nAchievement, nPower and Effectiveness of Research and Development

Abstract

The French Test of Insight was administered to 118 executives, scientists and engineers working on seventeen pharmaceutical and chemical industry R + D projects. Scoring was according to McClelland et al., nAch and Veroff nPow systems. The R + D projects were classified as successful and unsuccessful by outside experts, both from a technical and an economic point of view. Blind analysis showed that (1) nAch significantly correlated both with technical and economic success, (2) nPow was a strong factor making for both kinds of success when present in conjunction with nAch but a factor making for failure in the absence of nAch, (3) nAch proved to be a factor making for success both on projects which allowed for initiative and those that did not, nPow on the other hand furthered success on non-initiative projects only, on initiative ones it promoted failure. Results are discussed in the light of the nAch construct, the theory of the human need for work; and various nPow constructs.

Why Achievement Motivation Predicts Success in Business but Failure in Politics: The Importance of Personal Control

“…Wainer and Rubin (1969) found that small high‐technology research and development firms headed by people high in achievement motivation showed significantly higher growth rates than other firms. In a study of Hungarian state‐owned chemical and pharmaceutical companies in Hungary during the years of socialist economic organization, Varga (1975) found a positive relationship between project success and the achievement motivation of the project staff. Finally, a meta‐analysis of 18 studies by Collins, Hanges, and Locke (2004) showed a mean correlation of .20 between implicit achievement motivation and entrepreneurship (see also Rauch & Frese, 2000).…”

Motivation, cognitions and traits: predicting occupational health, well‐being and performance

“…There is considerable support for LMP theory, 37,92 -94 however an important qualification is that the relationship between LMP and leader effectiveness is more likely to be found at middle-and uppermanagement level, and in generalist rather than technical jobs. 37,95 For example, Winter 96 found that the effectiveness of people who held a high rank because of their technical or engineering skill was unrelated to LMP and was better predicted by n Achievement, presumably because performance in these jobs is more dependent on personal contribution than on the ability to influence other people.…”

The Contributions of Total Quality Management to a Theory of Work Performance

“…Such results suggest that general management requires persuasiveness and the desire to assert influence and exercise control over others. In contrast, technical managerial positions, such as those found in R&D, may require individuals with a high need for achievement attained through personal persistence (Varga, 1975).…”