Human relations knowledge and social distance set in supervisors

Abstract

Postal supervisors' knowledge of human relations as measured by an adapted Air Force test and their perceptual set for social distance as measured by Fielder's ASo Scale correlated significantly with productivity of subordinates as measured by the United States Postal Department Work Production Standard averaged over the period of 1 year. Effective leaders knew proper human relations practices and their perceptual set enabled them to maintain optimal psychological distance from subordinates, neither so close that they were hampered by emotional ties nor so distant that they lost emotional contact. Results suggest that selection of Postal Department supervisors would be improved by eliminating candidates whose scores fall beyond 1 sigma from the mean on the social distance scale; and from those remaining, taking the number required with the highest relations knowledge scores. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)