Factors of subordinate-superordinate interaction

Abstract

Two hundred-four crew members and sixty-nine crew commanders of a Titan II Missile Wing completed a battery of instruments measuring superordinate subordinate role preferences, pressure, and perceptions. After matching subordinate variables with the appropriate superordinate variables, the data were correlated, factored, and rotated for orthogonal simple structure. Of the twelve factors obtained five were identified inclusively with crew commander behavior; three were related to the behavior of the crew members; and four described the interactions between the two realms. Perceptions were found to be primarily a function of observer variance and the roles were found to have much less shaping effect across levels than was expected.