The Effect of Leadership Style and Cohesiveness on Group Decision Making

Abstract

The general objective of this research was to determine the effects of leadership style and cohesiveness on group decision making. Specifically, the study intended to: 1. determine whether leadership style will influence the number of suggested solutions in a group decision making process. 2. determine whether leadership style will influence the number of emergent facts in a group decision making process. 3. identify any significant relationship between leadership style and group cohesiveness that affects the number of suggested solutions in a group decision making process. 4. identify any significant relationship between leadership style and group cohesiveness that affects the number of emergent facts in a group decision making process. 5. identify the effects of leadership style on the substantive, procedural and interpersonal considerations in a group decision making process. The Posttest-Only Two-Group Randomized Experimental Design was utilized for the study. The experimental sessions were conducted with eight groups, each composed of five members of the Executive Board of a UPMCAS-based organization. The groups were placed in a standardized setting and were instructed to come up with a solution to a particular problem. The discussions were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively with leadership style (i.e. Open Leadership Style and Closed Leadership Style) as the independent variable, cohesiveness as a moderator variable and the number of suggested solutions, number of emergent facts and substantive, procedural and interpersonal considerations as dependent variables. To determine the effect of leadership style on the number of suggested solutions, an independent t-test was used to compare the mean number of suggested solutions of the open and closed groups. An independent t-test was likewise used to determine the effect of leadership style on the mean number of emergent facts. A scatter plot with a linear trend line was generated to determine if there is a significant relationship between leadership style and cohesiveness that affects the number of suggested solutions and emergent facts. The experimental sessions were reviewed and substantive, procedural and interpersonal considerations were particularly observed for qualitative analysis. The results proved that groups with open leaders generate more solutions and emergent facts than groups with closed leaders, although the difference between the means does not reach levels of statistical significance. Also based on the findings, leadership style and cohesiveness interact to cause a decrease in the number of suggested solutions as cohesiveness ratings increase in groups with open leadership style, while the number of proposed alternatives increases as cohesiveness ratings increase in groups with closed leadership style. On the other hand, information shared increases as cohesiveness increases, regardless of leadership style. Lastly, leadership style appears to have no significant effect on the substantive, procedural and interpersonal considerations of group decision making.