Leadership---from the followers point of view

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this thesis is to show how leadership in practice can be different from what is approached in popular theories but yet a good way of practicing leadership through the follower’s perspective. The research methodology in this thesis is a qualitative study inspired by critical theory in which empirical data is collected by semi-structured interviews. We have interviewed eight employees and one manager in a multinational company. We begin introducing the different theories about the popular leadership notions, that is transformational leadership and charismatic leadership. Then we review these popular leadership theories in a more critical perspective. In the end we use theories about mundane leadership and non-leadership which we discuss to support our case study. There are mainly three conclusions from our thesis: First, we have concluded that the popular notions of leadership such as transformational leadership and charismatic leadership are not the only way to conduct good leadership. Second, we have found that mundane leadership can also be a good way in practice. Third, in our case, the mundane activities in this kind of leadership such as listening and informal talk were highly appreciated among the employees. Furthermore, the metaphors for leader as a gardener or cosy crafter have shown to create better relations with followers and motivate followers to do better in our case.