[Letter to Mr Minoo Masani]

Summary

This single-page letter from B. N. Rao of Rao’s Tutorial College, Hyderabad, addressed to Shri Minoo Masani, M.P., comments on the contemporary controversy over Jawaharlal Nehru’s leadership. Rao directs readers to an extract from Pfiffner and Presthus’s Public Administration (third edition, 1953), arguing that modern social-science research has revised traditional ideas of leadership as a highly individualized skill.

The quoted extract presents leadership as situational and group-based rather than as a fixed personal quality. Different social situations require different leadership qualities, and the group itself helps determine the kind of leadership it expects. The page does not contain a closing or visible signature, and the letter’s title is not printed.

Key points

• The letter addresses the controversy surrounding Jawaharlal Nehru’s leadership.
• It cites Pfiffner and Presthus’s Public Administration, third edition, 1953, pages 81–82.
• The cited passage contrasts traditional individualized concepts of leadership with findings from social psychology and sociology.
• Leadership is described as situational rather than universally dependent on a fixed set of traits.
• Different social situations are said to demand different leadership qualities.
• Leadership is also presented as a group phenomenon shaped by members’ attitudes and expectations.