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Journal of Management1979 , Vol, 5, No, 2, 157-165

The Impact of Ralph M. Stogdill andthe Ohio State Leadership Studieson a Transactional Approachto LeadershipEdwin P, HollanderNational Academy of Sciences

A personal recollection of Ralph M. Stogdill is presented,and the contribution of the OSU Leadership Studies to theunderstanding of leader behavior is reviewed with respect tothe intermediate phase between the leader-trait andsituational approaches to leadership. Together with the useof critical incidents and peer nominations, these studiesformed the context for developing a transactional approachto leader-follower relations. This new er approach stressesthe two-way influence and social exchange processesinvolved in leadership, with an emphasis on the two factorsof system progress and equity. The results of researchapplying the transactional approach are summarized, withespecial attention to leadership effectiveness.

Ralph M. Stogdill: A Personal AppreciationMy recollections of Ralph Stogdill's work go back to his classic paperon "Personal factors associated with leadership" (1948) and hisintegrative book titled Individual Behavior and Group Achievement(1959), The latter was pubhshed in N ew York by Oxford IJniversity Presswhose Psychology Editor then was an admirable bookman, PaulWhitfield. He asked Ralph to comment on the manuscript I hadsubmitted for my book. Leaders, Groups, and Influence (1964), Ralphrecommended that Oxford publish it.Some years later, I had the opportunity to read and comment on

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STOG DILL SYMPOSIUM 159Other Early Developments

Another significant departure in the assessment of leader behavior byfollowers was the critical incident technique d eve loped by Flanagan (see1954) and used first to evaluate pilots in World War II, Basically, criticalincidents are reports of actual behaviors observed and evaluated bythose on the scene as examples of a class of behaviors that are particularlyeffective or ineffective. The observer, or respondent, chooses theincidents to report afterwards, and without actual names, of course.These two lines of research, using follower impressions of leaderbehavior, were important to the setting of my own earliest studies ofleadersh ip, I started these while on duty as a Naval Aviation Psychologistat Pensacola in the early 1950s (see Hollander, 1954a, 1954b, 1954c,1954d). During this period, I began a line of research with the rathersimple notion initially of using peer nominations and ratings to assesseffective and ineffective leadership in groups of Naval Aviation Cadets,I also first met Ed Fleishman then, while he was doing research atLackland Air Force Base, He had recently completed his doctorate atOhio State where he was involved in the leadership studies.

My work at Pensacola indicated, among other findings, that peernominations predicted successful completion of Naval Air Training,Then, in another study, our results showed that leadership andfoUowership nominations were highly related and that this relationshipwas relatively unaffected by friendship ties (Hollander & W ebb, 1955).My impression then, which has since been bolstered by other systematicresearch I have don e at the Navy O CS at New port (see Hollander, 1956a,1956b, 1956c, 1957, 1965), was that peer nominations tap a reservoir ofinterpersonal perceptions of considerable value for predicting complex,later performance. I have reiterated the point in subsequent work (seeHollander, 1964, chap, 8).We also brought the critical incidents technique to bear as anattitudinal measure in a study comparing Cadets who successfullycompleted Basic Fhght Training with those who voluntarily withdrew(Hollander & Bair, 1954). All of those respondents were asked todescribe their "best" and "worst" flight instructors. Content analysesrevealed a significant difference in the descriptions given by the twocategories of Cadets. While those who successfully completed trainingmore often desc ribed their 'I3est" and "worst" instructors with regard tointerpersonal qualities, those who withdrew from flight training

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160 EDW IN P HOLLANDER1960, 1961a, 1961b; Hollander & Julian, 1970, 1978), The followersperceptions of the leader affected their responsiveness to the leader andtheir willingness to have the leader take initiatives and retain authority.

Among the chief findings of this work were these points: The leader'slegitimacy, or source of authority in appointment or election, createddifferent effects on the leader's ability to exercise influence withfollowers. This process was modera ted by their initial percep tion of theleader's competence, and his subsequent success or failure in prod ucingfavorable outcomes. The leader's motivation, or interest, is critical hereIf a leader is perceived to be com peten t bu t fails to produ ce good resultsit is attributed most often to a lack of motivation. That is more serious forthe standing of an elected leader than an appointed one, because of theobvious stake that followers have in the leader who is elected. But thebad effect is not trivial for the appoin ted leader, even if the followers cando much less about it (see Julian, Hollander, 6f Regula, 1969). This workgenerated a view of leadership as a two-way influence process thatinvolves a transaction between leader and followers, which I thereforecalled a "transactional approach,"

Features of a Transactional ApproachIn a transactional approach to leadership, the stress is on two-wayinfluence and a social exchange relationship between the leader andthose who are followers. In this relationship, the leader gives som ethingand gets something. Social exchange refers to benefits that are given andreceived as rewards. It also has to do with the expectations people haveabout fairness, equitable treatment, and justice (see Homans, 1974)Although the leader may have power, influence depends more onpersuasion than coercion . A leadersh ip process usually involves a twoway influence relationship aimed primarily at attaining mutual goalssuch as those of a grou p, organization, or society. Therefore, leadersh ip isnot just the leader's function, it requ ires the cooperative efforts of others(see Hollander, 1978a),Typically, a leader is expected to give direction, producing successfuresults for the group, organization, or larger social entity. In return, thefollowers give the leader greater esteem and status, and theresponsiveness that makes influence possible. However, some minimumdegree of success is necessary for the leader's position to be supported

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STOGDILL SYMPOSIUM 161Followers may feel left out and b lam e the leader for not maintaining theother end of the transaction with them. In fact, I was recently asked to doa paper on this "crisis of leadership" theme (Hollander, 1978b).

The leader is usually the central figure in moving the group tow ard itsgoals. When the leader has the resources but routinely fails to deliver,there is bound to be dissatisfaction. If, for exam ple, the leader appears tobe deviating from the accepted standards, such nonconformity will betolerated initially. This is a feature of the idiosyncrasy c red it concept thatemphasizes sources of earned status and the leader's related latitude forinnovation (Hollander, 1958,1964), But when the leader's nonconformityseems to produce unsuccessful outcomes, the leader is likely to beblam ed (see Alvarez, 1968), It is as if the group said: "We expect goodresults from your ac tions. If you take an unusual course, we will go alongwith you and give you some latitude. But you are responsible if theoutcome is that the group fails to achieve its goals,"A fair exchange also involves a climate in which the leader ensures thatrewards are provided equitably. Basic to the exchange process is thebelief that rewards, such as recognition, will be received for benefitsgiven. However, it is difficult to accomplish this routinely. Even if thatwere done, the rew ards would take on less value due to their frequency,

since the scarce reward is usually valued more than the abundant one.Nevertheless, some attention to their contributions, even if not frequent,is necessary for people to feel fairly treated. Furthermore, as Graen(1975) has pointed out, all followers are not the same. Some may have acloser relationship with the leader than others. This can produ ce greaterbenefits for them, in part because of the resources the leader com m ands.But there also can be higher costs because of the direct association withthe leader. Therefore, the actual "profit" of those close to the leader m aybe no greater than for the other followers who receive less bu t who alsohave lower costs.Summing up these points, the transaction between a leader andfollowers includes the two factors of system progress and equity. Thefirst deals with attaining group goals and the second with the follower'ssense of being trea ted fairly along the way. Simply put, where they havea choice, followers require a sufficient sense of being fairly rew arde d toremain inside the group and to participate. This sense of equity oftendepends upon a comparison with what others, of comparablecharacteristics and responsibihty, are receiving relative to their inputs.However, the leader especially needs to be alert to perceived inequities

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STOGD ILL SYMPOSIUM 163have greater potential as a result of capacity and experience. M aintainingthe role of leader is another importan t aspect of effectiveness. It dependsupon fulfilling expectations for performance, and being adaptable tochanging requirements.Leadership effectiveness also grows out of the leader's legitimacy andauthority. Legitimacy may come from appointment, election or thewilling support of followers. It is the basis for the acceptance of theleader's assertions of influence, which is the operational meaning ofauthority. A leader's authority is related to the nature of the rulesgoverning the activity. The followers' perceptions of the leader'sdirection as consistent with organizational and individual goals are alsopertinent. Responsibilities go with authority, but these may or may notbe matched by the authority granted. Often, a leader's authority isenhanced by the followers' view of the leader as competent andmotivated.In addition to competence, motivation, and legitimacy, a leader hasother personal qualities that are perceived by followers and affect theirresponsiveness to the leader. Ind eed , there is now a resurgence of interestin peop le who fill the leader role, especially w here it is possible to relatetheir characteristics to task demands and other aspects of the situation.Therefore, it is not possible to make sw eeping generalizations about theappropriateness of a particular "leader style," Such bi-polar contrasts asare applied to style, including democratic or autocratic, and task-oriented or human relations oriented, do a disservice to the richness ofcontent in leader-follower relationships that need to be understood intheir context. Style is a relational concept, and fundamentally differentfrom the idea of a trait because its effect and utility very much dependupon the reaction of followers. I daresay that this formulation has originsin the seminal work of Ralph Stogdill, and w ould be quite congenial withit. For this and other reasons I have expressed , I am honored to be part ofthis tribute to him.

ReferencesAlvarez, R, Informal reactions to deviance in simulated work organizations: A laboratoryexperiment, American Sociological Review, 1968, 33, 895-912,Flanagan, J, C, The critical incident techn ique. Psychological Bulletin, 1954,51, 327-358,Fleishman, E, A, Twenty years of consideration and structure. In E, A, Fleishman &J, G,Hunt (Eds,)., Current Developments in the Study of Leadership. Carbondale:

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164 ED\MN P, HOLLANDERHollander, E, P, Peer nominations on leadership as a predictor of the pass-fail criterion

in naval air training. Journal of Applied Psychology, 1954, 38, 150-153, (c)Hollander, E, P, Studies of leadership among naval aviation cadets. Journal of Aviation

Medicine, 1954, 25, 164-170, 200, (d)Hollander, E, P, A better military rating sy,'item through peer ratings, ONR ResearchReviews, July 1956, 16-20, (a)Hollander, E, P, The friendship factor in peer nominations. Personnel Psychology,

1956, 9, 435-447, (b)Hollander, E, P Interpersonal exposure time as a determinant of the predictive utility

of peer ratings. Psychological Reports, 1956, 2, 445-448, (c)Hollander, E, P, The reliability of peer nominations under various conditions of adminis-

tration. Journal of Applied Psychology. 1957, 41(2), 85-90.Hollander, E, P Conformity, status, and idiosyncrasy credit. Psychological Review,

1958, 65, 117-127,Hollander, E, P, Competence and conformity in the acceptance of influence. Journalof Ahnormal and Social Psychology, 1960, 61, 361-365

Hollander, E, P, Emergent leadership and social influence. In L, PetruUo & B, M, Bass(Eds ), leadership and interpersonal behavior. New York: Holt, 1961, (a)

Hollander, E, P, Some effects of perceived status on responses to innovative behavior.Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1961, 63, 247-250, (b)Hollander, E, P, Leaders, groups, and influence. New York: Oxford University Press,1964

Hollander, E P, Validity of peer nominations in predicting a distant performance cri-terion. Journal of Applied Psychology, 1965, 49, 434-438,Hollander, E, P, Leadership dynamics: A practical guide to effective relationships NewYork: Free Press/Macmillan, 1978, (a)

Hollander, E, P, What is the crisis of leadership? Humanitas, 1978, 14(3), 285-296, (b)Hollander, E, P,, & Bair, J, T, Attitudes toward authority-figures as correlates of moti-vation among naval aviation cadets. Journal of Applied Psychology, 1954, 38, 21-25,Hollander, E, P,, & Julian, J, W, Studies in leader legitimacy, influence, and innovation.In L, Berkowitz (Ed,), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (\'ol, 5), New

York: Academic Press, 1970,Hollander, E, P,, & Julian, J, W, A further look at leader legitimacy, influence, andinnovation. In L, Berkowitz (Ed,), Group processes. New York: Academic Press, 1978,Hollander, E. P,, & Webb, W, B, Leadership, foUowership, and friendship: An analysisof peer nominations. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1955, 50, 163-167,

Homans, G, C, Social behavior: Its elementary forms. (Rev, ed,) New York: HarcourtBrace Jovanovich, 1974,Jacobs, T, O, Leadership and exchange informal organizations. Alexandria, Va,: HumanResources Research Organization, 1970,

Julian, J, W,, Hollander, E, P,, & Regula, C, R, Endorsement of the group spokesman asa function of his source of authority, competence, and success. Journal of Personalityand Social Psychology, 1969, 11, 42-49,Mann, R, D. A review of the relationships between personality and performance in smallgroups. Psychological Bulletin, 1959, 56, 241-270,

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STOGDILL SYMPOSIUM 165Stogdill, R, M,, Wherry, R, J,, & Jaynes, W, E, Patterns of leader behavior: A factorial

study of navy officer performance. Columbus: Ohio State University, 1953,Tannenbaum, A, S, Control in organizations. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968,Van Fleet, D, D, Toward identifying critical elements in a behavioral description of

leadersiiip. Public Personnel Management, 1974, 3(1), 70-82,

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