When running my own business I need to be able to manage a project and guide others as well. Therefore I choose to engage in an elective of the faculty 'Innovation Management' addressing human factors of innovation. This elective gives an overview of human functioning in innovative environments in terms of creativity, problem-solving, collaborating, information sharing, decision making, etc. and special attention is paid to the role of leadership in managing these issues.

The course consisted by lectures and discussions and a practical component involving a consultancy project in which we should offer managerial advice regarding the abovementioned issues based on empirical research using various types of data (both qualitative and quantitative). Those data should be acquired via interviewing a team and its manager, operating in an innovative environment. 

I found Hendrikse Machines (picture below) willing to be involved in the project and as such, we executed an investigation within their team. The aim of this study was to assess the relationships of 'Team Cohesion' and 'Team Identification' with 'Team Creativity', as well as the potential moderating role of 'Empowering Leadership' on these relationships.
Finally the course was finished by a written exam as well.

Achievements

It turned out the theoretical knowledge should be applied to a company team, while I was under the impression that the theory would also be used to practice personal leadership skills. Nevertheless,  I gained insight in important processes and key elements which play a role in teams in (speeding up) innovation processes and sometimes complex collaborations.
I also learned about the effect of leadership styles and how to take this into account setting up a study, to investigate certain hypotheses. I learned lso how the collected data could be analyzed via SPSS.

I’m able to translate the scientific knowledge to practical suggestions for optimizing the conditions for human functioning in innovative environments,  discussing this with the CEO of Hendrikse Machines, the investigated company.

The report of this investigation will not be shown on the web with regard to privacy sensitive information.