The empirical research was carried out to find out an interrelation between the leadership of a platoon leader and the morale of units.
For the research, 150 units from one battalion among the front reserve divisions in Kangwon-do participated in the survey and the survey was divided into literature and empirical parts.
Main points of the research are as follows:
First of all, in case of the morale of units, democratic-type leadership was proved more effective than authority-based leadership or mixed-up leadership.
Second, active execution of a task, attachment, justice, safety and the level of trust are also affected significantly by democratic-type leadership.
Third, units with liberal family environment showed a higher level of trust than others with strict family environment, thereby producing a different result compared to the survey regarding leadership of a company commander, which was carried out beforehand. And the reason is originated from the difference between the point of view of units in connection with a company commander and a platoon commander.
Fourth, the majority number of units answered that, in order to raise the morale of the troops, it is important to build up a humane, friendly and mutually reliable relationship between them and even if a platoon fail to complete a mission, they feel responsible.
As a result, it was found that the level of relevance between units' morale and the leadership of a platoon leader can be partially adopted and especially the level of morale depends on how actively a platoon leader conducts his duty as well as how much a platoon trusts him.
Compared to an early empirical research regarding the leadership of a company leader, the conclusion above-mentioned is open to further discussion about the definition of leadership in different hierarchy ranging from a field-grade commander to a higher echelon commander.