Isolating characteristics, situations, leaders, and followers as separate entities can create myopia that limits how we see complex phenomena. Hughes et al. (2005) proposed that considering the interaction among multiple factors provides a clearer picture of leadership. Integrating Hollander’s transactional theory and Fiedler’s (1964) contingency model, Hughes et al. offered an interactional framework for understanding leadership--not through separate functions, but by analyzing the interactions among the elements.

For example, looking at the leader or follower provides only a piece of a complex puzzle that could be understood better by observing how leaders and followers influence each other and how the situation constrains or encourages action. In other words, leadership is not about separate functions of a leader, follower, and situation but is “the result of a complex set of interactions among the leader, the followers, and the situation” (p. 24).

To Hughes et al. (2005) the leader element is “what the leader brings as an individual,” including temperament, experience, style, credibility, how the leader achieved status (elected, appointed, emerged, relationship) knowledge, and if the followers participated in appointing the leader. The follower element is “critical” to successful leadership. Still, little research exists to understand the role followers play in leadership (p. 26).

An increasingly turbulent environment is causing a “period of dynamic change” between the leaders and followers (Lippet, 1982, 29). Emerging trends from this changing relationship include power-sharing and decentralizing executive power. In other words, the democratization of leadership is pushing authority down the hierarchy with the expectation that employees will fill the leadership roles previously held by bosses to lead themselves and to provide management with the intelligence to facilitate better decisions.

Shared leadership is becoming increasingly important because the nature of problems is so complicated. Consequently, management attempts to improve decision quality and speed by distributing authority to those who are most responsible for implementing the decisions. A trend toward democratization of leadership is providing followers with increased opportunities to manage their bosses and influence leaders by collaborating with leaders and taking proactive action to solve problems (Gabarro & Kotter, 2005).

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