Katherine Johnson Followership

Katherine Johnson.

Katherine Johnson is a mathematical genius and she starts at a low level, working as a computer but when Al Harrison who is the head of the space program at NASA needs a computational analyst to which Katherine’s supervisor Vivian Mitchell responds ending up assigning her to the department, Katherine was supposedly the first colored women working in a key group at the space project, with a room full of racial men who doesn’t even recognise her talent or care for her being.

Katherine clearly is an Effective Follower as per Robert Kelly’s model of followership is concerned. She is full of positive energy. When initially she had racial encounters, for example, drinking coffee from a different pot which her colleague or reporting

An example would be learning FORTRAN programming as it was the future. She could have also relaxed as others saying I am not open to learning something new and if I lose the job I will search another job as all do. But she chose to take action and take control of the situation.

Dorothy stood for the team and was not being selfish. Being a follower when opportunity knocked and when she had an upper hand she thought of better being of fellow colleagues. Once the Computer Science department at NASA knows the need of an expert FORTRAN programmer, they offer Dorothy the supervisor position, but she refuses the offer on the condition that her entire team gets to work besides her. Eventually, she wins and this decision proves beneficial for both the department and her team.

Vivian Mitchell on the other hand who is supposed to be the leader of the female computers both colored and the white at the NASA is not an intellectual asset to the project and fails miserably as a leader. She is portrayed as an obstacle to Dorothy Vaughn and her team. She claims to have goodwill towards the colored workers but it is not supported by any of her actions. She exhibits a clear case of discrimination, which is not a quality of a good