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Entrepreneurial Leadership, Gender And Teams In The Engineering And Science Context

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Conference

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Chicago, Illinois

Publication Date

June 18, 2006

Start Date

June 18, 2006

End Date

June 21, 2006

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Entrepreneurship Division Poster Sessions

Tagged Division

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

Page Count

19

Page Numbers

11.591.1 - 11.591.19

DOI

10.18260/1-2--1216

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/1216

Download Count

368

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Paper Authors

biography

Barbara Karanian Wentworth Institute of Technology

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Barbara A. Karanian is a Professor of Social Sciences and Management at Wentworth Institute of Technology. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Studies in Organizational Psychology from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was a Leadership Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. Her research interests include collaborative and cross-functional teams, transitions in the career path, gender/influence/and persuasion, and entrepreneurial leadership. Her consulting work is with changing organizations.

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biography

Gül Okudan Pennsylvania State University

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Gül E. Okudan is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Design at The Pennsylvania State
University. She received her Ph.D. from University of Missouri-Rolla. Her research interests include intelligent shop floor control, manufacturing strategy modeling and measurement, solid modeling, product design, and product design teams. Her published work appears in journals such as Journal of Engineering Design, Design Studies, Journal of Engineering Education, European Journal of Engineering Education and Technovation. She is a member of ASEE and ASME. She is also a National Research Council-US AFRL Summer Faculty Fellow of the Human Effectiveness Directorate for 2002, 2003 and 2004.

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Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Entrepreneurial Leadership, Gender and Teams in the Engineering and Science Context: Men and Women Tell Stories About Leadership

Abstract Interviews and small focus groups were the methodological tools used for distinguishing leadership and entrepreneurial leadership in an engineering and science context for this preliminary investigation. Emphasis was placed on the gender elements in leadership by using conceptual frameworks from the research on organizational decision-making, socio- psychological fundamentals, and workplace performance. Forces that influence leadership and team behavior were considered through five framing questions: 1) do males and females equally emerge as leaders in engineering and science? 2) what are the key concepts in team leadership that vary in same sex and mixed sex composition of groups? 3) how do senior level managers distinguish leadership and entrepreneurship? 4) what influence do family and background characteristics have on the conception and practice of leadership? 5) how do leaders refer to the role of emotion in their work?

Existing studies suggest that women and men perceive and construct the relationship between self and others in very different ways. Phase I of this study draws parallels from psychological theory to entrepreneurial leadership practice in academia, industry and professional sports. The goals of the work outlined was to both search for a preliminary understanding of the various categories of the influence of and of leadership and potential use for that understanding to prepare entrepreneurial leaders for the challenging global marketplace. Results are interpreted as preliminary findings and evaluated for organizing the methodology for the next phases of research.

1. Introduction

The work reported here began with a fascination for the concept of leadership, and some observations about how conceptions of leadership varied based on the gender composition of a group. Thus, the work presented is an attempt to take a closer look at leadership, gender and teams through a collaborative approach of two disciplines, psychology and engineering, and to utilize the intersection of the two fields to understand the role of leadership in changing organizations.

The assumptions that we see as central to our ideas about leadership are: a. Leadership definitions and practices are similar across different organizational settings (e.g., academic, political and sport). The exploration of leadership practice will include consideration and suggestions for the use of quantitative, qualitative, projective and action research tools. b. Subtle but dramatic forms of distinction exist between the definitions of leadership and entrepreneurial leadership.

Karanian, B., & Okudan, G. (2006, June), Entrepreneurial Leadership, Gender And Teams In The Engineering And Science Context Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--1216

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