Different Management Styles Posted on October 19, 2007 Robert C. Malenka (bio) describes various supervisory approaches.

My personal style is to take the attitude that my relationship with anybody who works with me is symbiotic. I want them to get something out of it because I feel like if they’re getting something important out of it, they’re going to work harder and be more motivated and therefore, I’m going to get something better out of it.

So especially – again, I’m a more senior person, so my lab is mostly post-docs, so these are people with PhDs or M.D.s or M.D. PhDs with some degree of experience, and I try to sit down with them and talk about the project they’re going to work on. And I rarely ever ask somebody to do a project they’re not interested in.

But again, it will depend on the level of the person and the type of research one does. But that’s just my own personal style. There are people who just crack the whip and whose style is, “If you don’t do what I’m going to tell you to do, I’m going to fire you.” And that works for some people. It’s just not my personality, and I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing that, but that works for some.

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