The Relationship: Transformational Leadership & Courageous Followership

• In Event: New Research on Followership and Leadership Development

Short Description

Do courageous followership behaviors influence the development of transformational leaders? This study assessed if law enforcement leaders rating themselves as courageous followers also rated themselves as transformational leaders, and whether gender had an impact on that relationship. Four of the ten hypotheses tested were found to be significant.

Detailed Abstract

This study explored the relationship between courageous followership and transformational leadership behaviors, to assess if law enforcement leaders rating themselves as courageous followers also rated themselves as transformational leaders, and if gender had an impact on that relationship. The selection of law enforcement agencies for this study was influenced by the fine line that separates law enforcement followers from leaders. In an instant, a police officer could find himself in the position of leadership as an armed gunman threatens to kill hostages and he is the only one present; there is no time for a phone call to the Chief or a quick training session. There is only time for demonstrated courage and skill gained prior to that incident. He becomes the leader and the Chief becomes the follower as he waits for the decision point. At that moment, it is important that the officer and the Chief both understand the power of courageous followership.

The target population was 148 police leaders from the state of Ohio police agencies; 85.8% (n = 127) were males and 14.2% (n = 21) were females. Relative to job rank, the majority of respondents (66.2%, n = 98) were sergeants; 20.3% (n = 30) were lieutenants; and 6.8% (n = 10) were commanders.

Two survey instruments were distributed for completion by the sample population: (a) Dixon’s (2003) The Follower Profile and (b) Kouzes and Posner’s (2003) Leadership Practices Inventory Self-Assessment. The primary research question for this study asked: What is the relationship between courageous followership behaviors of law enforcement leaders, as measured by The Follower Profile (TFP), and transformational leadership behaviors of law enforcement leaders, as measured by the Leadership Profile Inventory (LPI), and what influence does gender have on the relationship?

The independent variables, courageous followership behaviors, were defined as Chaleff’s (2003) five courageous followership behaviors: (a) the courage to assume responsibility, (b) the courage to serve, (c) the courage to challenge, (d) the courage to participate in transformation and, (e) the courage to take moral action. The dependent variables were defined as Kouzes & Posner’s (2007) Exemplary Leadership Practices: (a) model the way, (b) inspire a shared vision, (c) challenge the process, (d) enable others to act and, (e) encourage the heart; and the control and intervening variables, gender were statistically controlled in this study (Creswell, 2003). The study demonstrated an overall positive relationship between transformational leadership and courageous followership behaviors as self-assessed by law enforcement leaders.

Ten hypotheses were tested. Four were significant and six were not significant. Courage to challenge was significantly and positively related to challenging the process. As courage to challenge increased by one unit, there was a corresponding increase in challenging the process by 1.39 units. Courage to participate in transformation was significantly and positively related to inspiring a shared vision. As courage to participate in transformation increased by one unit, there was a corresponding increase in inspiring a shared vision by 1.87 units. Courage to serve was significantly and positively related to enabling others to act. As courage to serve increased by one unit, there was a corresponding increase in enabling others to act by 1.96 units. Courage to assume responsibility was significantly and positively related to encouraging the heart. As courage to assume responsibility increased by one unit, there was a corresponding increase in encouraging the heart by 1.39 units.

The majority of the relationships were statistically significant, indicating linearity between the variables, courageous followership and transformational leadership behaviors. Gender did not moderate the relationships between transformational leadership and courageous follower behaviors of law enforcement leaders in the state of Ohio. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that organizations - especially law enforcement - include courageous followership development into their learning curriculums for leaders and followers.

Participant

• Robynne L. Sherrill, Dawn Food Products, Inc.