REFERENCES 



485 



the variables related to it, and of ways of 

 manipulating these variables in practical 

 situations. Morale or group effectiveness 

 may be conceived as dependent upon the 

 group's characteristics — the needs, beliefs, 

 skills, and so on, of individual members, and 

 the patterns of interaction which obtain be- 

 tween individuals — and upon external cir- 

 cumstances affecting the group. Since these 

 two classes of variables may not onty indi- 

 cate a present level of effectiveness (i.e., 

 measure morale) but also influence a future 

 level, their relationship to morale is largely 

 a circular one. Among the manipulable 

 variables of potential significance in military 

 groups may be noted: the initial characteris- 

 tics of members which are essential to any 

 social participation, the patterning of per- 

 sonalities within the group, job assignment, 

 training, length of time spent in the group, 

 personnel changes, general conditions of 

 group living, relations to other groups, spe- 

 cial conditions of combat, group success and 

 failure, and leadership. Because of the com- 

 plex interrelationships involved, the experi- 

 mental investigation of these variables en- 

 counters considerable difficulty in many 

 instances. 



Since the manipulation of (or allowance 

 for) variables related to morale is in institu- 

 tional groups primarily the responsibility of 

 appointed leaders, the factor of leadership 

 assumes central significance. A large share 

 of research on this problem has been domi- 

 nated by the conception of leadership as a 

 personality trait or set of traits in the leader. 

 The results have not been conspicuously 

 successful. In the general conception now 

 developing, leadership is viewed as a process 

 of interaction between individuals, in which 

 the characteristics of the leader or potential 

 leader are important only in relation to the 

 situation, that is the goals and other charac- 

 teristics of the group and the relevant exter- 

 nal circumstances. The urgent necessity in 

 leadership research is for careful study of the 

 leader-follower relationships which make for 

 effective group performance, and of the dif- 



ferences in such relationships which charac- 

 terize different group situations. Studies 

 recently completed or now in progress sug- 

 gest a variety of approaches to the analysis 

 of these relationships. 



Intensive analysis of leader-follower inter- 

 action is essential to intelligent research on 

 the selection and training of leaders, since it 

 lays a basis for adequate job analysis and 

 classification, improvement of leadership 

 criteria, and relevant hypotheses concerning 

 leader personality factors and training pro- 

 cedures. Also of importance for research in 

 leader selection is the exploitation of newer 

 techniques for the overall study of personal- 

 ity, especially as it manifests itself in social 

 participation. Studies of leadership train- 

 ing suggest the possibility of large improve- 

 ments through use of appropriate training 

 procedures. In large organizations ordinary 

 extracurricular interaction is likely to impose 

 critical limits on the effectiveness of special 

 courses employing such procedures, a fact 

 which calls attention to problems of on-the- 

 job training and fundamental organizational 

 change. 



References 



1 . Allport, G. W. Morale and its measurement. 



Publ. Policy, Harvard Univ., 1942, 3, 3-17. 



2. Anderson, H. H. Socially integrative be- 



havior. J. abnorni. soc. Psychol., 1946, 41, 

 379-384. 



3. Arensberg, C. M., & McGregor, D. Deter- 



mination of morale in an industrial com- 

 pany. Appl. AnthropoL, 1942, 1, 12-34. 



4. Arrington, R. E. Time sampling in studies 



of social behavior: a critical review of 

 techniques and results with research sug- 

 gestions. Psychol. Bull., 1943, 40, 81-124. 



5. Baier, D. E. Note on "A review of leader- 



ship studies with particular reference to 

 military problems." Psychol. Bull., 1947, 

 44, 466-467. 



6. Bales, R. F., & Gerbrands, H. The inter- 



action recorder — an apparatus and check list 

 for sequential content analysis of social 

 interaction. Hum. Relations, 1948, 1, 

 456-463. 



7. Barnard, C. I. Functions of the executive. 



Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1938. 



8. Barnard, C. I. The nature of leadership. 



