The Evolving Role of Task-Group Leaders,A Field Study

Abstract

Leaders of task-oriented production groups play an important role in their group's functioning and performance. That role also evolves as groups mature and learn to work together more smoothly. The present study uses a functional analysis of the evolving role of supervisors of underground coal mining crews to evaluate the impact of supervisors' characteristics and behaviors on their crews' efficiency and safety, and makes recommendations for improving supervisory selection and training. Data were gathered from a sample of 138 supervisors at 13 underground coal mines. Detailed structured observations of the supervisors indicated that most of their time was spent attending to hardware and paperwork, while comparatively little time was spent on person to person “leadership”. The findings point out that while group needs changed over time, the supervisors' behaviors typically did not keep pace and probably restricted group performance.

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