1. Followership and Leadership Assessment and Development Plan
Clinton W. Davidson
CAPS495 – Senior Capstone
March, 27, 2016
Barbara Light
Southwestern College Professional Studies

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Abstract
Followership denotes an aspect of human behavior which has often been connoted as
negative and servile in nature and such notions often ignore its importance in any company’s
architecture. Taking cue from the significance of followership and the need to tie up the same
with leadership, this paper presents an analysis of various types of followership and leadership,
and the best scenarios for conjunction of the two. The paper also presents a reflection of
personal traits in followership and leadership and outlines a list of tasks which shall be required
to enhance the behavior both as a follower and as a leader.

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Followership and Leadership Assessment and Development Plan
This paper picks up an important and often neglected part of human behavior which
essential to the organization is building process known as the term followership. The
consequent section is based on the followership model proposed by Kelley and the associated
leadership types which have been well documented in the vast literature on leadership. There
are many styles of leadership and one has to recognize these styles in the types of leadership
which fall within the four types. Secondly this report will cover the specific traits which shall
be required at various stages in Operations Management Career process and lastly, I will cover
the self-reflection on the assessment of followership and leadership.
Relationship between Followership and Leadership Styles and their Traits
Organizational theory focuses on building a success organization irrespective of the type
of the firm or the nature of tasks undertaken at the place. Without any doubt, there is unanimous
agreements on the types of individuals in any organization; which are classified under two
broad categories – leaders and followers. Based on Kelley’s theory of followership (Bjugstad,
Spotlight, Thompson, & Morris, 2006), there are four distinct categories of followers that can
be defined and explained,
A) Alienated followers
B) Conformist followers
C) Passive followers
D) Exemplary followers
The first quadrant of followers are the cynical ones who will find a reason to criticize the
leadership for the steps being taken and portray themselves as the most affected. These
employees in the organization visualize themselves as the visionaries who feel they can manage
everything better than the incumbent leadership. Given their mindset, it is tough to placate the

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alienated follower and motivate him or her towards the strategic goals of the organizatio n
(Kelley, 2008).
The section of followers who are on the extreme opposite end of the alienated followers
are the conformist followers. These people rarely question the authorities or the leadership’s
decision and carry out the tasks expected of them within the firm. (Kelley, 2008) Defines the
conformist followers as the “Yes” people of the company and places them in the fourth
quadrant of the followership matrix. The presence of conformist followers in the organization
tends to make the firm leadership-centric with power of decision making and guiding the
company lying towards a single person or a group of leadership (Ford, 2015).
The passive follower would rather ponder on the edge of the indifference towards his role
and the overall strategic perspective of a leader and a follower. A passive follower looks up to
his superior for guidance on what needs to be done and would rarely end up arguing about what
he or she has been told to accomplish (Kelley, 2008) (Bjugstad, Spotlight, Thompson, &
Morris, 2006). The leader of a passive following group has to constantly brood over what he
needs to get done from his team and how he needs to get it done.
The final category and the second quadrant on the Kelley’s followership model is the
exemplary follower. For the organization, an exemplary follower could be the biggest asset as
these followers think about the organization’s success, its strategy and the mission. They are
often likely to come up with innovative ideas to transform certain function of the firm and place
it in competitive stead. The critical part which separates the alienated is the fact that the
exemplary follower is a constructive thinker as would not question the leadership in vain; but
at the same time would not hold himself or herself back in case they feel something is
exceptionally wrong with the organizational leadership. These followers tend to form great
team-players and play in important part in developing the collective leadership model of the
firm (Sveiby, 2011).

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These four categories of the followers have been captured in the picture below (Bjugstad,
Spotlight, Thompson, & Morris, 2006).
Figure 1: Categorization of followers. Source: (Bjugstad, Spotlight, Thompson, & Morris, 2006)
As (Martin, 2007) points out, Leadership has been the most studied area of human behavior
and the various aspects of leadership in the contemporary scenario vary with the nature of
leader one is. A political leader needs to have traits other than a business leader or for that
matter a religious or community leader. It is important to identify the key traits of a leader and
the domain in which he or she operates. An important aspect of varying some specific traits in
a leader depend on the culture and geographically accepted terms from a leader (Grove, 2010).
Leadership Styles
While there are documented styles of leadership, the most commonly accepted ones are
listed below (Blanken, 2012) (Johnson, 2016).
A) Charismatic: The energetic and influential leader who infuses the will to perform
amongst the followers and can boost morale of the team with their presence.
B) Innovative: The out of the box thinker which understands the current situation and
encourages novel modes to resolve the issues.

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C) Command & Control: The rule-setter and one who expects the followers to abide by
them.
D) Lassez-Faire: The trusting leader who empowers people around them to keep their
promise and fulfill their expectations without the need to intervene.
E) Pace Setter: The performance freak who expects high level of performance and also
sets these standards for himself.
F) Servant: The one who places the needs of the others before self has a servile attitude
and does not strive to be the center of attention.
G) Situational: The adaptive leader who constantly modified the method of leadership
according to the situation and the need of the hour.
H) Transformational: The productivity-focused leader who aims to completely change the
course of the game and is prepared to take radical action if needed.
These leadership styles are not absolute judgements for any person and it has been found
that a person may exhibit various styles over a course of time and may even combine two or
more styles based on the situation (Cummings, et al., 2010). These styles are captured in the
four major types of leadership which are commonly accepted as Hersey and Blanchard’s
Situational Leadership theory (Bjugstad, Spotlight, Thompson, & Morris, 2006). The leader,
which lays down the path for the juniors and expects them to follow the book and complete the
tasks is the telling leader. This type of leader can best lead the conformist follower who rarely
question the authority and correctness of their telling leader. The selling leader tends to create
an atmosphere of collective leadership where he proposes and aims to implement the tasks by
convincing the followers and also allowing them to voice their opinions and ask questions. The
selling leader combined with passive followers would be the best possible combination to
accomplish the organizational goals set by the top management. The relationship builder who
infuses confidence amongst an able follower group is the core characteristic of a participating

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leader. For the alienated follower, a participating leader can often offer the best motivation
techniques. The excessive energy of the alienated group can be best put to use by the
participating leader by encouraging them to raise their concerns and feeling that they are an
integral part of the decision making process. The delegating leader relies on the competence
of his or her followers and allows them to figure out the best possible way to accomplish the
task. The delegating leader often looks to his followers for suggestion and rarely indulges in
micro-management of the tasks and trusts the commitments made by the followers. An
exemplary follower and a delegating leader would go hand in glove in order to achieve the
strategic objectives of the organization.
Followership and Leadership Expectations in Supply Chain Management
The field of Operations Management Career is vast and consists of several tasks which
require a meticulous and rigorous approach in order to set the standard processes in place to
achieve the best results (Ketchen & Hult, 2007). Over the course of last two to three decades,
globalization has reached a stage which has made the nations focus on their core competencies
and rely on imports for several aspects which they do not feel are the best. Given the
meticulous yet flexible approach required in any Operations Management Career function, the
leadership and followership also requires a range of processes. The process of building
competence in Operations Management has been discussed below with a focus of essential
leadership and followership traits which shall be required (Flynn, Huo, & Zhao, 2010).
Operations Management requires a thorough analysis and planning while setting a process in
place. Such instances would need a transformation and innovative style of leadership which
would best be served by the participating leader combined with a mix of exemplary and
alienated follower group (Pagell & Wu, 2009). The follower group is important because these
a thinking group amongst the followers and a participating leader can encourage the thinking

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group to come up with innovative ideas of analysis and drive them towards setting the process
with a sense of ownership (Bjugstad, Spotlight, Thompson, & Morris, 2006). Once the
business operation chain of command process has been set, it is important that the tasks which
have been set are performed to the best possible extent. Moreover, there is also a need for the
leader to scout for opportunities and ways to improve the management chain in order to make
it even more competitive over time. This type of a situation would be best suited to a capable
and telling leader who can outline tasks and ensure effective completion by the followers. The
group of followers who would be best suited to this task would be the conformist or the passive
follower who would not mind the authority of the superiors and focus on the tasks outlined for
them (Attaran & Attaran, 2007).
Followership and Leadership Assessment
The results of the Followership Test classify me as an Exemplary Follower, which would
be much in line with what I consider myself to be. Some of the key traits in followership along
with a reflection on my personal assessment have been highlighted in the section below. I am
happy to reflect on the performance within my role in my company and be a part of the strategic
solutions team which excites me the most about my work (Kelley, 2008). Even without the
test, I felt that my biggest asset is to think of the end organization goal and strategic perspective
of the tasks being carried out; which often motivates me to think of the manner in which the
process is to be designed and the checks & balances involved in preventing errors are placed.
I would attribute my success in followership to the superiors who have molded my thought
process in to believing that I can think broad. Over the years, I have been allowed freedom to
execute my tasks, which gives me a sense of ownership to my tasks. I must also mention that
I do not feel that I have always been such a follower in my professional career. When I first
started with Operations Management, I merely had theoretical knowledge of the subject. Over

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the years, I realized that I was just following the tasks which were set out by my superiors, I
now realize that I was exhibiting the characteristics of a passive follower (Bjugstad, Spotlight,
Thompson, & Morris, 2006). With more experience over the years and encouragement from
my superiors; my thought process went from strictly operational to strategic.
During the course of assessment, I was often times confused in marking the right statement,
which I feel would have tilted the score towards am alienated follower. In general, I feel that
at times I tend to overthink of the strategic consequences of my responsibilities and get in to
the inertia of not actually focusing on the execution. That would definitely be one area I would
need to improve, given the fact that business operations activities require an effective execution
of tasks even in the Setting up phase. It would be important for me to visualize the execution
of tasks alongside the planning and take into account the fact that people who would be
expected to perform these tasks shall also be motivated to carry them out on a regular basis.
Hence, thinking from the execution point of view would be an important area of improvement
in my followership.
I consider myself a leader of my own tasks, which has happened given the opportunities.
At this point in time, I have always focused on people’s tasks which are associated to the
projects or tasks assigned to me. I feel that my ability to connect with the colleagues and get
their best output would put me in the category of a Selling leader and the biggest strength is to
build relationships at work. Keeping the future in mind, I do feel that I need to build greater
trust with my colleagues and subordinates who are partners in my tasks. This would call for a
lesser follow-up on the pending tasks and allowing more freedom in the way they carry out
their work. I have benefited from being groomed successfully in my role and would indeed
take out learnings from my growth as a professional and groom some of the subordinates to
become the leaders in any management position.

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Followership and Leadership Development Plan
It is important to keep learning and developing competencies over the course of the career and
in order to do so, a development plan for both followership and leadership has been outlined
below
As has been mentioned, I have grown as a follower over the course of my professional
career from being a passive to some exemplary ones (Pagell & Wu, 2009). However, keeping
continual improvement in mind (Bjugstad, Spotlight, Thompson, & Morris, 2006), I would like
to list the following steps (Pagell & Wu, 2009).
A) Identify the key weaknesses in the present day scenario
B) Define and list the tasks required to overcome the weaknesses
C) Make a time-outline plan to execute the tasks within a frame of three months
D) Measure progress and standing for the key weaknesses after six months
E) Record improvement or decline and conduct step A) again
Leadership in a Management role assumes extreme significance due to the guidance
required to lay down and execute the process (Grove, 2010). To identify the key requirements
form as an operation leader, you must first consider the notable traits of previous supervisors
in earlier years, secondly list the gaps in traits between the present status and best qualities of
currently role models. Then create a prioritize list of key requirements, create an execution
timeline for those requirements in order to measure progress of those requirements after each
month. Lastly, record any improvement and conduct this process over noting the weak points
and create a new list of traits based off those findings.

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Conclusion
This paper speaks about various aspects of followership and related areas of leadership.
The essential focus in Section 1 has been to highlight the importance of followership and the
achievement of organizational objectives along with it. The next two sections talk about the
specific requirements in the field of Supply Chain Management and assessment of followership
and leadership traits. The primary conclusion is that there is not a universal style of leadership
or followership which can be attributed to any organization or even a function within the
organization. There is a need for both leaders and followers to exhibit varying characteristics
throughout the course of tasks within the firm and adapt to the situation at hand.

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