Follow the leader: An investigation of the relationship between hierarchical levels and measures of follower behaviors of selected North Carolina community college employees.

摘要

The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a correlation of follower behaviors and administrative hierarchical levels in a statewide system of community colleges. The theoretical basis for the dissertation is Ira Chaleff's work (2003) on courageous follower behaviors necessary for organizational success. The behaviors are courage to assume responsibility, courage to serve, courage to participate in transformation, courage to challenge, and courage to take moral action.;An experimental design utilizing a test instrument, The Followership Profile (Dixon, 2003), was employed to prove or disprove the hypothesis of the study that follower behaviors and hierarchical levels within the system of community colleges are related. The results of this study show that follower behaviors mean responses are higher for all behaviors as the level of administrative responsibility increases. Hierarchical Level 1 (senior administration) consistently has the highest follower behaviors mean responses for all of the behaviors, and Hierarchical Level 2 (middle administration) consistently has higher follower behaviors mean responses than Hierarchical Level 3 (lower administration) for all of the behaviors. This supports the need to further develop courageous followers at all hierarchical levels in the North Carolina Community College System. The conclusions provide specific findings from the population that call for recommendations for more training for all employees or followers, not just leaders as is currently the focus.