A transformação de especialistas em administradores: alguns números

The purpose of this study is to obtain information on the nature of the Brazilian research leader's job (responsibilities and practices). As a means for achieving this goal, questionnaires were administered to 64 project leaders drawn from 21 research institutes who were participants in a management development program. The respondees used a three-point scale to rate the difficulty perceived by them in a set of managerial activities in their work as project leaders. The results indicate that 46% of the respondees are involved in project planning. Twentynine percent rated planning as difficult to perform. Fifty-eight percent rated project planning as being of intermediate difficulty. Only 13% rated planning as being easy to perform. The results also indicate that 59% of the respondees actively engage in project budgeting activities. Most of the project leaders (53%) rate budget planning as being difficult to do. Forty-three percent rate project budgeting as being of intermediate difficulty. The remaining 3% rate the activity as presenting little difficulty to them. Conclusions: of the 24 functions investigated, project planning and budgeting were identified by the project leaders as being frequently performed functions and ones that are difficult to perform. Aditional research on these functions is recommended for a better understanding of the nature of this difficulty. It is suggested that a combined interview and questionnaire data collection session be employed to obtain more in-depth information on the personal and situational factors that contribute to the difficulty of project planning and budgeting. This aditional information will be of use in developing training programs designed to deal with these problem areas. It will also be of use in identifying candidates for managerial positions