Leadership in R&D Projects

This article describes the results of an empirical study regarding a suitable style of R&D project leadership, especially what tasks project leaders should perform by themselves and what tasks they should delegate, what personal characteristics they should be endowed with and what kind of relationships they should have with their team. Fifty interviews were held in German institutions short-listed for an award for their innovative products by the Saxon government. In contrast to the assumption of the Social Identity Theory, in these institutions good R&D project leaders are not the 'prototype' of their team, but successfully balance the interests of the company and the R&D project team