Followers Revealed

Abstract

:Every organization needs followers, although little attention, recognition, or investment is given to followers or follower development. Using Chaleff s theory of courageous followership (Chaleff, 1995), 299 participants from 17 organizations provided self-evaluations of five behaviors identifying courageous followers. When analyzed, responses demonstrated significant differences in self-attribution of followership as a function of organizational level. Attributions of courageous followership correlate with organizational level for four of the behaviors. Results indicate that followership is evident in the organizations studied. So why isn't more effort directed at developing followership? This article concludes by introducing strategies for engineering managers to improve followership in their organizations.