| Every organization needs followers and yet organizations seem to give little attention or recognition to the development of followers. Understanding followers as contributors to an organization implies that followers have equal status with leaders in sustaining organizational viability. Chaleff (1995) describes five behaviors that characterize followers: courage to assume responsibility, courage to serve, courage to challenge, courage to participate in transformation and courage to leave. Chaleff's theory implies that both leadership and followership should be recognizable at all organizational levels. This implication requires empirical verification; i.e., if followership exists, how does it represent itself across organizational levels? In answering this question, this dissertation provides an empirical process for measuring followership.; The research was conducted by survey. The survey, The Followership Profile, was found to be statistically valid and reliable. A sample was taken from the population of engineering and technology workers in multi-level government agencies, government contractors, and industrial concerns (N = 364). Survey results indicated that followership is evident within the organizations represented by participants. Analysis indicates that statistically significant differences exist in self-attributions of followership as a function of organizational level for four of the characteristic behaviors.; Several conclusions were drawn from the research. Follower behaviors are measurable. Followers exist within technology-based organizations and are discernible at all organizational levels. Attributions of followership are related to organization level, with increasing measures of followership at higher levels in the organization. This implies that leaders are followers and that follower roles can be described according to organization level.; Recommendations for the organization include training to develop organizational-wide understanding of the value of followership; personal and organizational assessments of the followership skill base; structuring of reward mechanisms to support development of followership within organizations; and development of structures that recognize, empower, and profit from followers and followership. Recommendations for the technical manager include deployment of a supportive group culture, establishing expectations for followership through a supportive appraisal system, and developing of followers through the use of The Followership Profile. |
