Managing Scientists

This updated edition provides managers with a practical guide focused on the particular management needs for research and development in biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. It offers a way to improve the quality of interactions and creativity output in R&D, with real life case studies to illustrate key points.

"Lab Dynamics is a book about the challenges to doing science and dealing with the individuals involved, including oneself. The authors, a scientist and a psychotherapist, draw on principles of group and behavioral psychology but speak to scientists in their own language about their own experiences. They offer in-depth, practical advice, real-life examples, and exercises tailored to scientific and technical workplaces on topics as diverse as conflict resolution, negotiation, dealing with supervision, working with competing peers, and making the transition from academia to industry." "This is a uniquely valuable contribution to the scientific literature, on a subject of direct importance to lab heads, postdocs, and students. It is also required reading for senior staff concerned about improving efficiency and effectiveness in academic and industrial research."--BOOK JACKET

This updated edition provides managers with a practical guide focused on the particular management needs for research and development in biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. It offers a way to improve the quality of interactions and creativity output in R&D, with real life case studies to illustrate key points.

What is science? How is it performed? Is science only a method or is it also an institution? These are questions at the core of Managing Science, a handbook on how scientific research is conducted and its results disseminated. Knowledge creation occurs through scientific research in universities, industrial laboratories, and government agencies. Any knowledge management system needs to promote effective research processes to foster innovation, and, ultimately, to channel that innovation into economic competitiveness and wealth. However, science is a complicated topic. It includes both methodological aspects and organizational aspects, which have traditionally been discussed in isolation from each other. In Managing Science, Frederick Betz presents a holistic approach to science, incorporating both philosophical and practical elements, in a framework that integrates scientific method, content, administration and application. Illustrating all of the key concepts with illustrative case studies (both historical and contemporary, and from a wide spectrum of fields), Betz provides in-depth discussion of the process of science. He addresses the social, organizational, institutional, and infrastructural context through which research projects are designed and their results applied, along the path from experimentation to innovation to commercialization of new products, services, and processes. This practical approach to science is the foundation of today's knowledge-intensive and technology-enabled industries, and positions the management of science within the broader context of knowledge management and its implications for organizations, industries, and regional and national technology management policies. Managing Science will be an essential resource for students in all areas of research, industry scientists and R&D specialists, policymakers and university administrators, and anyone concerned with the application of research to economic growth and development.

Can technical paradigms help managers lead technical companies? In Managing and Leading for Science Professionals, Bertrand Liang explains that they can, as he explores real issues of importance for technical students and managers who want to move into leadership positions. A CEO with an MBA, Liang originally trained as a neurology and oncology clinician and later earned a PhD in molecular biology and genetics. In this book, he emphasizes what he wishes he had known as he advanced through the organization. His practitioner's point of view is perfectly suited to those who are moving, or want to move, from the technical side to the business side. Focusing on the experiences of scientists and engineers, he teaches ways to speak top management's language. His insights deliver essential knowledge, empowering technical staff to succeed using the skills they know best. Describes "what I wish I’d known" as a manager with a technical background Focuses on using skills other than risk analysis to make decisions Explores ways to lead and manage innovation, particularly in relation to executives' responsibilities, skills, and tolerance for risk

Management for Scientists explores the core theories and practices in management studies today in a context applicable to those working in the scientific industries. Chapters feature a range of real-world examples presented by experienced scientists with strategic and economic business expertise.

Why we organize our personal digital data the way we do and how design of new PIM systems can help us manage our information more efficiently. Each of us has an ever-growing collection of personal digital data: documents, photographs, PowerPoint presentations, videos, music, emails and texts sent and received. To access any of this, we have to find it. The ease (or difficulty) of finding something depends on how we organize our digital stuff. In this book, personal information management (PIM) experts Ofer Bergman and Steve Whittaker explain why we organize our personal digital data the way we do and how the design of new PIM systems can help us manage our collections more efficiently. Bergman and Whittaker report that many of us use hierarchical folders for our personal digital organizing. Critics of this method point out that information is hidden from sight in folders that are often within other folders so that we have to remember the exact location of information to access it. Because of this, information scientists suggest other methods: search, more flexible than navigating folders; tags, which allow multiple categorizations; and group information management. Yet Bergman and Whittaker have found in their pioneering PIM research that these other methods that work best for public information management don't work as well for personal information management. Bergman and Whittaker describe personal information collection as curation: we preserve and organize this data to ensure our future access to it. Unlike other information management fields, in PIM the same user organizes and retrieves the information. After explaining the cognitive and psychological reasons that so many prefer folders, Bergman and Whittaker propose the user-subjective approach to PIM, which does not replace folder hierarchies but exploits these unique characteristics of PIM.

Leadership and management are general skills that apply in most walks of life, but in the scientific domain they require some special characteristics. Science thrives on challenge, whether it is the technical challenge of trying to do something which has not been done before or challenging a widely held but poorly supported hypothesis. Scientists are trained to challenge, and for the manager of science this can itself be a challenge. In the past, when science was on a much smaller scale and less subject to public scrutiny, a less formal 'back-of-the-envelope' management style was acceptable, but those days are long-gone. Science costs much more and is rightly more accountable. Excellent scientists, however, do not necessarily make good managers and may not make good leaders. Nevertheless, like all skills, leadership and management can be enhanced and developed and even instinctively good managers can improve. While the science of management and leadership is well developed, the management and leadership of science is less so. This book aims to introduce the working research scientist to the art and techniques of management and the skills necessary to be a good and effective manager and leader of science and scientists. This includes understanding the organization and functioning of scientific research establishments (universities, laboratories, research councils, etc.) and how to deal with the associated committee work, recruiting, and team building; how to deal with difficulties managing projects and handling risks. The approach is pragmatic not dogmatic. Leadership and management are people skills, and each person is different and needs to be treated differently. The focus is on the principle and practice. While the subject is serious, the approach is conversational, with anecdotes and practical examples.