Question

Class - Have we observed a balancing act between control and building and maintaining trust?

Johnson (2013) observed "impression management is integral to effect of leadership because followers have images of idea leaders called prototypes… The closer the person is to the ideal, the more likely it is that we will select a person as leader and except her or his influence" (p.20)

Please share your response to Johnson’s observation through a lens of your own experience.

Answer 1

Absolutely. Impression management is integral to effect of leadership because followers have a perception how the idea leaders should be. Prototype forms as a basis to create models. The follower’s ideal leaders are leaders who are highly effective in their leadership role. They are even considered as role model to few followers. It is pertinent that leaders maintain this image by effective impression management. If the leader fails to control his/her emotions, then it eventually leads to destruction of the image. The followers expect the leaders to have a closer relationship with this ideal leader who is expected to self-manage the impressions. The followers go to the extent of accepting the leader’s influence on them. I would like to cite a reference from my workplace. My Team Manager is very effective in impression management. I was awestruck by the way she handled the complex situations. I was a short-tempered person aspring to be a Team Lead!! She taught and guided me that impression management plays a crucial role for becoming a Team Lead. She also mentioned that in order to have the team members accept my leadership, I need to control my emotions. She was an ideal leader closer to image that the team members had as prototypes. She illustrated with examples which molded me to become an effective leader. My goal is to be effective in impression management at all situations so as to become an ideal leader closer to the prototype images that the followers have.