Business Leadership & Management Competencies Professor Dardo 14 February 2011 “In Praise of Followers” versus “What Every Leader Needs to Know About Followers” The importance of the leader-follower relationship in organizations is discussed in both Robert E. Kelley’s “In Praise of Followers” and Barbara Kellerman’s “What Every Leader Needs to Know About Followers.” There are slight differences between the main points in these two articles, however. In Kelley’s article, he discusses what constitutes an “exemplary follower” and elaborates on the five categories into which followers can be placed. On the other hand, Kellerman has a different perception of followers and categorizes them in a slightly different manner. Kellerman discusses the “level of engagement” of the follower and explains that this factor is vital when trying to measure the relationship of the leader and follower. The leader-follower relationship is important in practically every setting because one role cannot exist without the other. These relationships exist in small businesses, corporations, and community settings, among others. Kelley discusses followers with the intent to make the audience aware of what makes good followers and how we can be better followers. Kellerman writes her article with leaders in mind so that they may understand followers more thoroughly in order to benefit the company or organization in the long run. Robert E. Kelley and Barbara Kellerman focus on the followers in the relationship because they are the major driving force in the success of a company or organization. As Kelley mentions, “Without his armies, after all, Napoleon was just a man with grandiose ambitions.” Kelley believes that more attention should be paid to the followers rather than the leaders because effective followers can succeed without strong leadership. He points out that
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