The transformation of specialist in leader: a case study in a telecommunications company

Promoting specialists to leaders without previous preparation can be considered an acceptable practice in some organizations. This paper intends to identify how and why technical specialists became leaders, and if they completed their knowledge after being promoted, connecting technical and leadership skills. Three assumptions were considered: (1) specialists have been desired leadership position in their career planning, (2) specialists considered promotion to leader as a pay grade increase, and have a prominent position, and (3) if there was a continuous improvement of Alvo Telecom leaders, identifying talents and developing them before and after they take the leadership role. The theoretical framework describes the professional experts in information technology (IT) and contemporary leadership. The research adopted a case study as a research method, with exploratory and qualitative methodological approach, based on interviews with structured questionnaire composed by open and closed questions. The result obtained after interviewing nine leaders of that organization, almost all of them no longer wished to continue in their technical career, however few have really prepared before getting an opportunity to lead a team, although they possessed characteristics and traits of leadership. The promotion was mainly due to their performance as technician. There was not a direct objective of getting a raise, but contribute more to the organization beyond their technical role, and transmit knowledge to team members. Leaders had own characteristics of leadership, however lacked developing others, and they expected, somehow, that the organization could direct them and do a periodic evaluation of their accomplishments.