“LEADERPROFILE” research project at TUM examines effective and ethical leadership

In the EU-funded research project “LEADERPROFILE” of the Chair of Research and Science Management, scientists at Technical University of Munich have developed new methods and approaches for leadership research.

It was important for the team around coordinator Dr. Franziska Emmerling to choose an experimental approach: “Managers need support in self-reflection. That’s why we need to expand our scientific methods in the future – and not just rely on questionnaires,” says the researcher, who also heads the Neurophysiological Leadership Lab at TUM. “That’s why we used, among other things, the experimental method of social robotics to test whether people trust robots and how they interact with them.”

Focus on ethical and value-oriented leadership style

Only methods based on the latest scientific findings can promote effective, ethical and value-oriented leadership, she says. According to Emmerling, this is particularly important in times of crisis – self-reflection plays a central role. At the same time, the research team also looked at which negatively influenced types of leadership exist, how they arise and what consequences they have: Since leadership emerges not only through action, but also through team members’ reflection on leadership decisions, the team also examined, among other things, how a leader’s perception is formed.

“Lifelong learning is particularly important in this context,” Emmerling said. “Only by always reflecting on how I affect others and how they affect me can I adapt my leadership behavior.”

A more detailed article on the subject can also be found on the website “CORDIS – EU research results”.