Winford E. Holland

Boundary-Spanning Roles in a Research and Development Organization: An Empirical Investigation

The article reports on the importance of boundary-spanning roles (BSA), which serve to link organizations confirmed by research. They are vital to the effective monitoring of the environment as wel...

Communicators and Innovators in Research and Development Organizations

The article discusses research pertaining to the personal characteristics of communicators and innovators in research and development (R&D) organizations. Preliminary results suggested an overlap b...

A Cross-Validation Study of the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory in Three Research and Development Organizations.

A cross-validation study of the Kirton Adaption- Innovation Inventory (KAI) was conducted with 256 professional employees from three applied research and development organizations. The KAI was found to correlate well with direct measures of in novativeness (peer-nomination and management- rated measures of innovativeness) as well as with in direct indicators of innovativeness (number of pub lications, education, performance as rated by man agement, organizational level, self-esteem, intoler ance of ambiguity, and need for clarity). These re sults, moreover, held up well in each of the three research and development organizations. The orig inality subscale was found to be a potentially useful short version of the KAI. Implications for the use of the KAI are discussed.

Information channel/source selection as a correlate of technical uncertainty in a research and development organization

The relationship between technical uncertainty and the technical decision makers selection of information channels/sources is investigated. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 384 engineers and scientists in a large government R&D organization. Findings indicate a strong correlation between technical uncertainty and a decision makers choice of more efficient information channels/sources.

Boundary-Spanning Activity and Employee Reactions: An Empirical Study

Boundary-spanning activity was studied in a large manufacturing company through a sample of 192 managers, engineers, and supervisors. Contrary to prior theory and research, this study found boundary-spanning activity unrelated to role conflict or ambiguity and positively related to job satisfac-tion for the total sample. Boundary-spanning activity was also positively related to a number of job characteristics for the total sample. Marked dif-ferences in boundary-spanning activity and its relationships with other variables, however, were found across occupational levels. While managers and engineers generally had boundary-spanning activity related to high levels of job satisfaction and job characteristics, first-level supervisors had boundary-spanning activity related to higher role conflict and lower job satisfaction with opportunities for promotion.

The measurement of performance among research and development professional employees: A longitudinal analysis

A longitudinal analysis of performance data collected from 256 professional employees from three applied research and development organizations shows stability over a one-year period in both the measures and the patterns of the correlations. Subjective ratings of innovativeness by superiors and peers show agreement with each other and moderate convergence with the objective indicators of number of patents and number of publications. High self-esteem subjects have greater levels of agreement for their self-ratings with those of superiors and peers than do low self-esteem subjects. Implications for improving the measurement of professional performance by R&D managers are discussed based on the results.

Job Change: A Naturally Occurring Field Experiment:

A naturally occurring field experiment of job change was conducted over a one-year period in three applied research and development organizations. The experimental group (n = 42) were those employees who had been promoted or assigned to a different job. Employees who had maintained the same job made up the nonequivalent control group (n = 166). Standardized change score analysis showed the job change group to have greater increases in performance, innovativeness, and job satisfaction, as well as a greater reduction in role ambiguity when compared to the nonequivalent control group. In addition, the job change group reported greater increases in the job characteristics of variety and task autonomy, as well as in the role requirements of integration and boundary-spanning activities. The importance of the results and the role of field experimentation are discussed.

Toward a selection battery for research and development professional employees

An exploratory study designed to develop and validate a selection battery for R&D professional employees was conducted with 256 participants from three applied R&D organizations. The results suggest that the battery of seven personality variables and education was validated over a one-year time period in the three organizations for the five job-related performance criteria that were studied. The potential utility of the battery for R&D managers as a selection device, as well as limitations of the study are discussed.

Characteristics of individuals with high information potential in government research and development organizations

In order to study focal individuals within informal communications networks, a special variable was constructed: information potential (IP) was defined as the information-source value placed on an individual by his colleagues. Four hypotheses involving IP were tested in three RD 2) a distinctive information transceiver (transmitter and receiver); 3) both a producer and a catalyst in his own organization; and 4) an extender and an amplifier of information search. To affect the efficiency of informal information flow, the research managers best hope for positively influencing informal networks lies in the identification and motivation of the special communicators in his organization.

Job characteristics of research and development personnel: Relationships with satisfaction and role variables

Four core dimensions (variety, autonomy, task identity, feedback) and two interpersonal dimensions (dealing with others and friendship opportunities) of job characteristics were studied in a sample of 363 research and development professional personnel. It was hypothesized that the core dimensions would be positively related to intrinsic job satisfaction, while the interpersonal dimensions were hypothesized to be positively related to socially derived satisfactions. These hypotheses were supported by data from the total sample. All job characteristics were also hypothesized to be negatively related to role conflict and ambiguity. The data from the total sample supported this hypothesis fully with regard to role ambiguity, but only partially with regard to role conflict. Data were also separated and analyzed for supervisors and nonsupervisors. Implication for the management of research and development personnel are included.