Chapter 7

Leader–Follower
Relations

Copyright © 2010 by South-Western/Cengage Learning PowerPoint Presentation by Rhonda S. Palladi

All rights reserved. Georgia State University
 Chapter 7
Learning Outcomes
 List the four stages of development of the dyadic approach.
 Define the two kinds of relationships that can occur among leaders
and followers under the vertical linkage model.
 Describe the main focus of team building from a Leader–Follower
perspective.
 Discuss the focus of the systems and networks approach from a
Leader–Follower perspective.
 Describe three determining factors of high-quality LMX
relationships.
 Discuss the key limitation or drawback with LMX application.
 Explain the cycle that leads to the Pygmalion effect.
 Explain how LMX relationships can lead to unintended bias in HR
practices.
 Discuss the three follower influencing characteristics.
 List five things a leader should delegate.
 Define the key terms listed at the end of the chapter 2
 Evolution of the Dyadic Theory
 Dyadic
 Refers to the individualized relationship between a
leader and each follower in a work unit
 Dyadic theory
 Is an approach to leadership that attempts to explain
why leaders vary their behavior with different followers
 Dyadic theorists focus on the development and
effects of separate dyadic relationships between
leaders and followers

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 The Dyadic Approach
 Concentrates on the heterogeneity of dyadic
relationships
 Argues that a single leader will form different
relationships with different followers
 Leaders provide support for self-worth
 A leader’s support for a follower’s actions and ideas
 A leader building follower’s confidence in his or her
ability, integrity, and motivation
 A leader paying attention to the follower’s feelings and
needs

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 Dyadic Approach:
Stages of Development
Vertical
Vertical Dyadic
Dyadic Individualized leader–follower
interactions creating in-groups
Linkage
Linkage (VDL)
(VDL) Theory
Theory and out-groups

Leader–Member
Leader–Member Focus is on the quality of each dyad

(LMX))
and its effects on organizational
Exchange
Exchange (LMX outcomes over time

Leaders can aspire to build

Team
Team Building
Building
positive relationships with all
followers, not just a few
special individuals

Creating positive dyadic relationships

Systems
Systems and
and across traditional boundaries to
Networks
Networks include a larger network of
participants

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 Vertical Dyadic Linkage
(VDL) Theory
 Examines how leaders form one-on-one
relationships with followers, and how these often
create in-groups and out-groups within the
leader’s work unit
 In-group
 Includes followers with strong social ties to their leader
in a supportive relationship characterized by high
mutual trust, respect, loyalty, and influence
 Out-group
 Influences followers with few or no social ties to their
leader, in a strictly task-centered relationship
characterized by low exchange and top-down influence

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 Characteristics of In-Groups
 Participate in important decision making
 Are given added responsibility
 Have greater access to the leader
 Experience greater support and positive influence from the
leader
 Reciprocity
 High exchange
 Granted special favors from the leader
 Mutual reinforcement based on common needs and
interests
 More likely to share with own group members than with
members of other groups

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 Characteristics of Out-Groups
 Are managed according to the
employment contract requirements
 Receive little inspiration, encouragement,
or recognition
 Do not experience positive relationships
and influence

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 Discussion Question #1
In your opinion, can a leader
maintain a personal friendship
with some members of his or her
work group or team without
creating the perception of in-
groups (those in his or her social
circle) and out-groups (those
outside his or her social circle)?
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 Discussion Question #2

What should a leader do to dispel

any notion or misperception that
there are in-groups and out-
groups in his or her work unit?

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 Leader–Member Exchange
(LMX) Theory
 Is the quality of the exchange relationship
between an employee and his or her superior
 Face-to-face leader–member interaction is
critical in organizations
 Assumes that leaders have limited amounts of
social, personal, and organizational resources,
and tend to distribute them among followers
selectively
 Leaders do not interact with all followers equally,
which ultimately results in the formation of LMXs
that vary in quality

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 High-Quality LMX Relationships
vs. Low-Quality LMX Relationships
 High-quality LMX relationships are characterized
by:
 Better social support
 More resources
 More guidance for career development
 Greater follower input in decision making
 Greater negotiating latitude
 Low-quality LMX relationships are characterized
by:
 Less support
 More formal supervision
 Little or no involvement in decision making
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 Team Building
 Involves a primary concern to motivate a
group of individuals to work together to
achieve a common objective, while
alleviating any conflicts or obstacles that
may arise while striving toward that
objective
 The emphasis is on forming relationships
with all group members, not just with a
few special individuals

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 Team Building (cont.)
 It is not possible to treat all followers
exactly the same
 Each person must perceive that he or she
is an important and respected member of
the team rather than a non-entity
 Workplace social exchanges between
individual employees, work groups, and
managers are critical to team building

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 Systems and Networks
 There is a noticeable trend of
organizations seeking and getting
involved in a variety of collaborative
agreements for the purposes of entering
new markets and gaining innovations or
new products
 By collaborating, organizations hope to
exchange strengths with others, which will
allow all partners to develop timely,
innovative, synergistic solutions to complex
problems they could not address on their own
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 Systems and Networks (cont.)
 From a network perspective, the focus is
on relations among actors, whether they
are individuals, work units, or
organizations, who are embedded within
networks of interconnected relationships
that provide opportunities and constraints
on behavior
 A systems-oriented prospective focuses
on how the quality of the LMX relationship
affects followers at the interpersonal,
group, and organizational levels 16
 Systems and Networks (cont.)
 Proponents of the systems and networks view
contend that leader relationships are not limited
to followers, but include peers, customers,
suppliers, and other relevant stakeholders in the
collectives of workgroups and organization-wide
networks
 The organization is viewed as a system of
interrelated parts
 To be effective, groups need to manage
“boundary-spanning” relationships with other
groups and external members in their
organization in order to gain access to
information and resources 17
Leader–Member Exchange Theory
 Leaders form high-quality social exchanges
(based on trust and liking) with some members
and low-quality economic exchanges with others
that do not extend beyond the employment
contract
 The quality of LMX affects employees’ work
ethics, productivity, satisfaction, and perceptions
 There is a sense among followers in the
exchange relationship to reciprocate their
leader’s trust and liking through “citizenship
behaviors” and excellent performance

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 The Influence of LMX
on Follower Behavior
 The special relationship with in-group followers
creates certain obligations and constraints for the
leader
 To maintain the relationship, the leader must:
 Pay attention to in-group members
 Remain responsive to their needs and feelings
 Rely more on time-consuming influence methods such
as persuasion and consultation
 Not resort to coercion or heavy-handed use of authority
 The followers are therefore said to have
developed social capital
 The set of resources that inheres in the structure of
relations between members of the group, which helps 19
them get ahead
 The Influence of LMX
on Follower Behavior (cont.)
 The basis for establishing a deeper exchange
relationship with in-group members is the
leader’s control over outcomes that are desirable
to the followers, which include:
 Helping with a follower’s career
 Giving special favors
 Allowing participation in decision making
 Delegating greater responsibility and authority
 Sharing more information
 Assigning interesting and desirable tasks
 Giving tangible rewards

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 The Influence of LMX
on Follower Behavior (cont.)
 In return for these benefits, in-group members
are expected to:
 Be loyal to the leader
 Be more committed to task objectives
 Work harder
 Share some of the leader’s administrative duties
 To the leader this also represents social capital
that gives him or her power and influence over
followers
 Unless this cycle of behavior is interrupted, the
relationship is likely to develop to a point where
there is a high degree of mutual dependence,
support, and loyalty 21
 The Influence of LMX
on Follower Behavior (cont.)
 The quality of LMX is central in influencing
followers’:
 Affective, cognitive, and behavioral
experiences
 Roles
 Fate in their organizations

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 The Three-Stage Process for
Developing Positive LMX Relations
 Stage 1
 The leader and follower conduct themselves
as strangers
 The leader and follower test each other to
identify what kinds of behavior are acceptable
 Each relationship is negotiated informally
between each follower and the leader

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 The Three-Stage Process for Developing
Positive LMX Relations (cont.)
 Stage 1 (cont.)
 Involves:
– Impressions management
 Is a follower’s effort to project a favorable image in
order to gain an immediate benefit or improve a long-
term relationship with the leader
– Ingratiation
 Is the effort to appear supportive, appreciative, and
respectful
– Self-promotion
 Is the effort to appear competent and dependable

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 Discussion Question #3
What do you say to those who
argue that tactics used by
followers to get noticed by their
leader (such as impressions
management, ingratiation, and
self-promotion) are shameful and
self-serving and should be
avoided?
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 The Three-Stage Process for Developing
Positive LMX Relations (cont.)
 Stage 2
 The leader and follower become acquainted
 They further refine the roles they will play
together
 Mutual trust, loyalty, and respect develop
between leader and follower
 Relationships that do not move beyond Stage
1 may deteriorate and remain at the level of
an out-group

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 The Three-Stage Process for Developing
Positive LMX Relations (cont.)
 Stage 3
 The roles reach maturity
 Exchange based on self-interest is
transformed into mutual commitment to the
mission and objectives of the work unit
 The end result of the life cycle model of LMX
relationships is the creation of actual and
perceived differences between in-group and
out-group members

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 Factors that Determine LMX Quality
 Followers’ attributes
 Proactive followers:
– Show initiative even in areas outside their immediate
responsibility
– Possess a strong sense of commitment to work unit goals
– Show a stronger sense of responsibility for unit success
 These follower attributes influence leaders to:
– Show support
– Delegate more
– Allow greater discretion
– Engage in open communication
– Encourage mutual influence between themselves and
their followers

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 Factors that Determine
LMX Quality (cont.)
 Leader–follower perceptions of each other
 The leader’s first impressions of the follower
can influence the leader’s behavior toward the
follower
 A positive relationship is more likely when:
– The follower is perceived to be competent and
dependable
– The follower’s values and attitudes are similar to
those of the leader

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 Factors that Determine
LMX Quality (cont.)
 Leader–follower perceptions of each other
(cont.)
 A favorable exchange relationship is said to
correlate with:
– More supportive behavior by the leader toward the
follower
– Less close monitoring
– More mentoring
– More involvement and delegation
 From the follower’s perspective, leaders that
are perceived to be competent, experienced,
fair, and honest are more likely to be
supported 30
 Factors that Determine
LMX Quality (cont.)
 Situational factors
 Refer to random or planned events that
provide the opportunity for leaders to
evaluate a follower’s work ethic or character
 “Tryouts” (or “role episodes”)
– Give leaders clues about employees

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 Effective Leader–Follower Feedback
 Many leaders avoid confronting below-
average performing followers
 Can degenerate into personal conflict
 May fail to deal with the underlying
problem
 Correcting deficiencies can help the
follower improve
 Must be done so that the leader–follower
relationship is preserved
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 Guidelines for Effective
Leader Feedback
 Pre-feedback—Leader should:
 Remind self to stay calm and professional
 Gather accurate facts on follower
performance
 Remind self to avoid rush to judgment

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 Guidelines for Effective
Leader Feedback (cont.)
 During feedback session—Leader should:
 Be specific in stating performance deficiency
 Explain negative impact of ineffective
behavior
 Help follower identify reasons for poor
performance
 Ask follower to suggest remedies
 Arrive at mutual agreement on specific
action steps

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 Guidelines for Effective
Leader Feedback (cont.)
 Post-feedback session—Leader should:
 Follow up to ensure implementation of action
steps
 Show desire to be of help to follower
 Build follower’s self-confidence

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 Limitations of LMX
Theory Application
 A major limitation of LMX is measurement
difficulty
 LMX-7 scale
 Is the most commonly used instrument for
defining and measuring the quality of
relationships
 Measures vertical dyad linkages and not social
exchanges
10 20 30 40 50
High-quality LMX relationship Low-quality LMX relationship

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 Bias in LMX:
Employee Career Implications
 Pygmalion effect
 Occurs when selected group members demonstrate
loyalty, commitment, dedication, and trust, and as a
result, win the liking of leaders who subsequently give
them higher performance ratings
 These ratings, which may or may not be tied to
actual performance, then influence the
member’s reputation, often become a matter of
record, and may ultimately be used in future
selection, development, and promotion decisions

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 Bias in LMX:
Employee Career Implications (cont.)
 This may have possible adverse
implications for the development and
career advancement of group members
who (regardless of their work
performance) are not similar to, familiar
to, and well liked by their leader
 Leaders, managers, and human resource
management specialists need to be
aware of the potential bias associated
with high-quality LMX relationships
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 Bias in LMX:
Employee Career Implications (cont.)
 These relationships could result in
negative consequences and
discrimination against out-group
followers
 One possible approach to minimizing this
type of bias is simply to train and
encourage leaders to maintain high-
quality LMX relationships with all
followers, not just a few

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 Followership and Followers
 Followership
 Refers to the behavior of followers that
results from the leader–follower influence
relationship
 Follower
 Is a person who is being influenced by a
leader

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 Followership and Followers (cont.)
 Effective leadership requires effective
followers
 There are no leaders without followers
 The influencing process of leaders and
followers is a two-way street, with
followers also influencing leaders

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 Followership Types
High
Effective Conformist
follower follower
Level of Involvement

Pragmatic
follower

Alienated Passive
follower follower

Low

Low Critical Thinking High 42

 Followership Types (cont.)
 Alienated followers
 Are low on involvement yet are high on
critical thinking
 Feel cheated or unappreciated
 Are capable but unwilling to participate in
developing solutions to problems
 Conformist followers
 Are the “yes” people of the organization
 Carry out all orders without considering the
consequences
 Avoid conflict
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 Followership Types (cont.)
 Passive followers
 Are neither high on critical thinking nor
involvement
 Look to the leader or others to do all the
thinking
 Require constant supervision
 Never go beyond the job description

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 Followership Types (cont.)
 Effective followers
 Are high on critical thinking and involvement
 Are not risk-averse nor do they shy from
conflict
 Have the courage to initiate change
 Serve the best interest of the organization
 Tend to function very well in self-managed
teams
 Complement the leader’s efforts and can be
relied upon the relieve the leader of many
tasks
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 Followership Types (cont.)
 Pragmatic followers
 Exhibit a little of all four styles—depending
on which style fits the prevailing situation
 Present an ambiguous image, with positive
and negative sides
– On the positive side, when an organization is
going through desperate times, the pragmatic
follower knows how to “work the system to get
things done”
– On the negative side, this same behavior can be
interpreted as “playing political games,” or
adjusting to maximize self-interest

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 Guidelines to Becoming an Effective
Follower
 Offer support to leader
 Take initiative
 Play counseling and coaching roles to leader
when appropriate
 Raise issues and/or concerns when necessary
 Seek and encourage honest feedback from the
leader
 Clarify your role and expectations
 Show appreciation
 Keep the leader informed
 Resist inappropriate influence of leader
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 Factors that Determine
Follower Influence

Power
Position

Education and
Locus of Control
Experience
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 Follower Relative Power Position
 Leaders need to realize that they are no longer
the sole possessors of power and influence in
their work units
 Some followers may have personal, referent,
expert, information, and connection-based
sources of power that can be used to boost
upward influence
 As more and more employees come to rely on a
particular follower for information, expertise, or
simply because of his or her personality, the
follower’s relative power position increases

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 Follower Locus of Control
 Followers with an internal locus of control prefer a
work environment that facilitates:
 Communication with leaders
 Participation in decision making
 Opportunities to be creative
 Followers with an internal locus of control prefer a
participative style of leadership
 Followers with an external locus of control prefer a
directive style of leadership
 Followers with an internal locus of control are more
likely to be more influential with other followers
than those with an external locus of control
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 Follower Education and Experience
 Followers with less education and
experience need more guidance,
coaching, and feedback
 To improve their performance,
inexperienced employees often seek the
assistance of experienced employees
 Today’s workers are far more educated,
mobile, diverse, and younger than the
workforce of 20 years ago

51
 Follower Education
and Experience (cont.)
 The need for continuing education and
training on the job is increasing
 Leaders have to shift away from the top-
down directive style of leading where
tasks are highly structured and power
tends to be centralized
 They need to move toward a more
decentralized, participative style of
managing

52
 Dual Role of Being a
Leader and a Follower
 Good leadership is found in highly effective
followers
 A person can be a leader and also a follower
 The roles can change back and forth throughout
the course of a work day
 Self-managed teams require members to
alternate between playing leadership and
followership roles
 To execute both roles effectively is a challenge,
given the high potential for role conflicts and
ambiguities
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 Delegation
 Is the process of assigning the
responsibility and authority for
accomplishing objectives
 Refers to giving employees new tasks
 Success depends on a manager’s ability
to know what to delegate and what not
to delegate

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 Delegating
 The leader should consider the following
factors when delegating:
 Task
 Time required
 Follower characteristics

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 Benefits of Delegation
 Gives managers more time to perform high-
priority tasks
 Gets tasks accomplished and increases
productivity
 Enables leaders to mobilize resources and secure
better results than they could have got alone
 Trains employees and improves their self-
esteem
 Eases the stress and burden on managers
 Enriches followers’ jobs

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 Obstacles to Delegation
 Some managers want to do it all
themselves because of:
 Habit
 Fear
– That employees will fail

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 Signs of Delegating Too Little
 Taking work home
 Performing employee tasks
 Being behind in work
 A continual feeling of pressure
 Stress
 Rushing to meet deadlines
 Requiring that employees seek approval
before acting

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 Delegation Decisions
 Successful delegation is based on:
 Selecting what task(s) to delegate
 Selecting who to delegate the task(s) to

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 What to Delegate
Paperwork
Solving
employees’ Routine tasks
problems

What
What to
to
Delegate
Delegate
Tasks with
developmental Technical
potential matters
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 What Not to Delegate

Personnel Confidential
matters activities

What
What Not
Not to
to
Delegate
Delegate
Activities
Crises delegated to
you personally

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 The Delegation Model
Step 1
Explain the need
for delegating and
the reasons for Step 2
selecting the Set objectives
employee. that define
responsibility,
level of authority, Step 3
and deadline. Develop a plan.
Step 4
Establish control
checkpoints and
hold employees
accountable.

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