Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!amdcad!ames!mailrus!uflorida!gatech!mcnc!ecsvax!pedersen%math.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU From: pedersen%math.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU Newsgroups: comp.society.women Subject: Leadership in Small Groups Message-ID: <5397@ecsvax.uncecs.edu> Date: 21 Sep 88 19:56:36 GMT Sender: skyler@ecsvax.uncecs.edu Lines: 19 Approved: skyler@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Moderator -- Trish Roberts) Comments-to: comp-women-request@cs.purdue.edu Submissions-to: comp-women@cs.purdue.edu I understand, from things I've read here and elsewhere, that research has indicated that small groups do not operate as groups of complete equals, but instead have a leader, and that the leader is chosen within moments of the group's formation. This choosing is tacit and occurs even if the group, as in a social setting, does not explicitly plan to have a leader. Are there ways to change these dynamics? If you're in a small group, and are not the leader, can you effectively take leadership at times anyway? I see at least two aspects of this: 1) what do you do to _be_ a leader, and 2) how do you take leadership from the current leader? I'm interested in the answer both for work groups (for me work is academics/research in math) and for social groups. --Sharon Pedersen Math Dept., Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 pedersen@math.berkeley.edu, ucbvax!math!pedersen