Goal orientations of managers and scientists: An illusory dichotomy

It is the aim of this paper to show through an empirical study that an assertion of axiomatic goal divergence between managers and scientists is an illusory dichotomy. More specifically, it is the hypothesis of this paper that the similarities in goal orientations between managers and scientists in research laboratories greatly outnumber the differences. The study underlying this paper involved a survey of five research institutes. Comprehensive questionnaires that had been validated in two previous studies were distributed to 104 scientists. An 80-percent response was recorded when 83 of the scientists returned their completed questionnaires. Extended interviews were held with eight senior administrators from the five research institutes each of whom completed a questionnaire identical to the one given to the scientists. A one-way analysis of variance supported by a discriminant analysis revealed that the similarities in goal orientations between the managers and scientists greatly outnumbered the differences, and the foregoing hypotheses was accepted. The frequent assertion of axiomatic goal divergence between managers and scientists in research laboratories was not supported by the findings of this study. Considerably more research is required to develop theories and concepts through which the management of scientists can be improved.