The report studies the effects that the achieved status of the principal (power figure) has on the productivity of a heierarchically differenitiated group (participants have unequal ascribed status relationships) when all of the group members have an equal share in making decisions. The study tests two hypotheses: (1) as leader achieved status increases, analytical productivity (understanding of the problem) of the group decreases, and (2) as leader achieved status increases, synthesis productivity (solving the problem) increases for those groups which have completed the analysis phase. An instrument was developed to measure teachers' perception of achieved status of the principal. 27 schools which had principals designated as having high, moderate and low achieved status, participated in the study. Each school had an experimental group consisting of the principal and three randomly selected teachers. These 27 groups were each allotted 40 minutes to work on a problem and group productivity was measured in both analytical and synthesis phases of problem solving. The study also lists the desirable behavior for the power figure to facilitate both analytical and synthesis productivity of many issues arising in today's schools requiring group solution. (author/MC)