Followership is an emerging area of research within psychology that focuses on leadership and the relationship with leaders from the perspective of a follower. This research suggests that studies need to examine the leader-follower relationship in both directions—instead of focusing only on leadership—to better understand its dynamics.

Followership

The ability to guide, influence, and inspire individuals or teams to achieve organizational goals.

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Structured groups of people collaborating to achieve common goals.

Organizations

Types of Organizations

Leadership

Corporate culture is an internal dimension of organizational effectiveness that acts as both the personality and the glue that binds an organization. Because culture is based on values, it influences employees' beliefs, behaviors, relationships, and ways of working, including how employees perceive coworkers' ethical priorities, organizational values, and willingness to share opinions.

Corporate Culture

A company's plan for achieving its goals and staying competitive in the marketplace.

Business Strategy

Overseeing, designing, and controlling production processes and redesigning business operations for efficiency.

Operational Management

The adaptation or restructuring of an organization's processes, culture, or strategies, influencing how tasks and work are structured.

Organizational Change

Organizational culture refers to the common patterns of thinking and behaving within an organization. It is rooted in underlying beliefs and assumptions people hold about themselves and the organization, and those beliefs and assumptions create mindsets that shape culture. More broadly, organizational culture can be characterized as the set of shared norms, values, and behaviors in an organization that reflect its core values and strategic direction. Some interpretations treat culture as a root driver of the organization itself, shaping behavior and interaction.

Organizational Culture

Applying I-O Psychology to business structure and organization can promote overall efficiency. 

Organizational Management

Organizational psychology is the second major branch of study and practice within industrial and organizational psychology. It focuses on social interactions and their effects on individuals and on the functioning of the organization. Areas of study include job satisfaction, management styles, leadership styles, organizational culture, and teamwork; in this context, organizational culture is treated as a significant topic for understanding work organizations.

Organizational Psychology

Managers need to understand when change is required and how to guide it. Organizational culture can evolve through intentional change efforts by management, and culture change may be attempted to reduce member turnover, influence behavior, improve the organization, reset objectives, rescale the organization, or achieve specific results.

Managerial Need for Organizational Change

Organizational change can take different forms, including structural change, technological change, and culture change.

Types of Organizational Change

Differentiation is the process of organizing employees into groups that focus on specific functions in the organization. As an organization hires more people, employees begin to specialize, and over time these areas of specialization mature through differentiation.

Differentiation in Organizations

Regardless of whether they operate as for-profit, tax-exempt, or governmental entities, successful organizations typically share two main attributes: a unified and clearly understood organizational purpose, and a functional management team.

Characteristics of Successful Organizations

An organization's purpose is generally set by its owners. In healthcare, a community-owned, tax-exempt entity aims to deliver healthcare services to the public while remaining financially viable by covering costs and growing. Conversely, a stockholder-owned, for-profit organization seeks to generate profits, which requires satisfying customers like physicians, patients, employers, and insurers. Healthcare organizations often have multiple or secondary purposes, such as medical education, which the management team must prioritize, maintain congruence for, and communicate to stakeholders.

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