J Quyen Wickham, Interdisciplinary Consultant!Center for Research Program Development & Enrichment!University of Oklahoma!

Leadership in Academic Proposal Teams!

Theory to Practice: Psychology, Communication, Higher Education, History of Science, and the Science of Team Science!

NORDP 2014!

perspective!

❖  Providing interdisciplinary support since 2001!

❖  NSF PFI Director !

❖  Science of Team Science!

proposal team challenges!

❖  Motivation?!

❖  Organizing?!

❖  Leadership?!

presentation goals!❖  Theory!

❖  Higher Education, History of Science, Communication, Psychology!

❖  Context: Organizations and Leadership!

❖  Science of Team Science!

❖  Best Practices!

❖  Personal observations/experiences!

❖  Leadership Competencies, Support, and Training!

OU CRPDE philosophy in Research Development:!!

Connecting and empowering faculty members.!!

Goal of this presentation:!!

How to support research team leadership.!

defining Leadership!

❖  Influences tasks objectives and strategies!

❖  Influences commitment and compliance in task behavior!

❖  Influences group maintenance and identification!

Yukl, 1989!

theory!

Influence and Power!

❖  Power: the potential to influence (and get things done)!

❖  Power theory: socially constructed!

❖  Reward… paycheck!

❖  Expert… expertise!

❖  Legitimate … boss!

❖  Referent … role model!

❖  Coercive … arm twisting!

❖  Information … knowledge gatekeeper!

French & Rave, 1956, 1965; Yukl, 1989; Pfeffer, 2009 !

Common Solutions!

context matters!

“good (Research Team) leadership”!

Organizations as Businesses!

❖  Bureaucratic, Hierarchical!

❖  Clearly defined interdependencies and roles!

❖  Formal socialization processes!

❖  Legitimized power structures based on rewards (money, advancement)!

❖  Control through management!

❖  Clear Vision & Mission!

McPhee & Poole, 2001; Jablin 2001; Pferrer & Salanick, 1978; Graen, 2009!

Business Solutions!

❖  Team effectiveness is an issue of effective management.!

Influence and Power in Business!

❖  Power: means the potential to influence!

❖  Reward: advancement, bonuses!

❖  Legitimate: contractual agreement of employment; who’s the boss!

❖  Referent: management as role models; corporate ladder!

❖  Coercive: risk of unemployment!

Pfeffer, 2009, 2010!

influence tactics in business!

❖  rational persuasion!

❖  consultation!

❖  collaboration!

❖  inspirational appeals!

Yukl, 2009; Peterson & Harvey, 2009!

Academic Solutions!

❖  Team effectiveness is an issue of effective management.! ?!

context matters!

Most faculty work in disciplinary-based departments!

Organizations as Research Universities!

1.  Decentralized, Loosely coupled, Political!

2.  Ambiguous organizational roles!

3.  Ambiguous vision, multiple missions!

4.  Faculty perspective:!

❖  Informal or no socialization!

❖  Distributed power structures make influence inconsistent!

❖  Epistemology of Individuality!

Birnbaum, 1988; Mumby, 1987; Tichy, 1991; Pferrer, 1981, Deetz, 1982; Cheney & Christensen, 2001 !

Influence and Power in Academia!

❖  Epistemology of Individuality:!

❖  Reward: tenure and promotion (publish or perish)!

❖  Legitimate: ethos of Question Authority!

❖  Referent: role models are tied to disciplinary expertise!

❖  Coercive: academic freedom and tenure!

❖  Expert: all PhDs; merit is unknown outside of field of study!

❖  Information: working in silos!

Koslowsky, et al., 2001; Rahim & Afza, 1993!

1.  Autonomy in Institutions!❖  Role Conflict & Ambiguity!

2.  Epistemology of Individuality!❖  Work Independently!❖  Question Authority!

why business leadership tactics !fail in academia!

practice!

what does good team science leadership do?!

Using effective influence tactics, !

1.  Create and foster team roles to reduce role ambiguity !

2.  Embrace and manage a culture of Individuality and of “Question Authority”!

influence tactics in business!

❖  rational persuasion!

❖  consultation!

❖  collaboration!

❖  inspirational appeals!

Yukl, 2009; Peterson & Harvey, 2009!

influence tactics in academia!

❖  consultation (value expertise)!

❖  collaboration (support team effort)!

❖  appraisal (value expertise and team effort)!

❖  exchange (reciprocate tasks)!

Cragan & Shields, 1977, 1981!

Trust, Value, Safety!

Comfort!Zone!

Team!Contribution!

effective leadership is transformational!

❖  creates an inclusive and open environment!

❖  liberates members from from constraining ways of thinking!

❖  values collaborative scholarship !

❖  works to transform faculty from Epistemology of Individuality to Epistemology of Collaboration!

❖  is not the same as Transformational business Leadership!

finding transformational research leaders!1.  they are volunteers!

2.  they demonstrate a willingness to share power (Shared Leadership)!

3.  they must be able to negotiate (Reciprocal Exchanges)!

4.  they recognize and appreciate other’s expertise (Intellectual Humility)!

5.  they are mindful, listen and are understanding (Pro-social Behaviors that create psychological safety)!

6.  they focus on individual team members as well as team outcomes (Human Resource Perspective)!

Jablin & Sias, 2001; Weick & Sutcliffe, 2007; Boleman & Deal, 2010 !

how leaders lead research teams!

1.  socialize the team, build relationships (members should get to know other before working together)!

2.  set a precedence of action, then allow some organizing and task planning to be off-line (make meetings meaningful and engaging)!

3.  maintain core membership, but expertise can be added as needed (keep members engaged through relevant discourse)!

4.  foster a team vision (create a sense of interdependency among members)!

5.  recognize and manage productive conflict (let researchers argue science, but don’t let it get personal)!

6.  lead by focusing on positives of the process (positive affect improves group attitudes)!

Morse, 2014; Peterson & Harvey, 2009; Strober, 2011; Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996!

supporting leaders, part 1!

❖  provide institutional support!

❖  lighten their workload!

❖  provide resources for negotiating (provide informational power)!

❖  frame their leadership role as facilitation, not management!

supporting leaders, part 2!

❖  help the leader organize:!

❖  establish (formalize) leadership role legitimacy with the team!

❖  help determine member roles (promote leader-member relationship building)!

❖  strategize an inclusive and transformational vision !

❖  offer communication and technical support!

❖  find neutral meeting space!

team science outcomes!

1.  Immediate: goals (proposal, project, etc.)!

2.  The Long View: epistemology of collaboration (members recognize team science as valued, engaging, fun)!

developing transformational leaders!

❖  traditional (business oriented) leadership workshops are unlikely to work... and may cause resentment!

❖  training philosophy: leaders empower faculty towards collaboration!

❖  train facilitation, not management!

❖  leaders model the Epistemology of Collaboration!

❖  use Transformational Teaching and The Toolbox Project as resources!

Resources!

❖  Collaborative Rubric: Allen et. al, 2014, Publishing: Credit where credit is due, Nature, 508:312-313!

❖  Collaboration Success Wizard: http://hana.ics.uci.edu/wizard/!

❖  Cross-Disciplinary Team Toolbox: http://www.cals.uidaho.edu/toolbox/index.asp!

❖  Transformational Teaching: http://www.georgeslavich.com/Transformational_Teaching.html!