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ABSTRACT
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Leadership
is one of the world's longest-standing
preoccupations (Bass, 1990). Scholars throughout history have written much
about leadership, its theories, models, and practices. A review of the
literature demonstrates that although there have been numerous leadership
studies conducted, there is still a need for specific research on leadership
in research and development (R&D)
departments. Research on the internal management of R&D has not concentrated on leadership. It has
instead emphasized technical communication, individual productivity, and
project team characteristics (Farris, 1998). The changing nature of work
coupled with global competitive challenges necessitate a look at leadership behaviors that are more effective in the fast-paced
environment of innovative, science-driven missions in R&D. This study identifies, describes, and compares
the leadership practices exhibited by project scientists at the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration and members of their project teams. The
study examines the differences in the leadership practices of the project
scientists and project members identified when compared to leaders in other
public and private sectors. The instrument used in this study was Kouzes and Posner's (1996) Leadership
Practices Inventory (LPI). The inventory rates five leadership practices:
challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act,
modeling the way, and encouraging the heart. The study uncovered many key
findings. Project members rated project scientists higher on all five
leadership practices than project scientists rated themselves.
Significant differences were found in the leadership effectiveness of project
scientists and project members. Project scientists' and project
members' scores were significantly
higher than were those of Kouzes and Posner's sample group for
the leadership practice, challenging the process. Project scientists who
reported spending more than 25% of their time on leadership as one of their
job responsibilities reported higher use of the leadership practices
challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, modeling the way, and
encouraging the heart than did those project scientists who spent less than
25%. Project scientists who reported spending more than 25% of their time on
science as one of their job responsibilities reported higher use of the
leadership practice challenging the process than did those scientists who
reported spending less than 25% of their time on the job responsibility of
science. Leadership is becoming increasingly important for project scientists
as the nature of R&D
work is achieved with and through others. The results of the current study
suggest that leadership, identified as an activity, may contribute to the
overall effectiveness of project scientists as they perform in a project
environment.
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