Informal (small) groups and nonverbal behavioural analysis for emergence leadership characteristics

An increasing number of incidents during crowded events over the last 30 years made people more aware of public safety. Visitors of events tend to come in groups of minimally 2 persons and interact with each other. CCTV systems are used to monitor crowds and could be an adequate tool for safety officers to manage public safety. For an more effective intervention, it is valuable to know beforehand who the leader of a group is. In an observational setting, 32 groups with 4 people each were created. First a series of team building games were used to create the group feeling. Second a task that required interaction with each other. These sessions were used to find leadership within the group. All activity is recorded on video. A combination of introspective dominance scales, dominance & leadership rankings and observed behaviour are used in the analysis. The expected results show that initiative taking is a predictor for emerging leadership. The observed team member dominance is significantly correlated with initiative taking walking action. Initiative taking showed no correlations with the introspective dominance questionnaires. In order to predict leadership, introspective dominance scales, from well tested measures are not sufficient. The Team Member Dominance Scale gives an indication for leadership as a measure.