Abstract
Working in tandem, growing social complexity and demands for more democratic processes are guiding leaders in the social service sector to explore the power of followership. Followership, the individuals who accept and enable organizational leaders, includes employees, volunteers, and clients coordinating activities to achieve societal compliance. Recognizing role fluidity could create more reciprocal and resilient relationships in the age of disruption, leaders turn to engage in partnership and collaboration with followership. Professionals who work in social services have found some success employing restorative practices, specifically the use of circles, in their work. Just as social media has democratized the public space – introducing more voice and participation – restorative circles provide a social medium democratizing social services. This is evident in social service organizations operating in the VUCA world based in the Global North and Global South. This chapter highlights examples and impediments shared by practitioners from the social service organizations based in Nicaragua, Singapore, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United States. The chapter focuses on how practitioners employed restorative circles with staff and constituencies to manage conflict, build relationships, exchange feedback, and make decisions amid volatile and uncertain conditions such as during the global COVID-19 pandemic. From those examples, this chapter concludes by highlighting the connection between practitioner values, facilitation processes, and its contribution to the development of fluid leadership-followership relationships.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abdul Rahim, R. (2015). Business ethics and prospects for restorative justice in selected commercial organisations based in Singapore. PhD thesis, Monash University.
Avolio, B. J., Luthans, F., & Walumba, F. O. (2004). Authentic leadership: Theory building for veritable sustained performance (Working Paper). Gallup Leadership Institute, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Barber, H. F. (1992). Developing strategic leadership: The US Army War College experience. Journal of Management Development, 11(6), 4–12.
Bhandari, A. (2018). Restorative practice: Developing a community of storytellers. Teaching Artist Journal, 16(3), 100–105.
Bohm, D. (2008). On dialogue (L. Nichol, Ed.). Routledge.
Braithwaite, J. (1999). Restorative justice: Assessing optimistic and pessimistic accounts. Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, 25, 1–127.
Braithwaite, J. (2017). Democracy, community and problem solving. In Family group conferencing (pp. 31–39). Routledge.
Chaleff, I. (2009). The courageous follower: Standing up to & for our leaders (3rd ed.). Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Cheshin, A. (2020). The Impact of non-normative displays of emotion in the workplace: How inappropriateness shapes the interpersonal outcomes of emotional displays. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00006
Cook, I. (2021, September 15). Who is driving the great resignation? Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/09/who-is-driving-the-great-resignation
Detert, J. R., & Burris, E. R. (2007). Leadership behavior and employee voice: Is the door really open? Academy of Management Journal, 50(4), 869–884. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMJ.2007.26279183
Eisenberg, D. T. (2016). The restorative workplace: An organizational learning approach to discrimination. University of Richmond Law Review, 50, 487.
Erkutlu, H., & Chafra, J. (2013). Effects of trust and psychological contract violation on authentic leadership and organizational deviance. Management Research Review, 36(9), 828–848. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-06-2012-0136
Ernest, K. (2019). Is restorative justice effective in the US? Evaluating program methods and findings using meta-analysis (Publication No. 54883). Doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University. ASU Library.
Feinberg, M., Ford, B. Q., & Flynn, F. J. (2020). Rethinking reappraisal: The double-edged sword of regulating negative emotions in the workplace. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 161, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.03.005
Fluker, W. E. (2009). Ethical leadership: The quest for character, civility, and community. Fortress Press.
Gardner, W. L., Avolio, B. J., Luthans, F., May, D. R., & Walumbwa, F. (2005). Can you see the real me? A selfbased model of authentic leader and follower development. The Leadership Quarterly, 16(3), 343–372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.03.003
Gilstrap, C. A., & Morris, A. (2015). Role fluidity and emergent followership: How nonprofit leaders communicate their relationship as/to followers. Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership, 5(3), 153–173.
Golightley, M., & Holloway, M. (2020). Social Work in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: All in this together? British Journal of Social Work, 50(3), 637–641. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcaa036
Green, S., Johnstone, G., & Lambert, C. (2015). Reshaping the field: Building restorative capital. Restorative Justice, 2(1), 43–63.
Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., Agrawal, S., Blue, A., Plowman, S. K., Josh, P., & Asplund, J. (2020). The relationship between engagement at work and organizational outcomes (Gallup Q12 Meta-analysis) (10th ed., p. 44). Gallup. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/321725/gallup-q12-meta-analysis-report.aspx
Hewlin, P. F., & Broomes, A.-M. (2019). Authenticity in the workplace. In A. J. Mayo & D. A. Thomas (Eds.), Race, work, and leadership: New perspectives on the Black experience (pp. 135–149). Harvard Business Review Press.
Hopkins, B. (2015). From restorative justice to restorative culture. Social Work Review, 14(4), 19–34.
Hurwitz, M., & Hurwitz, S. (2015). Leadership is half the story: A fresh look at followership, leadership, and collaboration. University of Toronto Press.
Itzchakov, G., & Kluger, A. N. (2017). Can holding a stick improve listening at work? The effect of Listening Circles on employees’ emotions and cognitions. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 26(5), 663–676. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2017.1351429
Johnstone, G. (2013). Restorative justice: Ideas, values, debates. Routledge.
Kellerman, B. (2008). Followership: How followers are creating change and changing leaders. Harvard Business Press.
Kellerman, B. (2012). The end of leadership. HarperCollins.
Khan, S., Abdullah, S., Busari, A., Mubushar, M., & Khan, I. U. (2019). Reversing the lens: The role of followership dimensions in shaping transformational leadership behaviour; mediating role of trust in leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 41. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-03-2019-0100
Kim, C., & Mauborgne, R. (1997). Fair process: Managing in the knowledge economy. Harvard Business Review, 75(4), 65–75.
Kligman, L. (2020). Widening circles: A grounded theory study of workplace leadership. Dissertation, Union Institute & University. https://pqdtopen.proquest.com/pubnum/28289264.html
Kubin, E., & von Sikorski, C. (2021). The role of (social) media in political polarization: A systematic review. Annals of the International Communication Association, 45(3), 188–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2021.1976070
Lieberman, M. D. (2013). Social: Why our brains are wired to connect. Broadway Books.
Luedtke, D. (2014). Progression in the age of recession: Restorative justice and white-collar crime in post-recession America. Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law, 9(1), 311–334.
Maroosis, J. (2008). Leadership: A partnership in reciprocal following. In R. E. Riggio, I. Chaleff, & J. Lipman-Blumen (Eds.), The art of followership: How great followers create great leaders and organizations (pp. 17–24). Jossey-Bass.
Mattaini, M., & Holtschneider, C. (2017). Collective leadership and circles: Not invented here. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 37(2), 126–141.
McManus, R. M., & Perruci, G. (2015). Understanding leadership: An arts and humanities perspective. Routledge.
Nedelko, Z., & Potocan, V. (2021). Sustainability of organizations: The contribution of personal values to democratic leadership behavior focused on the sustainability of organizations. Sustainability, 13(8), 4207. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084207
Opie, T., & Roberts, L. M. (2017). Do black lives really matter in the workplace? Restorative justice as a means to reclaim humanity. Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, 36(8), 707–719.
Page, S. E. (2017). The diversity bonus: How great teams pay off in the knowledge economy. Princeton University Press.
Paul, G. D., & Borton, I. M. (2017). Toward a communication perspective of restorative justice: Implications for research, facilitation, and assessment. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, 3, 199–219.
Schein, E. H., & Schein, P. (2017). Organizational culture and leadership (5th ed.). Wiley.
Schwartz, S. H. (1996). Value priorities and behavior: Applying a theory of integrated value systems. In C. Seligman, J. M. Olson, & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), The psychology of values: The Ontario Symposium (Vol. 8, pp. 1–24). Erlbaum.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. Atria.
Sullivan, D., & Tifft, L. (2008). Handbook of restorative justice: A global perspective. Routledge.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (n.d.). Refugee data finder. https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/
United Nations Office on Drug (UNODC)s and Crime. (2020). Handbook on restorative justice programmes (2nd ed.). United Nations.
Vaandering, D. (2014). Relational restorative justice pedagogy in educator professional development. Curriculum Inquiry, 44(4), 508–530.
Vigoda-Gadot, E., & Talmud, I. (2010). Organizational politics and job outcomes: The moderating effect of trust and social support. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40(11), 2829–2861.
Wachtel, T. (2013). Defining restorative (p. 12). International Institute for Restorative Practices. https://www.iirp.edu/restorative-practices/defining-restorative/
Walumbwa, F. O., Lawler, J. J., & Avolio, B. J. (2007). Leadership, individual differences, and work-related attitudes: A cross-culture investigation. Applied Psychology, 56, 212–230. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2006.00241.x
Zehr, H. (2015). Changing lenses: Restorative justice for our times (25th Anniversary ed.). Herald Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Kligman, L., Abdul Rahim, R.B. (2023). Democratizing Leadership-Followership: Restorative Practices in the Age of Disruption. In: Marques, J.F., Schmieder-Ramirez, J., Malakyan, P.G. (eds) Handbook of Global Leadership and Followership. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21544-5_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21544-5_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-21543-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-21544-5
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences