Task-Oriented and Quasi-Therapeutic Role Functions of the Leader in Small Military Groups
Our society expects men to perform many roles either successively or simultaneously. A policeman is a threat to some and a protector to others, and most men play the roles of husband, father, employer and employee all within the same day. Individuals differ in how readily they adapt to these varying role demands. It is also true, however, that certain roles, such as that of career woman and mother, are not easily reconciled and others are inherently incompatible. The present study concerns two roles which the leader of a small task group is commonly asked to assume. His primary job is the maintenance of productivity. In addition, however, the armed services, as well as many industrial organizations, have urged men to take their personal problems to their immediate supervisors. The leader is thus asked to attend not only to his group's effectiveness but also to the psychological adjustment of his men. In fact, some writers have held that the leader must contribute to the group member's adjustment in order to be effective (10). There are some indications that the practice of combining the leader's task-oriented and quasi-therapeutic roles may not be wise. Rogers (14), Traxler (18), and Roethlisberger and Dickson (13) have delineated some of the conflicts which arise when an administrator also serves as a therapist or counselor, and these problems have been discussed extensively by Slater (16). Work by Fiedler (6) and his associates indicates that effective task leadership depends on psychological distance from co-workers, while psychologically close relations are characteristic of good psychotherapists (4, 7). Opposite attitudes may thus be demanded by the roles of leader and "therapist," and these roles might then be difficult to combine. This problem is of obvious importance not only as it contributes to our understanding of leadership and group behavior, but also as it affects the