Functional Leadership Behavior: Measurement and Relation to Social Power and Leadership Perceptions

March 1977, volume 22 The conceptual definition and measurement of functional leadership behavior and its relation to other leadership processes is considered. A general set of leadership functions is developed based on theoretical and empirical considerations and is operationally defined by an interaction coding procedure. This operational procedure seems to be reliable and valid. Highly significant relations among functional behavior, social power, and leadership perceptions are found. The amount of unexplained variance in all three measures, however, is substantial. These findings illustrate the need to retain conceptual distinctions among the three leadership processes and to investigate the dynamics underlying their interrelations. An important factor influencing these interrelations is the situational specificity of person perception processes. It is suggested that in most novel situations, interpersonal perceptions are based on general stereotypes rather than situation specific criteria. The data support this interpretation.*