Effects of Achieved Status of Leader on Productivity of Groups

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. This study examined the relationship between the achieved status of the leader and productivity in group problem solving of 27 experimental groups, which consisted of the principal and three teachers, with nine of the principals having high achieved status, nine moderate achieved status, and nine low achieved status. The task consisted of both analysis and synthesis. Groups having principals with high achieved status were the least productive in the analyzing phase. The achieved status of the principal and group productivity were found to be directly related in the synthesizing phase. The results indicate that high achieved status in a leader has dysfunctional, as well as functional consequences.Many decisions in organizations are shared by leaders and their subordinates working together in small groups; and even when the final authority and responsibility to make the decision rests with the leader, the advice of subordinates is often necessary for him to make sound decisions. There is therefore a growing need to know more about the influence of the status of the leaders on group functioning.

Effects of member participation and commitment in group decision making on influence, satisfaction, and decision riskiness.

“…A post hoc interpretation of this finding may be based on the assumption of less pressure toward compliance in the evaluative or analytic phase of decision making. In contrast to generation or choice, the open group discussion and evaluation of alternatives, which the members have not produced and do not have to adopt, may generate as much satisfaction when members are committed to implementing the decision as when they are not (Doyle, 1971). Future research should study additional situational parameters that may affect, or interact with commitment to affect, outcomes of group decision making.…”

Small-Group Leader Assignment: Effects Across Different Degrees of Task Interdependence,

“…Vroom and Yetton's Normative Decision Model suggests that when a task is structured (which is often the case in a low interdependence task) and the leader has the support of subordinates, the less time-consuming autocratic leadership methods can be utilized (Paulus, 1983). The status associated with an appointed leader has been found to stimulate productivity in jobs where problem solving was not required (low task interdependence), whereas the presence of a less "vertical" leader (like an elected leader) has enhanced idea generation and problem solution (Doyle, 1971). With this in mind, it would be expected that the restrictions inherent in the task will determine the optimal contingency for leader assignment.…”