Examining the Relationship Between Listening Effectiveness and Leadership Emergence: Perceptions, Behaviors and Recall

Original article by Scott D. Johnson and Curt Bechler in Small Group Research
Synopsis by Nicole Rizkalla, Claremont McKenna College '01

INTRODUCTION

Emergent leadership theory views task leaders as emerging from groups through processes of competition and elimination. Members "size up" each other and those who appear unintelligent, ill informed, inflexible, or demonstrate inappropriate leadership styles are quickly eliminated. The remaining individuals are assessed by group members in an environment of "competition" and contenders continue to be eliminated until a leader who meets the group's task and social needs finally emerges.

Specific communication behaviors, and their role in shaping the perceptions of group members, have been analyzed and evaluated by several scholars. However, little research has focused on the role of listening in the arena of leader selection and response to leader behaviors, in the context of a small group. This study explored the association between listening and leadership, by measuring the relationships between perception, behavior and recall performance in small groups.

PRIMARY HYPOTHESES

Five primary hypotheses were put forward to test the relevance of listening capacity in the emergence of a leader in a small group. The researchers hypothesized a significant positive relationship between

1. perceptions of leadership and perceptions of listening skill in the small group
2. observed leadership behaviors and observed listening behaviors in the small group
3a. perceived listening skills and observed listening skills in the small group
3b. perceived leadership skills and observed listening skills in the small group
4. recall ability and listening in the small group
5. recall ability and leadership in the small group

METHODS

Undergraduate students were divided into ten newly-formed, leaderless groups of mixed gender, varying in size from 4-6 participants. The groups worked, over the course of the semester, on two major course projects and several minor assignments. The groups were videotaped holding a decision-making discussion on "Improving Freshman Orientation." After first generating a list of important elements and then rank-ordering them in order of importance as a group, the students were asked individually to recall and record what had transpired in the group discussion and group decision-making process.

In ensuing weeks, each subject completed a leadership-assessment instrument that called for ranking the leadership behaviors of all group members. Nine statements were drawn from definitions of good/effective leadership, and participants used this composite in ranking group members on a scale of 1 to 5. Participants were also asked to complete an instrument intended to assess group member perceptions of listening effectiveness. Nine statements were chosen from good/effective listening in the literature and participants were asked to use this composite of a good listener, in a similar fashion, to rank group members on a scale of 1 to 5.

External teams of coders were used to code group member behaviors during the videotaped discussions. Two teams of three coders then used the same sets of nine statements for listening and leadership behavior to code observed behaviors individually, and rank each group member based on the composite picture of a listener or a leader.

Final data consisted of five rankings for each subject: rank scores for perceived listening (by fellow group members), rank scores for perceived leadership (by fellow group members), observed listening (by coders), observed leadership (by a separate team of coders), and recall (determined by coder's assessment of quantity and accuracy of member recollections of discussions).

RESULTS

The Spearman correlation statistic was used to determine correlations among variables. Hypotheses 1, 2, 3a, and 3b were confirmed. Significant, strong, positive correlations were identified among all variables except recall.

• A strong relationship between perceptions of leadership and listening behaviors was confirmed, r = .67. (Hypothesis 1 confirmed.)
• The strongest relationship reported exists between observed listening behavior and observed leadership behavior in small groups, r = .73. (Hypothesis 2 confirmed.)
• A strong relationship exists between perceived leadership and observed leadership behavior, r = .64. (Hypothesis 3a confirmed.)
• A strong relationship exists between perceived listening and observed listening behavior, r = 59. (Hypothesis 3b confirmed.)

The findings of this study imply that individuals who emerge as leaders in small, initially leaderless groups exhibit more effective listening skills than the other participants. However, their actual recall of what occurred or what was discussed is no better than that of the other participants.

For further reading see

1. Bormann, E.G. (1990). Small group communications: Theory & practice (3rd ed.) New York: Harper & Row.
2. Bostrom, R.N. (1990). Listening behavior: Measurement and application. New York: Guilford.
3. Schultz, B. (1986). Communicative correlates of perceived leaders in the small group. Small Group Behavior, 17, 51-65.