Leadership Team Cohesion and Subordinate Work Unit Morale and Performance

This study examined (a) the relationship of cohesion among members of a platoon leadership team to subordinate attitudes and performance and (b) the degree of consensus among squad members and their leaders regarding the leadership team's cohesiveness. In a sample of 60 light infantry platoons, squad members' perceptions of leadership team cohesion (LC) were signifi- cantly related (at both individual and unit levels) to their cohesion, organiza- tional identification, job involvement, task motivation, career intent, and perceptions of unit effectiveness. They were also related to ratings of performance in simulated combat. Regression revealed LC to be beneficial over and above the perceived quality of the individual leaders. Most of these relationships held true from the perspective of squad leaders, and some from the perspective of platoon sergeants and platoon leaders. The degree of consensus among the different levels varied as well. The results suggest that leaders should pay more attention to the im...

[1]  D. Tjosvold.  Cooperation Theory and Organizations , 1984 .

[2]  Z. Solomon,et al.  Coping, locus of control, social support, and combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder: a prospective study. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[3]  R. Lord,et al.  Implicit leadership theory: A potential threat to the internal validity of leader behavior questionnaires , 1977 .

[4]  Stevan E. Hobfoll,et al.  Effects of social support and battle intensity on loneliness and breakdown during combat. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[5]  Stephen J. Zaccaro,et al.  The Effects of Group Cohesion and Leader Behavior on Subordinate Satisfaction , 1986 .

[6]  Frederick J. Manning,et al.  Morale, cohesion, and esprit de corps. , 1991 .

[7]  Guy L. Siebold,et al.  Development of the Combat Platoon Cohesion Questionnaire , 1988 .

[8]  J. S. Himes.  Conflict and Conflict Management , 1980 .

[9]  T. M. Lodahl,et al.  THE DEFINITION AND MEASUREMENT OF JOB INVOLVEMENT. , 1965, The Journal of applied psychology.

[10]  Sidney A. Nachman,et al.  Strategic leadership patterns , 1989 .

[11]  J. Hammond.  Two Sources of Error in Ecological Correlations , 1973 .

[12]  Anthony Kellett,et al.  Combat motivation : the behavior of soldiers in battle , 1982 .

[13]  Faris R. Kirkland,et al.  Optimal Leadership in Small Army Units , 1991 .

[14]  D. Hambrick,et al.  Upper Echelons: The Organization as a Reflection of Its Top Managers , 1984 .

[15]  Ralph M. Stogdill,et al.  Manual for the leader behavior description questionnaire - Form XII , 1963 .

[16]  Reuven Gal,et al.  Handbook of military psychology , 1991 .

[17]  Dean Tjosvold,et al.  Cooperative and Competitive Relationships Between Leaders and Subordinates , 1983 .

[18]  P. Nelson.  Supervisor esteem and personnel evaluations. , 1964 .

[19]  Fred A. Mael,et al.  Alumni and their alma mater: A partial test of the reformulated model of organizational identification , 1992 .

[20]  Laurel W Oliver,et al.  The Relationship of Group Cohesion to Group Performance: A Research Integration Attempt , 1988 .

[21]  G. Knight.  Behavioral and sociometric methods of identifying cooperators, competitors, and individualists: Support for the validity of the social orientation construct. , 1981 .

[22]  J. G. Hunt,et al.  Managerial Influence in a Complex Configuration with Two Unit Heads , 1977 .

[23]  Fred A. Mael,et al.  Social identity theory and the organization , 1989 .

[24]  L. Tracy.  Consideration and Initiating Structure: Are They Basic Dimensions of Leader Behavior?. , 1987 .

[25]  L. James.  Aggregation Bias in Estimates of Perceptual Agreement. , 1982 .

[26]  R. Keller,et al.  Predictors of the Performance of Project Groups in R & D Organizations , 1986 .

[27]  Frederick J. Manning,et al.  An Investigation into the Value of Unit Cohesion in Peacetime , 1983 .