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Demonstrating the Interplay of Leaders and Followers

An Experiential Exercise

Drury University, rsronce{at}drury.edu

Lucy A. Arendt

University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Classroom discussions of leadership often neglect the essential role of followers. These discussions do little to address the reality of our students’ predominant roles as followers within organizations. We describe the Origami Frog exercise, an experiential exercise that enables students to discover how follower behaviors impact group process and outcomes. Students are asked to play either leader or follower roles, and followers are asked to exhibit either Effective or Passive follower behaviors. Predictably, different follower roles interact with leader behaviors to yield different consequences. The Origami Frog exercise is complex enough that followers can significantly influence results and yet simple enough that the exercise and its relevant pre- and postdiscussion can be accomplished in a 50-min class.

Key Words: followers • leaders • followership • leadership • experiential learning

This version was published on December 1, 2009

Journal of Management Education, Vol. 33, No. 6, 699-724 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1052562908330726


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