Theory Pi - engineering leadership not your theory X, Y or Z leaders

• Main Author: Mallette, L.A.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerospace engineering; Biographies; Government; Humans; Laboratories; Logic; Personnel; Research and development; Research and development management; Testing
• ISSN: 1095-323X; 2996-2358
• DOI: 10.1109/AERO.2005.1559744

This paper defines Theory Pi - an attempt to describe a group of people, their behavior at work, and a possible leadership method that can be used to properly lead them. Theory Pi people include highly motivated but introverted people such as doctoral candidates, scientists in general and engineers specifically. It is based on a literature search, and 30 years of observing aerospace engineers. This paper reviews the theories of leadership and describes how Theory Pi advances the literature. Theory Pi expands upon the earlier fundamental Theories X and Y by Douglas McGregor and Theory Z by William Ouchi. This is done by describing a theory that provides a clear understanding of the human nature associated with extremely competent but introverted groups such as (some) engineers. These engineers tend to be fiercely self motivated by their task or project. They tend to be loyal to their field of interest and may only be loosely related to their project's goals. Examples from the literature, and a story from engineer lore, are presented to confirm or disconfirm the author's hypothesis that engineers are different and need to be lead differently. A table juxtaposes Theory Pi with Theories X, Y, and Z. Further research is recommended to provide evidence for the hypothesis