Differences Between People Managers and Technical Leads in Managing their Former Peers

This paper documents research on differences between two types of managers that manage their former peer groups. The two management types are people managers and technical leads. Differences were researched in three areas: communication, social interaction, and work management. All 2,100+ members of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Program Management Institute (PMI) were invited to complete the survey, as were a subset of Lockheed Martin people managers and technical leads. Forty-two surveys were completed. Of these, thirty-seven were from persons who managed former peers. Due to this low response, limited analysis was carried out on the thirty-seven usable responses. The key findings for persons responding to the survey were: (1), technical leads communicate with the groups they manage more frequently than their people manager counterparts, (2) people managers are more socially involved compared with their technical lead counterparts, and (3) people managers manage their workloads more efficiently compared to their technical lead counterparts Managing Former Peers iii Dedication I dedicate this report to my wonderful and beautiful family. My wife Tracy, who provided me endless support in the pursuit of my education, and who's unconditional love got me through school, and my children Rachel and Veronica who picked me up when I was down with their unconditional love for me. I also wish to dedicate this report to my parents Nick and Paula who first inspired my intellectual curiosity. My Uncle Rolf who gave me confidence to pursue a higher education, and Ms. Carolyn Bruck who made “learning” so much fun for me at an early age. Managing Former Peers iv Acknowledgements To Professor Wayne Kirschling my capstone advisor who provided me valuable guidance throughout this project. His dedication to excellence and learning has been an inspiration to me. To Professor Tammy Sumner and Professor Bob Kois, who graciously agreed to be part of my capstone committee. To Ms. Bonnee Basso who kept me on-track throughout my CU college career. To my staff at Lockheed Martin, who provided a very fertile environment from which to learn engineering management Managing Former Peers v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract . ii Dedication . iii Acknowledgements . iv Introduction . 1 Background . 4 Communication . 5 Social Interaction . 7 Work Management . 8 Methodology . 9 Survey design . 10 Analysis of survey results . 11 Communication Dimension analysis . 13 Analysis of Group Communication . 13 Analysis of Individual Communication . 14 Analysis of Open-Door Policy . 16 Analysis of Appointment Required. 17 Statistical Analysis scoring methodology. 19 Summary of Communication Dimension analysis. 19 Social Dimension analysis . 20 Analysis of Social Acceptance. 20 Analysis of Group Respect.22 Analysis of Group Inclusion . 23 Analysis of Non-work and work related communication . 25 Summary of Social Dimension analysis . 27 Work Management Dimension analysis. 28 Analysis of Project Completion Rate . 28 Analysis of Subordinate Turnover Rate. 30 Reasons for subordinate turnover . 32 Summary of Work Management Dimension analysis . 33 Summary of Dimension Analysis . 33 Study Limitations. 33 Conclusion . 35 References . 37 Appendices . 39 Appendix A – On-line Survey . A-1 Managing Former Peers vi LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY OF GROUP COMMUNICATION RESPONSES . 14 FIGURE 2: CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY OF INDIVIDUAL COMMUNICATION RESPONSES . 15 FIGURE 3: CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY OF “OPEN DOOR POLICY” RESPONSES . 17 FIGURE 4: CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY OF APPOINTMENT REQUIRED RESPONSES . 18 FIGURE 5: CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY OF GROUP “SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE” RESPONSES. 21 FIGURE 6: CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY OF “SOCIAL RESPECT” RESPONSES . 23 FIGURE 7: CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY OF “GROUP INCLUSION OF MANAGER” RESPONSES . 24 FIGURE 8: CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY OF COMFORT WITH NON-WORK RELATED COMMUNICATION RESPONSES. 26 FIGURE 9: CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY OF “COMFORT WITH WORK-RELATED COMMUNICATION” RESPONSES . 27 FIGURE 10: CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY OF “PROJECT COMPLETION RATE” RESPONSES . 29 FIGURE 11: CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY OF “SUBORDINATE TURNOVER RATE” RESPONSES . 31 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: DIMENSIONS AND MEASUREMENTS . 10 TABLE 2: SURVEY PILOT TEST TEAM . 11 TABLE 3: PROFILE OF USABLE SURVEY RESPONDENTS . 12 TABLE 4: GROUP COMMUNICATION RESULTS . 13 TABLE 5: INDIVIDUAL COMMUNICATION RESULTS . 15 TABLE 6: OPEN DOOR POLICY . 16 TABLE 7: APPOINTMENT REQUIRED . 18 TABLE 8: COMMUNICATION DIMENSION . 19 TABLE 9: PERCEPTION OF GROUP SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE FOR PEOPLE MANAGER . 21 TABLE 10: PERCEPTION OF GROUP RESPECT OF MANGER . 22 TABLE 11: GROUP INCLUSION OF MANAGER . 24 TABLE 12: COMFORT WITH “NON-WORK” RELATED COMMUNICATION . 25 TABLE 13: COMFORT WITH “WORK RELATED” COMMUNICATION . 26 TABLE 14: SOCIAL DIMENSION SUMMARY . 28 TABLE 15: PROJECT COMPLETION RATE . 29 TABLE 16: SUBORDINATE TURNOVER RATE . 31 TABLE 17: REASONS FOR LEAVING (PEOPLE MANAGER) . 32 TABLE 18: REASONS FOR LEAVING (TECHNICAL LEAD) . 32 TABLE 19: WORK MANAGEMENT DIMENSION SUMMARY . 33 Managing Former Peers