With the arrival of online survey tools that are low-cost, readily available and easy to administer, all organizations have access to one of the most effective mechanisms for determining quality improvement priorities and measuring progress towards achieving those priorities over time. This case study outlines the use made of this simple tool by a…

Leadership is defined as "the position or function of a leader, a person who guides or directs a group" (Dictionary.com). Most think of a leader as the head of an organization. I challenge that: every single person is in a position to be a leader even if they are not the head of an organization and do not have direct reports. There are…

Servant leadership is a critical concept for understanding the ongoing importance of research administration as a central profession of service within the culture of research itself. The leadership of research administrators is both a unique gift and a challenge to the research culture. To ensure the continued productivity of the research…

This study investigated the correlations between science research group members' perceptions of power bases used by their group (lab, team) leader (coercive, reward, legitimate, expert and referent) and the effect of those perceptions on group members' attitudinal compliance, behavioral compliance, and satisfaction with supervision.…

Research managers at science-intensive institutions appear as a continuously evolving group of professionals whose identity is somewhat fragmented, even to themselves. In Portugal, specialized research manager roles have rapidly emerged over the last years alongside the development of a small but consolidated scientific system. In order to get an…

The Certified Research Administrator (CRA) certification has enjoyed success and recognition among research administration professionals. However, this recognition is parochial and does not extend much past the walls of research administration. Results of a recent research study showed that Principal Investigators value and expect certain aspects…

This study explored the types of stressors prevalent in the self-reports of university research administrators (URAs) and examined whether or not the degree or type of role stress was influenced by: a) the affiliation of their office unit within their institution, or b) their type. Randomly selected members of NCURA were invited via e-mail to…

By providing training from the Central Sponsored Programs Office (SPO), departments, and colleges at Predominantly Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) can increase compliance with grant requirements. PUIs usually do not focus on department- or college-level grants administration and lack monetary resources to support this function. However, at the…

On occasion, colleges and universities are confronted with natural or technological disasters that affect their communities or their constituents throughout the state. While these situations demand a coordinated institutional research response, administration and management of these endeavors are extremely complex. In this paper we discuss the…

In 2009, the second largest university in the nation was awarded a grant from NCURA to initiate a new fully-online graduate program in research administration. The Master of Research Administration (MRA) was approved by the institution's Board of Trustees in March 2011 and the first classes will begin August 2011. Currently the research literature…

This paper expands upon the seminal work of Roberts and House, which described the first empirical study of the demographic profile of a research administrator. The original work was based upon data from the 2005 Research Administrator Survey (RAS), a regional study of research administrators in the southeastern United States. In this paper,…

Federally sponsored research funding sources are not stagnant programs. Many things influence the nature of research, not all of them purely scientific. Historically significant events draw public attention to causes, and in the age of immediate information those events can have a powerful and lasting impact on research funding. September 11, 2001…

Transformational Leadership is a popular topic among leadership scholars, but for research administrators, Transformational Leadership might seem like an enigmatic approach given its various contexts. Research administrators might think the transformational approach is only for executives, or that they do not have enough staff to call themselves…

Conventional wisdom says that the way to win more awards is to get researchers writing more proposals. Yet many incentives designed to stimulate proposal development can be hard on the bottom line, especially those that pay researchers for their time or to attend grant-writing workshops presented by outside consulting firms. This paper presents…

Conventional wisdom may support the presumed notion that higher expectations increase efficiency and improve quality. However, this claim may only be validated when workers are equipped with appropriate tools, training, and a conducive work environment. This study implements various interventions, observes outcomes, and analyzes data collected in…