As noted in Dr. Shannon's presentation, the assessment and actions needed to help followers (that would include yourself) move closer to the effective follower domain are vital to the success of an organization. The below Case Study gives you the opportunity to assess and make recommendations about how to handle the follower you will read about. Consider the following situation in light of our discussion of dynamic followership: Your response must be 200 words (+/- 10%) You MUST respond to at least 2 other of your classmates' threads with a minimum of 50 words per response. Make sure to answer all parts of the question The best responses will blend the three questions into a single response and will utilize course material to support their response.
CASE STUDY: You work as a computer programmer for your county government. You're part of a seven-person team. With the exception of one coworker named Ralph Hughes, the group gets along very well. If Ralph were not on your team, you feel you could be more productive and your job would be more enjoyable. Whenever your programming and systems design team meets, Ralph resists other people's ideas and blocks all attempts at improving the system. He is quick to find fault with others' suggestions. In attacking one of your ideas, he said, "Why do you keep coming up with these bright ideas to make more work? Why don't you try selling them to one of these Silicon Valley companies?" On another occasion, Ralph said, "That's what I would expect from someone who knew nothing about this system." He often prevents team members from sharing ideas by interrupting them with comments such as, "I have something important to say." As a result of Ralph's behavior, the team's discussions often turn into arguments. People shout at Ralph. You have never worked with anyone who is as hard to get along with as Ralph is. You often leave work angry, and you wish the county would fire him.
THE QUESTIONS: What kinds of ineffective followership traits does Ralph exhibit? As an effective follower, how could you respond to Ralph in a way that would encourage him to develop positive followership behaviors? What could you and your coworkers do as a team to change Ralph's followership behaviors?