Development of a leadership training program for principal investigators in the area of health and life sciences

• Autor(a) principal: Figueira, Ana Margarida da Silva
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/29079
• topic: Leadership; Research teams; Leadership training; Setor da saúde -- Health sector; Ciências da vida -- Life sciences; Liderança; Equipas de investigação; Formação

Research teams operate in a very demanding environment. In this stressful context, Principal Investigators (PIs) play an essential role, not only to ensure the project completion, but also to foster team effectiveness. Although leadership skills are crucial, PIs tend to focus more on scientific competencies, resulting in a significant training gap in leadership and management skills. While several models of team leadership exist in the literature, this study focused on the functional leadership approach, which identified 15 essential team leadership functions that impact on team performance (Morgeson et al., 2010). In order to understand which functions are most relevant in this context, both qualitative and quantitative methods were conducted. This comprised individual interviews with 10 PIs, and 2 Focus groups with team members (with a total of 11 participants), from 4 different Research Institutes. Additionally, 28 PIs from 6 different Research Institutes participated in the survey. The results revealed six key competencies that needed improvement, especially focusing on transition processes (Train and develop team, Establish expectations and goals, Structure and plan), and interpersonal processes (Adapt style to people, Conflict management, Motivate the team). Based on these findings, a 15-hour training program was designed to provide tools to improve these competencies, helping PIs from Research Institutes boosting their leadership strategies and practices towards a more effective team performance. Additionally, a training evaluation proposal and an analysis of the project’s limitations and potential improvements are also provided.