Cari Hochbein 2016
If you work in corporate America, in 2016, you may be familiar with many of the following ideas: work/life balance, work-from-home days, team-building workshops, team-member point of view surveys, company phone plans, gym memberships, and various discounts. What do each of these offerings have in common? They all place great focus on the needs of the follower. Can you imagine yourself walking through the doors of your workplace in 1960, and asking your manager to approve work-from-home days? It is laughable. Aside from the fact that technology was not ready for this, there was also a significant difference in the leader/follower relationship. Many employees would not have dared to ask their manager for anything more than an earned paycheck. Employee commitment was high, and employee turnover rates remained low (Greenberg, 2012).
Kellerman’s 2012 book, speaks to a power shift that has been taking place, over the last 40 years (Northouse,2013). It seems clear that follower expectations have changed. Followers expect more from their leaders. In addition, leaders are placing significant effort on meeting employee needs. Kellerman (2012) suggests that the shift in power may have allowed a sense of entitlement to replace a general respect for the leader/follower relationship (Northouse, 2013). I don’t believe Kellerman is suggesting that the modern workforce is a collection of disrespectful, ungrateful, terrors. However, she has suggested that a leader’s legitimate power, which was once held in high-esteem, has diminished over time (Northouse, 2013).
During a 1965 strike at the Westinghouse factory in Cheswick, PA, leadership opted not to hire temporary employees. Instead, they asked supervisors to participate in a “lock-in”, to fill the gaps. As the supervisor of a tool-and-die team, my grandfather stayed in the plant, until the strike was over. My dad would sneak over the fence to bring him necessary items (food, clothes, soap, newspapers, etc.). As he and the other men willingly accepted this request, it could be said that they respected the legitimate power of leadership. In addition, I don’t think the men, picketing outside, were asking for employee discounts or company cars. It may be fair to assume that they also abided by the same principles, under normal conditions. Management was not there to meet the needs of employees. Rather, employees were there to work hard and meet the expectations of their managers. Clearly, the standard of work/life balance was different than what newer generations are accustomed to, today. A comparison of the two seems to demonstrate Kellerman’s point that an evolution has taken place in follower expectations (Northouse, 2013).
However, have employee needs increased according to their own motivations? Or, have leaders encouraged the shift through a focus on servant leadership and path-goal theory? Many factors and confounding variables could be at play, making it difficult to determine a causal relationship. Regardless, followers are now demanding more from their workplace experience, and managers are being asked to place greater focus on increasing employee satisfaction (Northouse, 2013). My director has been tasked with raising our team-member point-of-view scores, for the past few years. His performance review depends on his ability to do so. This puts his bonus at the mercy of 50 subjective team-member opinions. His situation, as an accomplished director, also seems to demonstrate Kellerman’s observation of the power shift.
As a separate, but related point, Pfau (2016) wrote an article about employee expectation studies, specific to the millennial generation. He notes that much research is being done, to summarize the work habits and expectations of the millennial generation. Pfau (2016) points out that this has turned into $150 billion consulting market. It seems that the power shift has become so evident that firms are looking for answers. Consulting firms are marketing programs with a promise to “turn generational differences into an asset” (Pfau, 2016). However, the research on generational differences is inconclusive (Pfau, 2016). Although it has been accepted that such generational differences exist, there seems to be very little concrete evidence to suggest any significant impact in the workplace. I suppose this could imply that deadlines are still being met, and bottom lines are still being achieved, leaving people generally satisfied in both leader and follower positions. Therefore, even if the power shift persists, leaders seem willing to continue on the path of servant leadership. Are there any true negative implications? Or, is this only improving the quality of work life? I think my grandfather would admit that my work conditions are more “pleasant” than his. However, I can’t guarantee that he would trade places. At this point, the lack of evidence, to suggest any significant impact, may imply that Kellerman’s findings are more of a maxim than a robust theory (Williams, 2016). However, it seems that the generational differences, related to the power shift, will continue to be a popular areas of study, and it is possible that concrete theories may emerge.
In the interim I am left to ponder what happens when the “needy followers” of today become the leaders of tomorrow. Who holds the power, then? Hence, the cheeky title, “are we headed for a power outage”.
References
Greenberg, J. (2012). Managing behavior in organizations (6th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
Williams, J. (2016). Lesson 1: Introduction to Leadership [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/su16/psych485/001/content/01_lesson/01_page.html
Pfau, B.N. (2016) What do millenials really want at work? The same things the rest of us do. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/04/what-do-millennials-really-want-at-work
Pietro Piumetti says
To me, I believe that we will never run of out of power, hence no power outage. The reason why I say this is that I believe that power is just a cycle, and not one person will truly hold power for a long time. People adapt, people change and this is why power changes hands as well.