A Factorial Study of Administrative Behavior1

Summary T he present paper describes a study of 470 Navy officers who occupied 45 different types of positions in 47 different organizations. These officers were divided into 120 groups. Each group consisted of all the officers in the same specialty in the same type of organization. In order to avoid the computation of inter correlations among the 120 groups, an iterative method of factor analysis was employed. Eight factors emerged. The factors isolate those groups of officers who exhibit similar patterns of performance. It is found that groups of persons occupying the same type of position tend to fall in the same factor. The factors also reflect differences in organizations, in that some types of positions isolated by the factors are found almost exclusively either in large or in small organizations, or either on ships or in units ashore.