A Study on Teachers‘ Followership Styles and Strategies for Developing Followership Skills in Soochow University, China

Abstract

The study was conducted to identify teachers‘ followership styles at Soochow University; to identify the most important followership skills and characteristics; as well as the important followership skills that the university lacks in its training program as the teachers perceived at Soochow University, and to provide some key training themes and suggestions that will help develop teachers‘ followership skills at Soochow University. The examined population was comprised of 133 randomly selected instructors from seven different departments of Soochow University. The primary source of the data was a questionnaire including 3 parts of variables. The data obtained from the returned questionnaires were analyzed by frequency, percentage and content analysis. The study found that: (1) teachers‘ followership styles from the most often acted to the least acted at Soochow universities were: exemplary followership, pragmatist followership, alienated followership, conformist followership, and passive followership. (2) The top ten important followership skills and characteristics as perceived by the instructors from the sampled departments from the most important to the least are: responsibility; persistency in work; self-confidence; unity and cooperation; self-critical; objective on the facts; mind of participating; break through innovatively; mind of serving; and communication abilities. (3) Eight followership skills or characteristics that the university lacks most in its training program as the teachers perceived from the sampled departments ranking from the most to
the least are: dare to speak out; flexibility; unity and cooperation; break through innovatively; persistency in work; selfless contribution; work without complaints; and responsibility. (4) Five suggested training activities are
recommended to conduct at Soochow University including ―Followership Skills Development Training— Speaking up to the Leader‖; ―Followership Skills & Leadership Development Training— How to be flexible at work and whose responsibility‖; ―Quality Team Building—Unity and Cooperation‖; ―Strategic Leadership: Creativity and Innovation in Work—Break through innovatively‖, and
―Values in Leadership and Followership—Persistency in Work; Selfless Contribution; Work without complaints; Responsibility‖, and so on.