PERCEPTION OF LEADERSHIP IN SMALL GROUPS; A RANK ORDER INVESTIGATION OF THE EMERGENCE OF THE LEADERSHIP ROLE IN SMALL GROUPS
Abstract
To study the process wherby small groups come to identify one of their menbers as a leader and to investigate whether such emergent leadership could be predicted from a knowledge of other variables, 49 groups of either 4 or 5 men were assembled to discuss a human relations case. Within each group, the rank order of the men on 42 psychological test variables, 6 observational and sociometric variables, and 6 peer rating variables was computed. The distribution of these ranks for each variable, for those subjects who received the highest rank in response to the sociometric question, 'Which member of the group would you say stood out most definitely as leader in the discussion ' was contrasted with the distribution on the same variable for those subjects who received the lowest rank to the leadership question. The clearest reason that was found to explain why men were designated as the leader was that they had a higher rate of interaction. Those who acted the most were the most likely to be judged to have been the leader.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1964
- Accession Number
- AD0603793
Entities
People
- Hans E. Lee
- Thomas W. Harrel
Organizations
- Stanford University