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CHAPTER 7: FOLLOWERSHIP 219
Reluctantly, Jill had returned to work the 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. shift at Trams,
where she worked in the ladies’ and children’s apparel department. Her job consisted
of folding clothes, straightening up the racks, and going to the registers for “price
checks.” Jill’s stomach tied in knots as she remembered her previous work experience
at Trams. She was originally hired because management had found that college students
work hard, and work hard Jill did. Her first boss at Trams was Ms. Williams, who had
strict rules that were to be adhered to or else you were fired. There was to be no talking
between employees, or to friends and family who entered the store. Each of the four
clerks who worked the night shift was assigned a section of the department and was
held responsible for it. With the clientele and the number of price checks, it was almost
impossible to finish the work, but each night Jill would race against the clock to finish
her section. Ms. Williams was always watching through a one-way mirror, so everyone
was alert at all times. It seemed there wasn’t a minute to breathe—her 20-minute break
(and not a minute more!) was hardly enough to recover from the stress of trying to beat
the clock.
As Jill talked to Mr. Tyler, she sensed that things really were different. She was intro-
duced to the other employees she’d be working with and, to her surprise, they all seemed
to know one another well and enjoy working at Trams. Mr. Tyler then left a little after
6 p.m., leaving the night shift with no supervision! One of the girls explained that they all
worked as a team to get the work done. There was constant chatter, and her co-workers
seemed eager to get to know her and hear about her experiences at college. It was hard
for Jill at first, but she gradually became used to talking and working. The others teased
her a bit for working so hard and fast and rushing back to the department at the end of
her allotted 20 minutes of break time.
At first, Jill was appalled by the amount of goofing off the clerks did, but as
time passed she began to enjoy it and participate. After all, the work got done with
time to spare. Maybe things weren’t quite as neat as before—and the store manager
had alerted the department that sales were down—but no one had asked the work-
ers to change their behavior. Everyone, including Jill, began taking longer and longer
breaks. Some of the clerks even snacked on the sales floor, and they were becoming
sloppier and sloppier in their work. Jill liked the relaxed atmosphere, but her work
ethic and previous training made it hard for her to accept this. She felt responsible
for the decline in sales, and she hated seeing the department so untidy. She began to
make a few suggestions, but the other workers ignored her and began excluding her
from their bantering. She even talked to Mr. Tyler, who agreed that her suggestions
were excellent, but he never said anything to the others. Their behavior grew more and
more lax. None of the clerks did their job completely, and breaks often stretched to
an hour long. Jill knew the quality of her own work went down as well, but she tried
hard to keep up with her own job and the jobs of the others. Again, Trams became a
nightmare.
The final straw came when her co-worker Tara approached Jill and asked her to
change the price tag on a fashionable tank top to $2 and then “back her up” at the regis-
ter. Jill replied that the tag said $20, not $2. Tara explained that she worked hard, did her
job, and never received any reward. The store owed her this “discount.” Jill adamantly
refused. Tara changed the price tag herself, went to the register to ring it up, and called
Jill a college snob. Jill knew it was time for her to act.
Source: Adapted from “Things Are Different Around Here,” prepared by Ann Marie Calacci, with the assistance of
Frank Yeandel, in John E. Dittrich and Robert A. Zawacki, People and Organizations: Cases in Management and
Organizational Behavior (Plano, TX: Business Publications, Inc., 1981), pp. 72–75.
QUESTIONS
1. What types of “follower courage” does Jill need in this situation?
2. If you were Jill, what action would you take first? If that didn’t produce results,
what would you do second? Third?
3. How might Jill use this experience to develop her personal potential?