476 



MORALE AND LEADERSHIP 



More recent writers have advanced the 

 conception of leadership as a functional re- 

 lationship between individuals having dif- 

 ferent roles in a group. ^ This relationship 

 is assumed to develop when there is a group 

 goal important to the satisfaction of mem- 

 bers' needs, and when following the sug- 

 gestions of one member is perceived by the 

 others as the most likely means to need 

 satisfaction; that is, to attainment of the 

 group goal with minimum frustration of 

 other needs. It is thus a phenomenon de- 

 pendent not merely upon the personal char- 

 acteristics of the leader, but upon the char- 

 acteristics of the group and of the external 

 situation as well. 



The functional character of leadership, 

 and the complex interplay of these deter- 

 mining factors, may be observed especially 

 clearly in small, informal groups (12, 94) 

 or in situations of the "leaderless group" 

 variety (37, 79), where a small, unorganized 

 group is given a simple problem requiring 

 coordinated effort with no instructions as 

 to how to coordinate. In these situations 

 it appears that leadership literally "emerges" 

 as a product of interaction, and that it may 

 change hands whenever the situation 

 changes in a way that causes group members 

 to perceive different suggestions or contri- 

 butions as appropriate, and that calls forth 

 such contributions from a different indi- 

 vidual. It would seem, moreover, that in 

 one situation or another almost any indi- 

 vidual may, for a time at least, assume 

 leadership. 



In groups which form parts of large organ- 

 izations the leadership process is complicated 

 by virtue of the fact that leaders are nor- 

 mally appointed by superiors for relatively 

 long periods. Thus, as Knickerbocker (59) 

 points out, the leader is appointed as a 

 means to the goals of his superiors, but to 

 be followed, he must be perceived as a means 

 to satisfaction of the needs of members of 



^ Particularly good statements have been given 

 by Knickerbocker (59), Gibb (37), Jennings (56), 

 and Barnard (7, 8). 



the group, or as a means to prevention of 

 reduced satisfaction of needs. Moreover, 

 the existence of his group in the context of a 

 large organization implies relatively fixed i 

 expectations of the leader on the parts of 

 superiors, equals, and followers; hence the 

 leader's role and the process of leader- 

 follower interaction may be heavily deter- 

 mined by the characteristics of the organiza- 

 tion. Finally, the group situation changes 

 in time, and the roles which the leader is 

 called upon to play may vary widely. If 

 he is to remain accepted in the same sense 

 as the leader of an informal group, he must 

 presumably possess the varied assortment 

 of personal qualifications necessary to effec- 

 tive contribution in these roles. He may, 

 of course, derive some advantage here from 

 his official status and from prestige acquired 

 in his more effective performances. 



With reference to the question of the re- 

 lationship of leadership to group effective- 

 ness, it would seem desirable that research 

 first attempt to determine what patterns of 

 leader-follower relationships characterize ef- 

 fective groups of any given type, and then 

 investigate the conditions under which more 

 effective leadership, and through it more 

 effective group functioning can be obtained. 

 Traditionally the problem of securing more 

 effective leadership in groups has been en- 

 visaged as a matter of changing the char- 

 acteristics of leaders, primarily through se- i 

 lection, and secondarily through training, 

 and this is very probably the most promising 

 approach. However, if effective leadership 

 depends upon the situation as well as upon 

 the characteristics of the leader, the possibil- 

 ity of achieving effective leadership through 

 situational changes should not be over- 

 looked. In any case, situational factors 

 must be considered, and leadership must 

 first be studied as it occurs in specific sit- 

 uations. Otherwise it will never be possible 

 to evolve adequate hypotheses as to rel- 

 evant personality characteristics in potential 

 leaders, or appropriate methods of leader- 

 ship training. 



