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The roles of R&D team leaders in Korea: a contingent approach
Author(s) -
Kim Youngbae,
Min Byungwook,
Cha Jongseok
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
randd management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.253
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1467-9310
pISSN - 0033-6807
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9310.00126
Subject(s) - champion , planner , project team , business , management , knowledge management , political science , computer science , economics , law , programming language
This study empirically examines the relationship between the role of R&D project leaders and their team performance using data from 87 project teams in 6 R&D organizations in Korea. The results reveal that: (1) R&D project leaders played five different roles in performing their jobs – strategic planner, team builder, gatekeeper, technical expert, and champion; (2) All but the champion role of a leader is positively related with project team performance; (3) However, this relationship between the role of leader and project team performance varies according to the characteristics of R&D project teams and their tasks. Specifically, it becomes important for a leader to focus less on the team building role as the team gets older. The team building role of a leader, however, is more important for higher performance of relatively certain R&D projects, while for uncertain R&D projects, the strategic planning role appears to be more crucial. Based on these results, this study discusses several managerial and theoretical issues related to the role of a leader in R&D project teams.