Is Anybody There? The Nature of Audiences

In Chapter 3 we noted that without subordinates and/or followers the suggestion of an individual being an organisational leader is implausible. In Chapter 4 we argued that leadership could be conceptualised in terms of two sorts of performance, for which the framework of narrative, enactment and audience is relevant to both. For leaders in organisations, the audiences for these performances will commonly include subordinates as well as superordinates and peers and one characteristic of excellent leaders may be their ability to attract followership from these internal colleagues and external contacts. In this chapter we look at some of the important theories and research on audiences from four fields that might inform our understanding of leaders’ approach to their audiences: cultural studies’ consideration of the influence of TV and film; accounts from marketing on the impact of advertising; contributions from performances studies, and, finally, political scientists’ formulation of the ways audiences respond to politicians. Necessarily this chapter can only summarise those aspects of these fields that seem most pertinent to our interest in the performance of leadership.