The impact of differential shifts in leader structure on the outcome of internal and external group participants.

This study investigated the interaction between locus of control and high and low degrees of structure of leader role as related to outcome. On the basis of their pretreatment locus of control score, college students were assigned randomly to one of five groups: a group that began unstructured and shifted to a structured format at the midpoint of the group, a group that began structured and shifted to an unstructured format at the midpoint, a group that was structured throughout, group that was unstructured throughout, and a no-treatment control group. Treatment in the 23-hour marathon groups consisted of the same sequence of planned group exercises; the leader varied his structure in accordance with the experimental design. The results indicated that an initial highly structured leader role followed by a relatively unstructured leader role presented at the midpoint of treatment fostered the greatest gains in self-actualization in both internal and external Ss.