Communication Practices of Followers, Members, and Proteges: The Case of Upward Influence Tactics

Changing forms of organization and evolving conceptions of leadership have created the potential for followers to exert increased influence in American organizations. This chapter reviews research from a variety of disciplines on the nature of upward influence messages. Related forms of communication, such as feedback seeking, dissent, and relationship maintenance, are also discussed. Studies of the individual, relational, and organizational antecedents and outcomes of upward influence are presented. The author concludes that this form of communication has important consequences for individual members and leader-follower relationships. He suggests that future research should supplement existing work on influence tactics, with finer-grained analysis of the interactive behavior. The need to rethink traditional (psychological, hierarchical) conceptions of leader-member influence is established and alternate perspectives are explored.