2.15. SUMMARY

The management of R&D organizations is quite challenging. It is difficult to coordinate numerous individuals who are socialized to work autonomously. However, one cannot leave them totally alone, since the organization has goals that its personnel must meet. It is hard to get ideas, funds, and the right climate at the right time and place in order to produce a top-quality research product.

In a real sense the job of the R&D manager is to create the right climate for research. A first-rate researcher, in the right climate, with adequate funding, is likely to come up with important ideas. But providing the right culture is complex. A manager must select people, match them with jobs, match them into teams, do team building, and help develop norms, roles, and standard operating procedures that will result in high levels of innovation. An organization must be developed that will allow people to be maximally creative. Rewards must be provided so that people will be motivated to work hard and to seek excellence. The manager must know how to lead, how to reduce conflict, and how to get maximum advantage from the resources that are available.

In this chapter we examined rather superficially, and at an introductory level, the people, ideas, funds, and culture that are required for excellence in R&D organizations. In the subsequent chapters we will focus in greater depth on the very same topics and will also examine how to evaluate people and how to determine a laboratory's success. Technology transfer and satisfaction of the laboratory's clients are among the outcomes that are measurable and provide clues about the success of the laboratory. We will examine also how a manager can evaluate change in organizations and essentially learn to manage the culture of the R&D organization.