Draft (as on 03 May 2008)

Module 8
Research Management: Leadership and Management Skills
1. Rationale and key concepts
A large number of general management practices are applicable and useful in research management (see Annex 8-1). The conventional managerial functions of planning, implementation and evaluation are useful as a framework for determining core functions of research managers at different levels of the health research system. There are emerging concepts and practices in general management which emphasize the need for: empowering workers in the organizations; creating learning organizations; working with partners beyond institutional boundaries; communicating effectively with a much broader group of stake holders (not only employees under direct command in an organization), an so on. All these have led to new concepts and practices which could be readily applicable for research managers whose function deals mostly with knowledge creation and knowledge utilization and will require practices that are not normally adopted by the conventional managers in an organization. Research managers will often have to work with people in more than one organization with their own goals and objectives and organizational culture. This would require research managers to create effective working relationships and environment, so that they could work as a network and mobilize the full potential from all concerned. At present and even more so, in the future, organizations including those in the health research systems will have to function in a rapidly changing environment. The key concepts and capabilities needed for management in such an environment will have to concentrate on management of change. Thus, a good manager should have the ability to look into the future, not only to predict changes but to anticipate unforeseen events (surprises). This will require managers to be ready to try new ways of work by creating an atmosphere that would encourage members in an organization to experiment and learn from trying out new ways of work, applying common sense rather than dogmatic management principles. Moreover, in the rapidly changing environment, managers should be ready to take calculated risks without fear of failure. With the more comprehensive and broader concern of organizational management, a good manager is the one who should be able to exert leadership from behind. He should also be able to create enabling environment, encouraging innovation and diversity and empower different groups of partners, to work towards a common goal. Another important dimension is the ability of the manager to cultivate leadership in different parts of the organization as well as sectors in the society, and foster leaders among the future generation.

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The 21st century is seeing a change in the style of functioning of managers --from the Do as I say to How shall we do it together. Greater emphasis is on partnership, with a judicious balance of the Top-Down and Bottom-Up approach, with reducing unwanted documentation, minimal procedures of limited or dubious return and more emphasis on efficiency and cost effectiveness and greater reliance on electronic media. Managers will face with uncertainties and unpredictability. Good managers should be able to obtain information in order to set their course of action, to cope with uncertainties and changes. Most organizations with a conventional management, have their own information systems or handle information that are mostly based on achievements of the past and tend to project into the future using such information bases. To be able to anticipate changes and challenges as well as surprises in the future, managers will need to explore and make use of many innovative tools and techniques, such as foresight, environmental scanning, scenario building, etc.

Managers should be able to create a collective vision towards a desirable future and direct changes towards such a future by empowering, encouraging diverse groups to come up with ideas and initiatives and then work with them collectively for emergence of desirable future, common to all
In a rapidly changing environment, managers should be ready and able to try innovative working models and be able to take calculated risks in order to identify new opportunities. The effort to try out or to pilot test some of the new ideas with well prepared mechanisms to learn from such experiences will help to guarantee that the organization will benefit from them, without fear of failure. The innovative ideas should not come from the managers themselves but the managers should encourage others to come up with such ideas.

This will require the ability to create working environment that will nurture and facilitate others to make use of their full potential.
Some of the key competencies required for a research manager to be effective in a changing environment are given in Annex 8-2.

2. Objectives
At the end of the session, participants should be able to: 1. State the general principles of management that have emerged recently and are relevant for managing organization within health research system; 2. Identify those general principles and concepts that would be crucial for success in research management relevant t o their working context; 3. Describe the leadership qualities and style of function; and enumerate key competencies of a health research manager; 4. Describe leadership practice inventory.

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3. Duration
Half day.

4. Guidelines for discussion

Ask participants what leadership is meant to them and why leadership is important in an organization. Tell the participants that like in the case for the definition of management there are many definitions for the term leadership and said to be over 130. Indicate one definition of leadership: leadership is the effort to influence the behaviour of individuals or members of a group in order to accomplish organizational, individual or personal goals. Discuss how leadership and management are related, basing on the notes given in Annex 8-3. Then, perform an exercise on the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) as described in Annex 8-4. After reading the key concepts, the participants would be asked to form small groups and carry out discussions, focusing on the following three aspects: 1. Do the participants see their working environment and their work mandate change or broaden or becoming complex, in the changing environment? 2. What kind of positive experiences have they had, to cope with the changing and complex environment and what are the practices that they have adopted? 3. What kind of negative experiences have they faced and what do they think are the key competencies that they think will be useful for them in order to achieve better outcome in the future?

5. Expected outcome
The outcome and competencies expected out of the participants are their ability to: apply the new concepts and general principles of management and leadership to the research process; continue learning about new concepts in management that will be emerging in the future and apply to their work in research management; use the leadership practice tool to assess leadership qualities and function; apply key competencies of a health manager.

Recommended additional readings

1. 2. 3. Leadership by Philip Sadler 1997 The Fast Track MBA Series Publisher Coopers & Lybrand ISBN 0 7494 2124X. Management Ideas in Action by Promod Batra and Deepak Mahendru Published by THINK INC, --- ISBN 81- 900019-4-9. Basic Managerial Skills for All. Third Edition by E H McGrath Prentice Hall of India Private Ltd. New Delhi 1994 ISBN-81-203-0498-5.

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Health Research Management 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Essentials of Management. Fourth Edition --- Joseph L Massie --- Prentice Hall of India Private Ltd. New Delhi 1995 --- ISBN-81-203-0486-1. Management Wisdom by Promod Batra -Published by THINK INC, ISBN-81-86773-16-9. Managing with Wisdom by Jack H Grossman 1995- UBS Publishers Distributors Ltd. The Birth of the Chaordic Age by Dee Hock 1999. The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge 1992 (3)? Harvard Business Review on Knowledge Management by Peter F. Drucker, David Garvin, et al, 1998. Chapter 1 The Coming of the New Organization by Peter Drucker.

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Annex 8-1

General principles of management and leadership

A research managers competence encompasses the knowledge and proficiency of his/her profession, as well as how to make the right things happen which requires a thorough knowledge and practice of good managerial principles and practices. Good managerial qualities have been described in many publications.

1. Acquisition of leadership qualities and having a good style of functioning

It is good leadership that makes a manager exemplary. An effective leader is the best asset an organisation can have. Management could determine the success or failure of any venture and account for accomplishments and visibility. Leaders are people who do the right thing - while managers are people who do things right. Both roles are crucial though differing profoundly as long as we do not do the wrong things right (in the name of good management). Management is often under led and over managed-with excessive bureaucratization. This has to be avoided.

(a) Leadership qualities

A selection of the leadership qualities a manager should inculcate are as follow. 1. Imagination and vision. 2. Integrity and a selfless value system. 3. Trustworthiness and dependability. 4. Dedication and love of ones work which itself functions as an in-built reward. 5. Good public relations and ability to get along with people. 6. Good communication skills. 7. Ability and willingness to take calculated risks. 8. Being attentive and a good listener. 9. Ability to assess/predict human behaviour. 10. Good rapport, and sensitivity to the feelings of others. 11. Courage to make unpleasant decisions. 12. Courage to take a decision even in the face of limited information (considered a decision is better than no decision at all). 13. Ability to evaluate objectively and reach a valid conclusion. 14. Practising the art of collective decision making. 15. Aiming at qualitative and quantitative performance. 16. Ability to build effective teams. 17. Ability to retain good people, and be surrounded by good people. 18. Self confidence and motivation to lead.

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19. Ability and willingness to take responsibility and accountability. 20. Credibility. 21. Dependability. 22. Tenacity. 23. Stewardship-leaders are custodians of the interests and well-being of those they serve as leaders.

24. Loyalty. (b) Style of function

1. Being readily accessible to others. 2. Having the ability and the willingness to offer advice and guidance to those who need it. 3. Combining supervision with corrective guidance. 4. Personally ensuring that work is progressing efficiently rather than waiting for problems to be brought to ones attention. 5. Understanding and not vindictive. 6. Sociable. 7. Learning from mistakes and not repeating them. 8. Maximising motivation. 9. Willingness and the ability to delegate authority with responsibility and accountability.

10. Good interpersonal skills and good relations with key players.
There are several moral values and qualities one could add to this list. Some of these can be acquired through ones general education and upbringing while others have to be learnt through appropriate orientation and apprenticeship

2. Application of general principles of management

Research managers are often faced with situations of a general managerial nature. Some examples are cited below. Administrative aspects (in general as applicable to the location /institution /country - with particular reference to research). Development of action plans. Time management. Financial management. Methods of resource allocation. Methods of prioritisation among problems and tasks. Methods of evaluation of - process, outcome and impact. Measurement of efficiency and effectiveness and benefit in relation to cost.

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Communication and negotiating skills. Report writing. Sharing responsibility and authority, etc. Vision and plans for the future.

____________
* chaordic management (dee hock. birth of the chaordic age 1999: www.chaordic.org)

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Annex 8-2

Some key competencies of research manager

1. Ability to identify and asses - in consultation with appropriate persons - people and institutions for a particular activity in the research process. 2. Ability to build partnerships, and networking with the others concerned stakeholders who would be able to contribute to overall research result. 3. Possessing teamwork abilities: 4. to create an appropriate heterogeneous team according to the requirements of the research; 5. to create equal partnership; 6. to build up the capability among the team members; and 7. to facilitate and empower the team to achieve the desired objective. 8. Assess the requirements of the policy makers at different levels and how to build good relations with other related sectors and share information. 9. Ability to understand others interests, perceptions and ideas especially among those from other sectors, those with different research interest, those with different professional / different socio-economic background. 10. Ability to assess and forecast the contributions of various groups could make towards health research. 11. Ability to encourage others to express themselves, be a good listener and be able to appreciate the point of view of others. 12. Negotiations skill: with international agencies to ensure relevant (in keeping with the national priorities and provide institutional capacity building) and costeffective support (no excessive supervisory/management costs) and between funding agencies and researchers to ensure reasonable budget for research project. 13. Advocacy for resource mobilization and resource utilization. 14. Identify users to be able to identify proper methods of dissemination to different stake holders. 15. Ability to analyze stakeholder. 16. Ability to create an enabling environment. 17. Planning, decision making, training, evaluation basic skills of research manager. 18. Ability to mobilize multi-disciplinary teams across institutions across sectors and be able to innovate mechanisms that are workable irrespective of bureaucratic mechanisms. 19. Knowledge management. 20. Database management and the use of essential informatics tools for health research, both in using or compiling data.

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Annex 8-3

Managers and leadership

As with all fields, thinking on management continues to evolve as society becomes more complex and managers become more sophisticated. In a brief review of this evolution, we find three waves, or ways of looking at management, each containing what has come before, but shifting focus.

Managers Administer
The first wave of modern management science was administration. In this focus, the primary role of the manager is to ensure that procedures which have been developed by experts are properly applied. Staff members are instruments used to apply procedures to achieve the desired ends. There are assumptions about both managers and staff members concerning their ability to carry out the work without this guidance or expert procedures. In a sense, the managers and staff are seen more as machines, as cogs in the wheel, than as thinking human beings. It is assumed that people need to be told what to do, because they do not know what to do, or would not be efficient if they did not have the expert procedures to follow.

Managers Manage
The next evolution of management thinking realized that administration alone was not enough, as it did not take into consideration the capacity of both managers and staff members to reason their way to results. With this wave, there was a shift to seeing people as thinking individuals who, if given a clear objective, would know how to accomplish the organizational goals, and would be able to rationally think and plan their way to the desired results. Systems and structures would create the framework, and strategies would layout the broad goals to which individual managers and staff members would contribute through the establishment of objectives.

Managers Lead
The current trend in management sciences acknowledges the complexity of today's world, and the fact that it is impossible to know all the answers. It recognizes that all important goals can only be achieved through interdependence. It has been pointed out that we do not manage human resources, but rather we manage people who bring resources with them which they share or withhold from the organization. With this recognition, motivation and empowerment become key. The manager builds a shared vision engaging staff members to contribute not only with their minds but also with their hearts. The underlying assumption is that people have emotions and get their energy and drive from bringing their emotions into the workplace rather than hanging them on a coat rack at the entrance. The role of managers is to inspire this full engagement with the vision, and to empower staff members and teams to get the desired results.
Source: Working as a Manager in UNHCR

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Annex 8-4

The leadership practices inventory (LPI)

The Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) was published in 1997 by James M.Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, authors of the book, The leadership challenge: how to keep getting extraordinary things done in organizations (1995). The LPI is derived from a research project where participants were asked to select a project, programme or event that represented his or her personal best leadership experience. Some specific questions were asked about that experience. The research showed that leaders were at their personal best when they were: challenging the process inspiring a shared vision enabling others to act modelling the way encouraging the heart. The LPI is a survey form containing 30 questions- six for each of the five leadership practices listed above. Each question has a 10-point frequency scale; each point has a descriptor ranging from almost always to almost never. The LPI is designed to be used by multiple raters (for example: managers, direct report, coworker and self), but it can also be used as a self-assessment tool. Included here are: an LPI survey tool that you can use to perform a selfassessment, with instructions on how to score the LPI, a percentile rankings chart and several questions to guide analysis of your results. It should be remembered that the LPI provides you with information about your leadership behaviour. It does not measure IQ personality, style or general management skills. Scoring the LPI Using the 10-point scale below, assess each of the 30 items in the assessment tool: 10 Almost always 9 Very frequently 8 Usually 7 Fairly often 6 Sometimes 5 Occasionally 4 Once in a while 3 Seldom 2 Rarely 1 Almost never

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The LPI assessment tool

Statement No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Statement Seeks out challenging opportunities that test own skills and abilities. Talks about future trends that will influence how our work gets done. Develops cooperative relationships among colleagues. Sets a personal example of what is expected from others. Praises people for a job well done. Challenges people to try out new and innovative approaches to their work. Describes a compelling image of what our future could be like. Actively listens to diverse points of view. Spends time and energy on making certain that colleagues adhere to agreed principles and standards. Makes a point of letting people know about confidence in their abilities. Searches outside the formal boundaries of the organization for innovative ways to improve what we do. Appeals to others to share an exciting dream of the future. Treats others with dignity and respect. Follows through on the promises and commitments made. Makes sure that people are creatively rewarded for their contributions to the success of projects. Asks what can we learn? when things do not go as expected. Shows others how their long-term interests can be realized by enlisting in a common vision. Supports the decisions that people make on their own. Is clear about personal philosophy of leadership. Publicly recognizes people who exemplify commitment to shared values. Experiments and takes risks even where there is a chance of failure. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

10 11

12 13 14 15

16 17

18 19 20 21

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Statement No. 22 23 24

Statement Is contagiously enthusiastic and positive about future possibilities. Gives people freedom and choice in deciding how to do their work. Makes certain that we set achievable goals, make concrete plans and establish measurable milestones for projects and programmes. Find ways to celebrate accomplishment. Takes the initiative to overcome obstacles even when outcomes are uncertain. Speaks with genuine conviction about the higher meaning and purpose of our work. Ensures that people grow by learning new skills and developing themselves. Makes progress towards goals one step at a time. Gives the members of the team lots of appreciation and support for their contributions.

10

25 26 27 28 29 30

Calculate your total score for each of the five leadership practices (challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, modeling the way and encouraging the heart) by adding up the six item scores. 1. According to the ratings you gave yourself, what are your strengths? According to your self-ratings, what are the areas in which you might consider making improvements?

2. To compare your scores with those of all the people in the LPI database,
locate your total score for each of the five practices in the LPI percentile rankings. If your score, for example, for Challenging is at the 70th percentile line on the chart, this means that you scored higher than 70% of all the people who have taken the LPI. You would be in the top 30% on that dimension. 3. In which percentile did your score fall for each of the five practices? In which areas are your self-ratings strong, compared with the others in the database? In which areas do your self-ratings indicate that you have greater opportunities for improvement than others in the database?

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LPI assessment tool

Item Score Challenging the process 1. Seeks out challenging opportunities that test own skills and abilities. 6. Challenges people to try out new and innovative approaches to their work. 11. Searches outside the formal boundaries of the organization for innovative ways to improve what we do. 16. Asks what can we learn? when things do not go as expected. 21. Experiments and takes risks even where there is a chance of failure. 26. Takes the initiative to overcome obstacles even when outcomes are uncertain. TOTAL Inspiring a shared vision 2. Talks about future trends that will influence how our work gets done. 7. Describes a compelling image of what our future could be like. 12. Appeals to others to share an exciting dream of the future. 17. Shows others how their long-term interests can be realized by enlisting in a common vision. 22. Is contagiously enthusiastic and positive about future possibilities. 27. Speaks with genuine conviction about the higher meaning and purpose of our work. TOTAL Enabling others to act 3. Develops cooperative relationships among colleagues. 8. Actively listens to diverse points of view. 13. Treats others with dignity and respect. 18. Supports the decisions that people make on their own. 23. Gives people freedom and choice in deciding how to do their work. 28. Ensures that people grow by learning new skills and developing themselves. TOTAL Modelling the way 4. Sets a personal example of what is expected from others. 9. Spends time and energy on making certain that colleagues adhere to agreed principles and standards. 14. Follows through on the promises and commitments made. 19. Is clear about personal philosophy of leadership. 24. Makes certain that we set achievable goals, make concrete plans and establish measurable milestones for projects and programmes. 29. Makes progress towards goals one step at a time. TOTAL Encouraging the heart 5. Praises people for a job well done. 10. Makes a point of letting people know about confidence in their abilities. 15. Makes sure that people are creatively rewarded for their contributions to the success of projects. 20. Publicly recognizes people who exemplify commitment to shared values. 25. Find ways to celebrate accomplishment. 30. Gives the members of the team lots of appreciation and support for their contributions. TOTAL Source of the material: Resource Modules for Health Research for Policy, Action and Practice, Module 1, Unit 2 Leadership for health research, developed by Global Forum for Health Research.

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