Communications Chapter 13 Homework The Followers Rowers Were Not From The

Unlock access to all the studying documents.

View Full Document

Northouse, Leadership 9e

SAGE Publications, 2021

Case 13.2: Olympic Rowers

Case Synopsis and Analysis

In the 1930s, rowing was the most popular sport in the country and was dominated by elite

East Coast universities like Cornell, Harvard, and Princeton. However, in the 1936 Olympics,

the University of Washington team would represent the United States in Berlin, Germany.

The leader of the college team, Ulbrickson, had a program with a number of talented

rowers—most were not elite or wealthy, but rather were sons of loggers, farmers, and

fishermen. Finding the ideal makeup of members for a successful rowing team is a complex

Learning Objectives:

• Students should be able to apply principles of followership to leader behaviors.

• Students should apply the model of “reversing the lens” to better understand the

concepts of followership.

Answers to Questions in the Text:

1. In what way is this case about followership? Who were the followers? Who were the

leaders?

The rowers who believed they could compete with the elite rowers from around the

world were the followers. The initial leader was Ulbrickson, who challenged the

Northouse, Leadership 9e

SAGE Publications, 2021

2. The coxswain is the crew member who sits in the stern facing the bow, steers the

boat, and coordinates the power and rhythm of the rowers. In this case, is the

coxswain’s role more or less important than the roles of other crew members?

Explain your answer.

3. Reversing the lens emphasizes that followers can be change agents—what was the

impact of followers’ characteristics on followers’ behaviors in this case? What impact

do you think Ulbrickson’s perception and behaviors had on the rowers in his

program?

4. How would you describe the impact of both followers and leaders on followership

outcome?

5. In this case, the boys in the boat created a highly cohesive unit. Do you think highly

effective followership always results in cohesiveness? Defend your answer.

If the followers truly believe in the cause, then “yes.” Through training, talent

Northouse, Leadership 9e

SAGE Publications, 2021

Potential Teaching Approaches:

Below is a way to structure a class based on Followership and Case Study 13.2:

• Hold a lecture on followership.

• Ask students to read Case 13.2 and answer the questions.

• Discuss the case study questions as a class.

• Finally, the professor may choose to conduct in-class exercises listed below.

Exercises for This Case Study:

1. Have student teams search for YouTube videos of the University of Washington

rowing team. Have the students watch the clips and then relate it back to the

Kellerman Follower Typology model (Figure 13.5). Rate each character (athletes

from the video) on the continuum—where do they fall? Then, ask students rate

2. In small groups, after watching the videos listed above and outlining the comparisons,

students should discuss the many variables needed for a successful team (athletic or

otherwise). How does followership play a role in that success and how does

leadership play a role in that success? Ask each small group to rank order the top five