Research Notes. BLACK AND WHITE MARINE SQUAD LEADERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF RACIALLY MIXED SQUADS

Abstract

The article discusses a study which investigates the way African-American and white supervisors feel and act toward Puerto Rican and white subordinates on dimensions which are not task prescribed. As part of longitudinal study of leadership effectiveness in the U.S. Marine Corps, a seven item questionnaire was developed and pretested to provide data to test several hypotheses. The subjects of the study were drawn from 17 rifle squads of two companies of a Marine training battalion in the southeastern portion of the U.S. The results of the study reveal that white squad leaders gave proportionately more reprimands to their white as compared to African-American subordinates.