Bales reconsidered: a critical analysis of popularity and leadership differentiation.

Abstract

Sociometric measures of popularity used by many students of leadership differentiation are shown to exhibit a serious bias. Unless corrected by a standardization, such measures misrepresent the popularity hierarchy and may result in faulty estimation of the differentiation of instrumental expressive leadership. Some ofBales' basic data are questioned and reinterpreted within the framework of Blau's theory of integration.