| Climbing the learning curve: Leadership learning and its relationship with leadership role performance, team decision processes and project performance |
| | Hirst, Giles | Melbourne Business School | g.hirst@mbs.unimelb.edu.au | (613) 9349 8156 |
| | Mann, Leon | Melbourne Business School | l.mann@mbs.unimelb.edu.au | (613) 93498155 |
| | Bain, Paul | Melbourne Business School | p.bain@mbs.unimelb.edu.au | (613) 93498157 |
| | Pirola-Merlo, Andrew | Melbourne Business School | a.pirola-merlo@mbs.unimelb.edu.au | (613) 93498157 |
| | Leadership competence develops as a result of challenging tasks and experience within an environment (McCall, 1993). As a consequence of learning leadership skills, leaders can foster team performance through both increased competencies in their own roles, and by promoting effective team processes. The extent to which leaders learn from project work, and its links with team processes, leader role performance and project performance, was investigated as a part of a longitudinal study of research & development (R&D) project teams in four large Australian organisations. Differences in the learning of new and experienced leaders were also examined. Questionnaires were completed by a sample of 50 R&D project teams, 25 led by new leaders and 25 by experienced leaders, at four points in time. Leadership learning was associated with sound team decision processes, project performance and to leadership role performance over time. New project leaders reported greater learning than experienced project leaders. For new leaders, learning team management skills, how the organization works, and collaborating with external stakeholders showed significant correlations with project performance. For experienced leaders, learning of technical information was significantly correlated with performance. A post hoc examination of the potential facilitating effect of resources on learning for new and experienced leaders was also conducted. The practical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed. |
| | Keywords: learning; leadership; research and development |
| Individual Differences, Environmental Scanning, Innovation Framing, and Champion Behaviors: Key Predictors of Project Performance |
| | Howell, Jane M. | U. of Western Ontario | jhowell@ivey.uwo.ca | (519) 661-3263 |
| | Shea, Christine M. | U. of New Hampshire | cmshea@christa.unh.edu | (603)-862-3322 |
| | We used measures of individual differences (i.e., locus of control and breadth of interest), environmental scanning, innovation framing and champion behaviors to predict the performance of 47 radical product innovations. Results revealed that an internal locus of control orientation was positively related to framing the innovation as an opportunity, and breadth of interest was positively related to environmental scanning. Environmental scanning of documents and framing the innovation as a threat were negatively related to champion behavior, while environmental scanning through people was positively related to champion behavior. Champion behavior positively predicted project performance over a one-year interval. |
| | Keywords: Innovation; Champions; Framing |
| Leadership Behavior and Boundary Management Actions Associated with Radical and Incremental Product Development Team Success |
| | Leifer, Richard | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | leifer@rpi.edu | (518)-276-6831 |
| | Sarin, Shikhar | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | sarin@rpi.edu | (518)-276-2034 |
| | Characteristics of radical or breakthrough and incremental innovations are contrasted. Based on these differences a series of project leadership and team member behaviors associated with radical and incremental innovation project success were hypothesized. These hypotheses were tested with data from 78 people in incremental product teams and with 93 people in radical innovation product teams. Successful radical innovation projects were marked by more participative leaders and more boundary maintenance activities than successful incremental projects. Successful incremental innovation projects were characterized by greater availability of resources, rule and process clarity and compliance, and team protection from outside influences. Successful radical and incremental innovation projects had several similar attributes. |
| | Keywords: Radical Innovation; Innovation Management; New Product Development |
| No Lonely Heroes: High Performers' Approaches to Cooperation Situations |
| | Sonnentag, Sabine | U. of Amsterdam | ao_sonnentag@macmail.psy.uva.nl | +31-20+5256752 |
| | Lange, Ilka | U. of Giessen | ilka.lange@ac.com | +49-641-9926221 |
| | This paper addresses the question of how highly performing software professionals and engineers approach situations which ask for cooperation. We argue that high performers master cooperation situations to a greater extent than do moderate performers. We present a model on actions in cooperation situations which describes problem analysis, addressing the task directly, addressing the cooperation partner at an interpersonal level and addressing cooperation partners' task approach. We report findings of two empirical studies which used task scenarios. The first study based on a sample of 39 software professionals showed that high performers showed a better mastery of cooperation situations. The second study based on a sample of 62 engineers partially replicated these findings. High performers' better mastery of cooperation situations could not be explained by years of experience or perspective taking. However, task-specific experiences partially accounted for the relationship between performance level and mastery. |
| | Keywords: cooperation; technical professionals; task performance |