Leadership in Action: Sharing Leadership in an Engineering Research Center

Abstract

This case study employed a shared leadership framework to examine leadership in an engineering research center (ERC) during its first year. The Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics (CBBG) was the site for this study using an ethnographic participant observation approach. The purpose of the study was to describe the leadership (1) structures, (2) understandings, and (3) practices of the Innovation, Diversity, and Education Activities (IDEA) Working Group within the CBBG. The following leadership understandings were revealed: (1) the definition of leadership varies by context, (2) leadership is an ongoing and evolving process, (3) leadership and management are intertwined, (4) leadership is gendered, and (5) communication is a core aspect of leadership. The following leadership practices were identified: (1) prioritizing collaborations and systematizing recurring processes, (2) leveraging value networks, and (3) demonstrating gratitude. Future studies investigating how leveraging social value networks is fostered in cooperative research centers are recommended. Finally, because demonstrating gratitude is significantly correlated with shared leadership practices, engineering leadership studies examining gratitude might generate useful results.