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D Managers Increased Last Year

The mean annual salary for most research and development managers--including directors and supervisors--rose in 1990 as compared with 1989, according to a new survey by Abbott, Langer & Associates, a management-consulting firm based in Crete, Ill. Although recessionary indicators forced many companies to pare their R&D spending, many managers continued to receive increases based on cost-of-living adjustments, larger workloads, and additional projects. Abbott, Langer received responses from 244

Written byEdward Silverman
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Abbott, Langer received responses from 244 organizations, including manufacturers, government agencies, universities, and nonprofit research centers. The survey, conducted in 1990, was sponsored by the Society of Research Administrators, an association based in Chicago with more than 2,600 individual members. Not all survey respondents were SRA members.

Overall, the survey found, the compensation of research and development professionals who supervise the work of one to nine employees is 133 percent higher than the pay for those with no supervisory responsibility.

The study also found that, when it comes to salaries, supervisory responsibilities are no substitute for other credentials. The median compensation of nonsupervisory professionals with a Ph.D. degree was 104 percent higher than the pay for those with a bachelor's degree, while compensation of supervisors and managers is only 46 percent higher than that of professionals with a bachelor's degree.

The mean annual salary of directors--those R&D professionals whose primary ...

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