478 



MORALE AND LEADERSHIP 



organizations has attracted the attention of 

 various investigators, among them RoethUs- 

 berger and Dickson (83), and Arensberg and 

 McGregor (3). The latter, in a study of an 

 electrical instrument company, determined 

 the "structure of habitual relations" through 

 interview and questionnaire methods, and 

 found it very different from the formal or- 

 ganization chart. The low morale of design 

 engineers, who constituted the major con- 

 cern of the study, appeared to arise from 

 their failure to accomplish anything through 

 formal channels. The application of tech- 

 niques of this sort to groups of similar type 

 which differ in their level of effectiveness 

 should add much to our knowledge of effec- 

 tive leader-follower relationships. 



Still another potentially effective approach 

 might involve the application of clinical 

 methods to the analysis of affective relation- 

 ships which develop between leaders and 

 followers in groups varying in effectiveness. 

 Various theorists (35, 73, 88, 23) have dis- 

 cussed this general question in various terms 

 with reference to interpersonal relationships 

 in general, but no systematic empirical 

 studies have been reported.^ 



If meaningful dimensions of morale can be 

 established through correlational and experi- 

 mental analysis, as previously suggested, they 

 might serve as a useful framework within 

 which to analyze leadership patterns through 

 any or all of the above approaches. 



A final point may be noted here concern- 

 ing the role of the leader in initiating effec- 

 tive relationships with followers. It has 

 been assumed that followers contribute to 

 the shaping of such relationships as well as 

 do leaders, even in the most authoritarian 

 groups. If this is so, then it is not sufficient 

 simply to determine what forms of relation- 

 ships exist in effective groups. Specific at- 

 tention must be given also to the ways in 



8 Studies are being undertaken by E. W. Eng 

 and the writer aimed at developing methods for 

 the analysis and classification of interpersonal 

 relationships within groups, including leader- 

 follower relationships. 



which and the conditions under which ap- 

 pointed leaders can initiate and further effec- 

 tive relationships in a purposeful manner. 

 Studies of the development of leader-follower 

 interaction in groups, of the effects of leader 

 replacement, and the like, should be relevant 

 in this connection. 



Effective Leadership in Different Situations 



It is a commonplace statement in current 

 literature that "leadership is relative to the I 

 situation." What is presumably meant by 

 this is that the kinds of leadership behavior 

 which develop, and the effectiveness of any 

 given pattern of leadership, depend upon 

 the formal and informal characteristics of a 

 group and the external factors affecting it at 

 a particular time. A given group may be 

 thought of as involving a series of situations, 

 or different groups as involving different 

 series. As we have noted, there are good 

 grounds for assuming that in both respects 

 leadership is relative to the situation, but 

 concerning the relationships implied we 

 know relatively little. Most of the studies 

 reaching the conclusion of relativity have 

 been concerned with the general traits of 

 leaders in different kinds of groups. (See 

 Stogdill's review, 86.) What need to be 

 determined are the differences in effective 

 leader-follower relationships which different 

 situations demand. How do these interac- 

 tion patterns vary in groups of different 

 sizes, or of different degrees of homogeneity 

 of members, or under varying conditions of 

 stress? In what ways does the overall policy 

 of an organization limit the freedom of a 

 leader to initiate particular kinds of rela- 

 tionships with members of the group? 

 These are but a few of the important ques- 

 tions which might be asked. 



A significant exploratory study has been 

 carried out by Hemphill (43), using ques- 

 tionnaire reports by members of almost 1000 

 groups as a basis for describing the groups 

 in terms of 15 dimensions, and for describing 

 the leader's behavior and evaluating its effec- 

 tiveness. Hemphill found that variations 



