Follower-Centered Perspectives on Leadership:|
A Tribute to the Memory of James R. Meindl
Michelle C. Bligh
A volume in the series: Leadership Horizons. Series Editor: Mary Uhl-Bien, University of Nebraska.
The majority of leadership theories and studies have tended to emphasize the personal background, personality traits, perceptions, and actions of leaders. From this perspective, the followers have been viewed as recipients or moderators of the leader's influence, and as vehicles for the actualization of the leader’s vision, mission or goals.
One of the major challengers of this dominant view was the late James R. Meindl. As an alternative to the leader-centric perspective on leadership, Meindl offered a follower-centric approach that views both leadership and its consequences as largely constructed by followers and hence influenced by followers’ cognitive processes and inter-follower social influence processes.
As a tribute to Jim Meindl and his contributions to the field of leadership studies, Information Age Publishing is releasing a book on follower-centered approaches to leadership. The book covers a wide variety of perspectives that acknowledge the active roles of followers in the leadership process. These include the psychoanalytical perspective, leadership categorization theory, social identity theory, the shared leadership approach, attribution of charisma through social networks, the role of the media in constructing images of the leader, the social construction of followership, vision implementation by followers and a post modern approach to followership. It is hoped that the volume will provoke readers to reflect upon and extend Jim Meindl’s seminal work on followership.
CONTENTS: Introduction, Boas Shamir. The Vulnerability of Followers to Toxic Leaders, J. Lipman-Blumen. Implicit Leadership Theories as Dynamic Processing Structures, Megan E. Medvedeff and Robert G. Lord. Extending the Follower-Centered Perspective on Leadership: A Social Identity Analysis of Followers’ Role in Leadership Effectiveness, Daan van Knippenberg, Barbara van Knippenberg, and Steffen Giessner. Followers Sharing Leadership: Who, What, When, Why and How, Lynn R. Offermann and Noelle F. Scuderi. Leadership Embedded in Networks, Juan Carlos Pastor and Margarita M. Mayo. A Follower-Centric Contingency Model of Charisma Attribution: The Importance of Follower Emotion, Chao C. Chen, Liuba Y. Belkin, and Terri R. Kurtzberg. Through Thick and Thin? Followers’ Changing Perceptions of President Bush’s Leadership Over Time, Rajnandini Pillai, Jeffrey C. Kohles, and Michelle C. Bligh. Visualising the Social Construction of Leadership, Brad Jackson and Eric Guthey. The Romance of Leadership and the Social Construction of Followership, Mary Uhl-Bien and Rajnandini Pillai. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: Follower Perceptions of a Departing Leader and a Lingering Vision, Melissa K. Carsten and Michelle C. Bligh. Leadership as a Relational Construction; Reconstructing Leadership as Process, Dian Marie Hosking. Romancing, Following, and Sensemaking: James Meindl’s Legacy, Karl Weick.
Grounding Leadership Theory and Research: Issues, Perspectives, and Methods. Edited by Ken Parry, Victoria University & Jim Meindl, SUNY, Buffalo
Implicit Leadership Theories: Essays and Explorations. Edited by Birgit Schyns, Tilburg University and James R. Meindl, State University of New York at Buffalo
Teaching Leadership Innovative Approaches for the 21st Century. Edited by Raj Pillai, California State University, San Marcos & Susan Stites-Doe, SUNY College at Brockport
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