474 



MORALE AND LEADERSHIP 



overall effectiveness. A dramatic illustra- 

 tion is found in the report of the first war 

 patrol of the USS PUFFER (28). Held 

 down for a record 38 hours under more or 

 less constant attack by Japanese patrol ves- 

 sels, the crew reached a state of virtually 

 complete exhaustion, and for some time after 

 escaping showed marked signs of "nervous- 

 ness." On subsequent patrols, however, it 

 was observed that such strong bonds had 

 developed among the men that new replace- 

 ments who had not been through "the depth 

 charging" were never fully accepted. The 

 Commanding Officer recommended in con- 

 sequence that crews surviving such an ordeal 

 be broken up, presumably so as to allow 

 the unrestricted operation of the usual per- 

 sonnel replacement policy. These various 

 effects might be expected to depend some- 

 what on the characteristics of the situation 

 and of the group involved; for example, the 

 size and solidarity of the group, the extent 

 to which individuals are equally exposed to 

 danger, or the degree to which survival is 

 an all-or-none proposition, should make a 

 difference. 



Additional factors important for morale 

 in combat include the nature of duty be- 

 tween combat tours (26) and policies govern- 

 ing relief from combat on psychiatric or 

 other grounds (57). Some of these aspects 

 of the ^ combat situation are discussed in 

 another chapter in relation to individual 

 effectiveness. 



Group Success and Failure 



That tired aphorism, "nothing succeeds 

 like success," refers directly to a phe- 

 nomenon of morale. Judging from Duff's 

 (28) survey of war patrol reports, submarine 

 commanding officers agreed universally that 

 nothing contributed so greatly to morale as 

 successful action, and that, conversely, mo- 

 rale was seriously undermined by long pe- 

 riods without adequate surface contacts. It 

 may be that the effects of success or failure 

 would not be so marked under less arduous 

 or confining conditions, but this factor plays 



a vital part nevertheless in all individual 

 and group behavior. Success operates, pre- 

 sumably, to confirm the validity of a par- 

 ticular approach to a goal, and thus to 

 create confidence in oneself and in the group. 

 A tradition of success appears to make for 

 greater solidarity and for the more rapid 

 assimilation of new members. 



Success or failure are effective, however, 

 only as they are experienced, and they are 

 experienced only in relation to the goals 

 perceived by members of a group. This, 

 makes possible some control of this factor, 

 through such measures as setting realistically 

 high goals and sub-goals, providing evidence 

 of the possibility of their attainment, in- 

 suring clear recognition of them by mem- 

 bers of a group, and furnishing adequate 

 experience of the results of action (63). Un- j 

 der some conditions, at least, participation ^ 

 of members of a group in setting a goal 

 increases their awareness of and involve- 

 ment in it (10, 64). 



Just as in simple learning situations, how- 

 ever, failure may have educational value 

 and make for a more securely based long- 

 term morale. Probably this would be the 

 case where morale was not already low, and 

 where the reasons for failure were clearly 

 perceived and circumstances permitted re- 

 medial action. An unbroken string of suc- 

 cesses, particularly if they are easy, may 

 breed over-confidence and a falling off of 

 interest. 



"Positive" vs. ''Negative" Factors 



Various writers (68, 61) have insisted that 

 the state of morale produced by a positive 

 common goal or positive interpersonal at- 

 tractions among members of a group is some- 

 how different from and better than that 

 brought about through such "negative" fac- 

 tors as a dominating leader or a threat to 

 the group. Thus, a group held together 

 "negatively" may work as well as a "posi- 

 tive" group when the leader is present, but 

 not when he is absent. There is un- 

 doubtedly much truth at the bottom of this 



