Assessing leaders' power limits over followers

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to review research, especially that of John Gaski, that suggests there are limits to the power a leader has over followers, based on how much power followers will accept. Design/methodology/approach - By first reviewing the existing literature on power, leader-follower attachment, leader-follower distance and followership, an exploration of John Gaski's (1984) Volume of Power, are challenged. This is accomplished through execution of a phenomenological qualitative research study. Findings - Survey responses identified 61 themes that were then pared down to six resulting themes, each including positive and negative words (tones) implying variances in responses to leaders. From this, two latent codes emerge: transformational leadership approach; and follower response. Research limitations/implications - The author determined that power acceptance by followers is not symmetric as exhibited by the willingness to follow a leader in one area but not fully in another area leading to a volume of power that is not a symmetric cube. Practical implications - The results can provide organizations with insights into individually directed training and education focusing on leader-follower relationships, courageous followership and transformational approaches to leadership. Originality/value - This research builds on John Gaski's work regarding follower responses to power. This research presented in this paper supports the hypothesis that follower's responses are not symmetric.