How to Destroy a Research & Development Group without Really Trying

Abstract

This chapter illustrates the consequences that can result from a mismatch between leadership style and organizational contexts required to encourage genuine investigation and exploration – particularly in topical areas relevant to the enterprise’s business model. This cautionary tale suggests not only that leadership approaches need to complement the necessary conceptual challenges involved in rigorously defining relevant problems and strategies in order to sustain organizational success; ideally, it should also align with the strengths and goals of the teams led. Thus, a senior marketing, communication and sales leader may not support the creative research and evidence-based, user-centered design necessary to nurture innovation within, for example, a future-oriented research and development team. Such cultural misalignments have been well framed by classical theories of leadership as well as by empirical comparisons of enduringly successful companies with more transient corporations.

Citation

Brand, J.L. (2021), "How to Destroy a Research & Development Group without Really Trying", Morris, L.R. and Edmonds, W.M. (Ed.) When Leadership Fails: Individual, Group and Organizational Lessons from the Worst Workplace Experiences, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 139-146. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80043-766-120211013