Leadership and Followership in Teams

Organizations today are increasingly reliant on teams that consist of members that are geographically and culturally dispersed. As highlighted elsewhere in this book, global teams may consist of members who are raised in the democratic (but individualistic) culture of the Global North-West and those raised in the hierarchical (but collectivistic) culture of the Global South-East. Leadership scholars have suggested that effective teamwork requires individuals who are able to switch between effective leadership and followership behaviors and roles. However, while the leadership literature is rife with leadership in teams, little attention is paid to the process of switching between leadership and followership behaviors/roles in teams. Consequently, in this chapter, we aim to use research evidence to explain the process of switching between leadership and followership behaviors/roles in teams (i.e., shared leadership), as well as the impact of culture on shared leadership.