People will sit up and take notice of you if you will sit up and take notice of what makes them sit up and take notice. (Harry Gordon Selfridge)
Since first posited by James MacGregor Burns in 1978, the concept of a transformational leader versus a manager has always depended upon one element: interpersonal relationships. Now, this is not to say that leaders are more concerned about emotional bonding rather than objective completion with their followers but rather that true leadership is dependent upon the ability of the leader to connect with the followers on a deeper level, not only bringing forth an inspiration within the followers to work toward completing the necessary goals of the organization but also exciting the followers to aspire to be more, to do more and to give more.
While it is common to romanticize the role of the transformational leader and to place the said person on a pedestal, there are instances where transformational leadership can be too much of a good thing, while in others, a transformational leader does more harm than good for the organization. Not only is it important for the leader to be situationally aware of the feelings of the followers but it is also necessary for followers to appropriately signal to the leader their needs and what … and how much … leadership they need to continue moving forward in a positive manner.
In this issue of OMJ, we present three articles, which look at the leader in light of the effects of their actions on followers. Authors Stark, Reif and Schiebler investigate the motivations behind and the outcome from the storytelling activities of the leaders, offering a new model of intention-perception for research into storytelling based on their findings that followers can have both a positive and negative reaction to leader storytelling. Next, authors Nurtjahajani, Batilmurik, Puspita and Fanggidae explore the feelings of a just world in relationship to the influence of the leader and the sense of ownership the said leader inspires within the followers. Finally, authors Bajaba, Bajaba and Fuller present a different viewpoint on leadership, offering a new view in which the actions of the leader are actually destructive to the psychological well-being of the followers, but how having a proactive personality can aid the followers in coping with the exploitative leader.
As shown by the authors in this issue, leadership is something that no member of an organization can avoid; however, our personal reactions to the leader can vary and can still be very much within our own control. In essence, while the influence of the leader is not only necessary to the organization but also often desired from the followers, it is unreasonable to expect that all of the behaviors of the leader are going to always be embraced by all of the followers. In the end, it is the perceptions, actions and attitudes of the followers that determine the ultimate impact of the leader’s behaviors.
