Followership as a determinant of leadership effectiveness in educational organizations

 JENNIFER C. BUNGUBUNG, CPA, MBA

            Schools Division of the City of Batac

            Divine World College of Laoag

Abstract:

Most studies on school leadership only look at the leader or the person in charge, not at how followers matter. Because of this, the focus shifts to what followers do and why it matters. What stands out is how thoughtfulness, getting involved, and taking ownership affect how well leaders work. These actions quietly change the outcomes more than many assume. Effective leadership rarely happens without steady support from below. Behind every strong education leader sits a group acting in ways that make success possible.

 

What stands out is how well a leader does isn’t just about their traits, it is about the building from give-and-take between those leading and those following. Evidence shows education institutions need to grow a mindset where being a thoughtful follower matters.

 

When people follow well, teamwork grows along with honesty and common purpose, helping organizations do better in both performance and learning results. Yet strong leaders can still struggle if those around them stay quiet or get in the way. Looking at how teachers, students, and staff shape leadership shows that influence goes both ways inside education settings, using a blend of data types to uncover patterns. Results show progress depends less on top figures alone but more on having engaged, accountable, and driven participants behind the scenes. Consequently, the concept of outcome orientation highlights the importance of education leadership fostering engagement that increases commitment, ownership, and focus within the team. The true effect will be seen when day-to-day activities demonstrate that there is joint responsibility instead of control by one party.

 

Keywords: Followership, Leadership Effectiveness, Educational Organizations, Institutions, Effective Followership, Organizational Excellence, Followership Styles and Behaviors

Introduction

Followership plays a crucial role in determining how effective leadership is within educational organizations, as it shifts followers from merely complying to actively partnering with leaders. This collaboration helps principals and administrators reach goals such as better student performance and a more positive school culture. In institutions like the Department of Education (DepEd) in the Philippines, where hierarchical systems are common, followers—especially teachers and staff—contribute as co-creators of success through their active involvement, critical thinking, and strong sense of ethics.

For a long time, the influence of the education's top roles has shaped outcomes across schools, systems, and students. Not so much about individual traits now, like the focus shifted from bosses like principals toward shared effort and motion between people involved. Once rooted in personal qualities and actions of those officially in charge (Northouse, 2022), the idea grows wider today, built less on titles and more on interaction.

Working alongside leaders means playing a part in reaching shared goals; the idea sits at the heart of followership (Kelley, 1992; Chaleff, 2009). Inside schools and educational institutions, it isn’t just staff who follow; students do too, shaping choices and rules through their involvement. Because teachers speak up, step forward, or join group work, they help schools run better (Uhl-Bien et al., 2014). When those following struggle, though, trust weakens, teamwork shrinks, and progress slows down.

Even so, followership gets little attention in most leadership theories, especially within school management. Because of this, looking closer at how followers shape leader performance makes sense. Their dynamic matters more than is often acknowledged. With that in mind, this study turns toward understanding followership's role in shaping effective leadership inside education settings.

 

Social Exchange and Leader-Member Relations Theory.

 

According to the Social Exchange Theory (Hollander, 1978), leadership is an interaction where leaders and followers constantly exchange different resources such as support, obligations, trust, and other factors. According to the notion, the quality of the relationship between school leaders and followers is always improving as a result of the cooperative effort on both sides. Leaders who offer advice, encouragement, and acknowledgment are more likely to motivate followers to devote themselves to their schoolwork.

Furthermore, the concept of leader-follower interaction is the Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX), proposed by Graen & Scandura in 1987. The LMX approach centers on the relationship between leaders and followers based on the nature of their one-to-one interactions. As the theory says, there exists a range of different leader-member exchanges, and these are classified into either high or low-quality exchanges. The high-quality LMX relations involve trust, mutual respect, open communication, and obligation that lead to better follower performance and increased organizational commitment.

Such theories are highly relevant in studying the notion of educational leadership because they emphasize that the investigation should focus on the interaction between two parties in an organization rather than the characteristics of a leader. The application of Social Exchange Theory and LMX Theory demonstrates that excellent school leadership is achieved by consistent involvement, trust-building, and influence between the leader and the followers.

                       

Followership Styles and Behaviors

 

The success of leadership in education settings depends not only on the visions and methods used by leaders but also on the personality types and behavior of the followers. According to Kelley (1992), depending on how independently one thinks and actively participates in the process, there are five follower types: passive, conformist, alienated, pragmatic, and exemplary. These five types demonstrate that there is no homogeneous category of followers who all relate to the leadership in the same way.

Research has found that qualities of good followers, such as critical thinking and active participation, correlate positively with self-efficacy, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction (Blanchard et al., 2009). In contrast, passive followers may interfere with creative efforts and the progress of the organization. As Kastle and Kniffin (2021) argue, followers are important to organizational success and often the ones responsible for most organizational outcomes. It therefore follows that research on followership should extend to educational organizations, as this would enhance the discourse on leadership by recognizing the contributions of followers in organizational development and leadership effectiveness.

In educational institutions, the nature and characteristics of followership become important in influencing the effectiveness of leadership since they determine how followers interact with their leaders’ vision. The exemplary style of followership can be distinguished by its level of engagement and proactiveness, where competent people make efforts to improve the curriculum to achieve better results among students.

Task-oriented and autonomous followers ensure continuous achievement in daily processes; however, alienated followers, despite their expertise, stay detached from organizational activities since they had previously experienced some difficulties. Conformist followers show a high degree of loyalty and harmony within organizations, although sometimes they lack an independent approach to work. In addition, passive followers make little contribution to the success of an organization, requiring continuous control by leaders. On the other hand, proactive behavior based on idea-sharing, ethical criticism of instructions, commitment, adaptability, and teamwork can serve as essential practices to translate leadership objectives into tangible achievements.

 

Followers as Individuals.

The education level and experience of the followers, as well as their performance and personality qualities, all have an impact on the connection between leaders and followers. First and foremost, followers' educational background has an impact on their knowledge of communication strategies and compliance with the leader’s directions. An increase in education levels results in improved critical thinking skills, decision-making participation, and interaction with the school administration. Second, employment experience influences followership because it promotes self-confidence and competence.

Furthermore, job performance is an important factor in leader and follower interactions. High-performing employees are frequently given extra tasks and increased independence, which improves respect, trust, and communication between leaders and followers (Podsakoff et al., 2000). On the other hand, regular bad performance can lead to tension and limited involvement in the partnership. Furthermore, the power among followers, whether formal or informal, can affect an organization's relationships because individuals with expertise, leadership skills, or strong social networks can shape collective decisions and influence how leaders use the authority.

Finally, there is a significant effect of personality characteristics on working relationships. The personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability contribute to followers' relations with the leader in solving conflicts and addressing any problems. The Differences in individual qualities like education, experience, productivity, authority, and personality affect the effectiveness of interaction within the organization or group. Understanding these factors will help leaders change their style and improve their effectiveness.

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, followership behaviors and styles play an important role in determining how successful the leaders will be in the learning organizations. The nature of the followership, whether passive, conformist, or excellent, plays an important role in the impact of the effectiveness of the leaders in visions and innovations in the organization, even though the focus has always been on leadership.

In education organizations, followership is what makes leaders work well. Teachers and staff take the leader's ideas and turn them into real results, like better student success or stronger teams. They don't just follow orders. They think, change, and improve the plans every day in teaching or office work. This turns big goals, like new programs, into wins like higher performance scores or better group outcomes.

           Followers who do well help create a sense of responsibility, which is important in learning. These followers stand out because they are involved and think critically on their own. On the other hand, followers who are not involved or who do not participate may actually destroy any form of leadership and affect its growth. Learning centers can ensure that leaders and followers work together to accomplish common goals by acknowledging followership as a determinant in leadership effectiveness. Ultimately, good, caring, and dedicated followers mean ensuring that leadership is a group process, and not an individual one.

            In educational organizations such as the Department of Education in the Philippines, it is vital to foster good relationships between leaders and followers, given the current hierarchies. It becomes easier for schools to attain success when educators and employees are encouraged to engage actively and make significant contributions to the school’s growth.
            Recognizing followership as a determinant of leadership effectiveness changes how one sees a group success, placing the follower at the center as someone who participates in the process rather than just being acted upon by the leader. In educational institutions striving for excellence, the development of followership is essential for effective leadership.

 

References:

Blanchard, A. L., Welbourne, J., Gilmore, D., & Bullock, A. (2009). Followership styles and employee attachment to the organization. The Psychologist-Manager Journal.

Chaleff, I. (2009). The courageous follower: Standing up to and for our leaders (3rd ed.). Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Graen, G. B., & Scandura, T. A. (1987). Toward a psychology of dyadic organizing. In L. L. Cummings & B. M. Staw (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 9, pp. 175–208). JAI Press.

Hollander, E. P. (1978). Leadership dynamics: A practical guide to effective relationships. Free Press.

Kastle, S., & Kniffin, L. (2021). Chapter 3: Followership. In the Introduction to Leadership Concepts Handbook. FHSU Digital Press.

Kelley, R. E. (1992). The power of followership: How to create leaders people want to follow and followers who lead themselves. Doubleday.

Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Paine, J. B., & Bachrach, D. G. (2000). Organizational citizenship behaviors: A critical review of the theoretical and empirical literature and suggestions for future research.

Uhl-Bien, M., Riggio, R. E., Lowe, K. B., & Carsten, M. K. (2014). Followership theory: A review and research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly.

 

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