A Follower-Centric Approach to Leadership in the Newsroom

This article analyses leadership in the newsroom of the Spanish newspaper El País as well as its impact on the craft of journalism more generally. Through 23 in-depth interviews, we try to elucidate how the newsroom constructs its leaders (in the newsroom, what does it mean to be a leader?), paying particular attention to the main skills considered to be necessary. According to our newsroom findings, not all heads of section or editors-in-chief are leaders, a fact that questions formal authority relations and proclaims expertise and know-how as discriminatory skills. This study emphasizes that the collective recognition of a leader is not an ultimate disposition, but can vary over time: consequently leaders who do not achieve the professional requirements of the newsroom can be denied the status, despite their expertise and experience. Our findings indicate that leaders at El País are those journalists (no matter what their positions) with strong capacities and skills (fundamentally experience, expertise and creativity) to manage form (relationships) and substance (contents) in the daily work of the newsroom. In short, journalists seen as leaders combine reiterated and strong qualities and merit, graphically reflected in the texts they have published for years in the newspaper.     

Followership and leadership in different sorts of sloyd practices

This study examined the extent to which students fully embrace sloyd activities. Sloyd is a form of adventurous education in Sweden where school students take more control of the content and methods of learning as part of their weekly education. Hands on activities are often part of the adventure and it sometimes takes place outdoors. The study focused on two sloyd groups, one led by their school teacher in school time and one group who volunteered for sloyd out of school hours. Students in the school context were expected to follow the sloyd teacher's instructions and they were supposed to choose between an individual task or a group assignment at the beginning of the semester. The youngsters in the sloyd club context were expected to manage the sloyd activities themselves as and when they attended the voluntary sessions. That children and young people embrace sloyd is more or less taken for granted, whether it is part of students' school activities or youngsters' spare time activities. However, we found there was a variation in the extent to which students embraced sloyd from both the class based and voluntary groups. The class-based students' willingness to embrace sloyd depended on whether their activity assigned to them by the teacher was interesting to them. Although the out of school students voluntarily chose their activity, some of them still declined to embrace fully the sloyd approach due to a general lack of interest in the activities. Our conclusion is that sloyd leaders or facilitators need to consider individual differences to ensure sloyd is fully embraced.     

领导者-追随者真实行为的匹配效应

在真实领导力领域,当前研究主要由“以领导者为中心”或“以追随者为中心”的范式所主导,而涉及真实型领导、真实型追随的双元研究比较缺乏。故尝试从双元视角出发,考察领导者-追随者真实行为的匹配对结果的影响及其机制。具体而言,以真实行为的一致性/不一致性为预测变量,心理资本为结果变量,领导-成员交换（LMX）为中介变量,安全依恋为调节变量,结合多项式与响应面方法,对真实行为的匹配效应进行检验。采用问卷调查方式从中国大陆多家企事业单位收集了419份匹配数据。主要研究结果显示：（1）真实行为水平的一致性会显著影响追随者的心理资本：与“低—低”一致相比,“高—高”一致对心理资本的促进作用更大。真实行为水平的不一致性也会显著影响追随者的心理资本,且与不一致的方向显著相关：与“高—低”的匹配相比,“低-高”的匹配对心理资本的促进作用更大。（2）真实行为水平的一致性会显著影响LMX：与“低—低”一致相比,“高—高”一致对LMX的促进作用更大。真实行为水平的不一致性也会显著影响LMX,但不一致的方向带来的差异并不显著。（3）LMX部分中介了真实行为一致性/不一致性对追随者心理资本的影响。（4）安全依恋对真实行为匹配与心理资本之间关系的调节作用不显著。研究揭示了发展真实型领导、发展真实型追随同样重要,为更深入地了解真实领导力发展的有效性问题提供了帮助。     

Metaphors as expressions of followers’ experiences with academic leadership

Researchers continue to investigate and understand leadership in higher education. However, leadership does not stand alone; it is part of an interactive dyad with followers. Building on a previous study that aimed to unpack academics’ experiences of leadership in higher education with a view to enhancing leadership practices, this paper creatively examines metaphors in order to understand how followers interpret academic leadership, followership and follower–leader interactions. Data were gathered from academics in follower roles through written narratives or face-to-face interviews in accordance with participants’ preferences. Drawing on a social constructionist perspective and a metaphorical conceptual framework, we align with Lakoff and Johnson [1980. Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press] who claim that metaphors pervade thought and action. Our findings illuminate followers’ understandings of leadership efficacy; their multifaceted responses to particular encounters with leaders and the complexities of following and leading in university workplaces. We demonstrate how metaphors can explain some of the concerns and constraints shaping follower and leader interactions in academia. Our analysis highlights the importance of framing leadership as a relational and dynamic construct.     

中国情景下企业有效追随行为特征的定性研究

近年来,国外领导学理论研究人员开始关注领导过程中追随者及其追随行为的作用。本文通过回顾国外追随理论的相关研究成果,通过对53位在中国企业任职的基层员工和管理层进行个别深入访谈,归纳出中国企业有效追随行为的主要特征,并对中、外员工,以及基层和管理层认知的有效追随行为特征进行比较分析。分析结果表明,团队合作、正面心理、主动行为、表达观点、适应性、服从、沟通、忠诚、可靠、主人翁意识、使命感、正直等12个特征是中、外员工、以及中国企业基层和管理层共同认知的有效追随行为的主要特征,但不同群体对这些特征的看重程度和理解程度均有所不同。此外,协调能力、学习、职业激情等3个特征是中国企业管理层对有效追随行为特有的认知。该研究结果揭示了不同情景下有效追随行为特征的共性和独特性,为今后研究人员深入开展追随理论的研究提供了初步的实证依据。