Chapter 6

Threatening to Resign; If We Decide to Stay

The original, brilliant thinking on this subject is found in the following book, which examines economic, political, and moral phenomena: Albert O. Hirschman, Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970).

For a derivative but illustrative complement to Hirschman, see the chapter “Quitting on Principle” in Warren Bennis, Why Leaders Can’t Lead (San Francisico: Jossey-Bass, 1989).

Evil Behavior

I’m sure that there are endless books describing statistical distribution, but as a nonstatistician I have used a book by Derek Rowntree, Statistics Without Tears: A Primer for Non-Mathematicians (New York: Scribner’s, 1981).

For a hard look at the phenomenon of group evil, read the chapter “My Lai: An Examination of Group Evil” in M. Scott Peck, People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983).

THE COURAGE TO TAKE MORAL ACTION

Extensive thought and research by Gene Dixon on the validity of the Courageous Follower model, suggests among other things that the “Courage to Leave” is more properly subsumed under the “Courage to Take Moral Action.” This dissertation is scheduled to be published as An Exploration of the Effects of Organizational Behavior on Attributions of Followership (Huntsville: University of Alabama Press, 2003). It includes a survey instrument for directly assessing courageous followership.