Research Proposal On Leadership Role In Organizational Performance

Types of Leadership

Question:

Discuss about the Research Proposal: Impact of Leadership on Organisational Performance.

Introduction

Background of the research

The company operates not only with the view to survive but to improve performance for the future sustainability of the organisation. As opined by Grant, (2012), the growing competition makes it all the more important to enhance the organisational performance on a continuous basis. Prior literature gives diverse opinion regarding the impact of leadership on organisational performance. Some suggest that role of leadership is significant while others suggest it not that significant. This diverse views demand further research related with the subject. In addition most research on the subject is related with the restaurant and education business thereby proving limited information with regard to the role of leadership on organisational performance in case of retail sector. Therefore the inspiration for the current research is to examine the impact of leadership on organisational performance.

Leadership is an essential part of effective management in the company and plays a significant role in improving the performance of the organisation. As told by Grant, (2012), leadership that helps in creating a health environment where people are motivated to excel in their work. This motivated staff work with dedication and commitment and it results in improving the performance of the company dramatically. On other hand if the company lacks good leadership it leads to poor work environment and the employees tend to exhibit lack of motivation to work with dedication thereby impacting the performance negatively.

Therefore based on the above discussion, the researcher would examine the different types and style of leadership and the various measures of organisational performance and how leadership impact organisational performance with regard to the case study of Woolworth, Australia. It is the major retail company in the country with operation in Australia and New Zealand (Schein, 2010). It is the second largest retailer in the country with a diversified portfolio comprising of retail, hotel and gaming machine.

Problem statement

The organisational performance of the company is the major issue in Retail Company with the competition growing continuously. The reason behind the issue is related with the employee motivation and leadership prevailing in the company. It is therefore necessary to identify the relation between leadership and organisational performance and how it can be used to improve performance (Schein, 2010).

On the basis of the problem identified in the statement the researcher would undertake the research to examine the process of how the company like Woolworths limited, Australia would use the leadership to motivate the employees so that it can make a positive impact on the organisational performance.

Research Rationale

As told by VanderStoep, and Johnson, (2009), leadership plays a significant part in the effective management and enhanced performance of the company by motivating the employees and organize the process and procedures. Moreover it also set the vision and goal and explains the same to the employees so that people in the company are aware of the objective and contribute to achieving the goal. Thus it is evident that leadership should be people oriented and leader should communicate effectively with the employees so that leadership impact the organisational performance positively.

Concepts of Organisational Performance

Thus with respect to the research rationale, the researcher would evaluate the facets of leadership in the company and how leadership impact on organisational performance.

Research aims and objective

The basic aims and objective of the current research is examining the impact of leadership on organisational performance – A Case Study of Woolworths, Australia. The major objective

• To understand the types and styles of leadership practiced by company with focus on Woolworths, Australia.
• To understand the various measures of organisational performance with focus on Woolworths, Australia.
• To examine the impact of leadership on organisation in the context of Woolworths, Australia

• What are the types and styles of leadership practiced by company with focus on Woolworths, Australia?
• What are the various measures of organisational performance with focus on Woolworths, Australia?
• What is the impact of leadership on organisation in the context of Woolworths, Australia?

Introduction of leadership

As stated by Keller, (2006), the theories of leadership evolved in the 20^th century. In 1900 the first theory of leadership called the great man theories gained popularity and it state leadership is inborn quality. In 1930 the group theory emerged and it is related with small groups and how it is lead. In 1940 to 50 the trait theory gained importance and it emphasised universal traits of leaders. It was followed by the behaviour theory in 1950 to 60 that deal with the behavioural pattern of leadership. In 1960 to 70 the contingency theory came into practice and it is related with the fact that leadership differs with the situation. In 1980 the excellence theory emerged and it is the combination of traits, behaviour, group facilitation and key situation to improve the organisation excellence (Bolden, and Gosling, 2006). It can be concluded from the review of various leadership theory that great leader in company motivate the team by developing an environment that inspires team member to enhance the performance.

Definition of leadership

As opined by Chang, & Lee, (2007), leadership can be explained in various ways. It is not merely an individual person or group of person in the top management. Leadership is an activity whereby the leaders of the company take strategic measures to fulfil the goals. It reflects the attitude and behaviour of leader in managing and motivating the employees of the company. Thus it can be stated that effectiveness of the company is directly linked to the efficiency of the leader and efficiency of leader has direct correlation to the style of leadership. Leadership can be viewed from three different perspective and they are

• Achieve the target of the company with the help team
• Power of leadership in terms of dominating the group
• Making positive change to better the environment

Types of leadership

According to Xenikou,& Simosi,  (2006), there are different types of leadership practiced in the company and in terms of role it can be classified into four types of roles that helps the leader to attain organisational performance. The four roles include creator of vision, analyser, motivator and taskmaster and in each role the leader perform certain responsibility impacting the organisational performance. Again leadership quality is not merely a personality trait a person is born with (Bolden, and Gosling, 2006). There are various types of leader

• Autocratic leader
• Consultative leader
• Democratic leader
• Laissez-faire leader

As told by Hubbard, (2006), Organisational performance can be defined as the process whereby the input is transformed into output to get the required result. There are different kinds of performance though with relevance to this study it is related with sales performances and growth of the company (Schein, E.H., 2006). Effectiveness of the company can be related with three basic determinants of performance and they are

• Process reliability and its efficiency
• Human dimension with respect relation
• Adaptation and innovation implemented by the company

Ways to Measure Organisational Performance

Concepts of organisational performances

There are various concepts that can be used by the company to enhance organisational performance and they are

• Organisational structure impact behaviour
• Cause and effect varies with regard to time
• Not specific right answer
• Behaviour worsen before betterment

Ways to measure organisational performance

The analysis and measurement of organisational performance is essential activity and plays a significant role in the effectiveness of the company. As opined by Hubbard, (2006), the performance is generally estimated with the help of qualitative and quantitative indicator of performance such as cost, profit and number of clients. This is the reason many mangers decide the performance indicator like KPI (key performance indicator) against which the performance of an employee will be evaluated (Rahman, and Bullock, 2005). One of the significant indicators used by company to measure performance is revenue margin. Revenue margin can be defined as the profit derived from the margin and it is the sole component of operating profit.

Impact of leadership on organisational performance

As stated by Ullah, (2013), there are various research conducted on the subject of leadership performance with a view to separate the personality dimension like value, motivations that are considered an integral part of successful leaders. Leadership has been evaluated from different perspectives and they are personal attribute of leader, the structure and culture of the company and the behavioural aspect of the employees. It is observed from the review of literature that charismatic theory of leadership establish the fact that leaders motivate the employees to rise above their self interest and work with the team to contribute to the organisational performance. Charisma is personality trait that is rare and difficult to manipulate and it is depicted during the time of crisis in most company. It is also an essential element in leadership that is related with the transformational theory. In this context leader with the help of charisma empower the employees to enhance performance significantly.

According to Srivastava, Bartol, & Locke, (2006), leaders using Consideration style exhibit great concern for the team member and provide all required support to help them in excel in their work. A leader using this style tend to take feedback from the team members, discuss with the team on critical aspect in advance and always make criticism about the task compared to the employees. A leader practicing structure style focus on defining the task and setting the goal, active involvement by sharing ideas delegating jobs to the team member and supervising the activity of team members (Bass, and Riggio, 2006). In addition the leader using this style define performance standard, expect employees to follow the standard strictly and promote competition among team member.

According to Lappalainen, (2012), each style of leadership has been observed to be efficient in context to varied environment like types of job and./or type of employees. This can be cited with examples like consideration style is more effective in the environment that demand creativity and innovation as is the case with R&D department of the company or project department. On the other hand initiation style of leadership is more effective in the environment that needs proper instruction, coordination and regular monitoring by the leader. It is effective when there is high pressure for time bound result (Boxall, and Macky, 2007). With a view to understand the impact of leadership on organisational performance it is observed by the researcher that though there is a strong relation between relations based behaviour and organisational performance, there is no such relation between task based behaviour and organisational behaviour. Thus it can be concluded that leadership does impact organisational performance. Methodology

Impact of Leadership on Organisational Performance

Introduction

Bernard, (2011) state the research methodology provides the tools and techniques to conduct the research in an organized and systematic way. As such in the present study the researcher in the process of understanding the impact of leadership on organisational performances would use the appropriate tools and techniques to fulfil the aims and objectives of the research.

Research Onion

According to Bernard, (2011) .the research onion gives the diagrammatic representation of the research process by explaining the various steps namely research philosophy, approach, strategies, data collection methods and time horizon required for the research. It makes sure that all steps are followed by the researcher to meet the objectives effectively.

[Source: Bernard, 2011]

As told by Hakim, (2007), the research philosophy as explained in the research onion includes positivism, realism and interpretivism philosophy. To conduct the present research that examines the impact of leadership on organisational performance in context to the case study of Woolworth, Australia, the researcher would use the combination of realism and positivism philosophy. The justification for using the realism philosophy is the research would focus on qualitative data while reason behind using positivism philosophy is the research would focus on quantitative data.

Research Approach

Based on the research onion the research approach available for the researcher includes inductive and deductive approach.  As said by Hakim, (2007),to conduct the present research, the researcher would use the inductive approach as it helps in evaluating the association between the conceptual framework and actual research to fulfil the aims and objective of the research.

Research Design

As stated by Harrison,  and Reilly, (2011),there are three research designs that could be used by the researcher to conduct the research and they are explanatory, exploratory and descriptive research design. To conduct the present research, the researcher would use the descriptive research design as it would help the researcher to conduct extensive analysis of the research subject. Moreover it would help the researcher to understand the impact of leadership on organisational performance.

Data Collection

In the present research the researcher would gather both primary and secondary research for conducting the research. According to Morgan, (2007), the primary research would be conducted with the interview process aimed at the managers of Woolworths, Australia while the survey questionnaire would target the employees of the company. On the other hand the secondary research would gather the information related with the conceptual framework from the literature review. It would be done by reviewing peer reviewed article, journal, past research on the subject and books using the both online research and offline research.

The interview process would collect the qualitative data required for the research while survey questionnaire would help in collecting the quantitative data from the employees of the company.

Sampling and Sample Size

As stated by Harrison, and Reilly, (2011), the non probabilistic sampling would be used to select the mangers as their participation in the research would be based on their availability. On the other hand non probabilistic sampling would be used to select the employees so that equal chance of participation would be given to all employees without discrimination.

Methodology

To conduct the present research the researcher would aim to get 4 managers for the interview process and 60 employees for the survey questionnaire.

Ethical issues and limitation

According to Morgan, (2007), the research ethics with regard to the present research include confidentially of the research with focus on the personal information of the participants, avoiding data manipulation, forcing the participants against the wish and following the code of conduct of Woolworths. On the other hand time constraint and financial constraint are the major limitation of this research.

Organisation of the study

VanderStoep, and Johnson, (2009), the project would comprise of five chapters namely the introduction, literature review, research methodology, data analysis & finding and conclusion & recommendation. The first chapter introduce the research subject and explain the aims and objectives of the research. The second chapter deals with the literature review that provides the conceptual framework. The third chapter provides the research methodology to conduct the research effectively with suitable tools. The forth chapter deals with the data analysis and finding and it is crucial in achieving the research objectives. The final chapter preset the conclusion and recommendation for future study.

Gantt Chart

	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10
Main Activities/ Stages
Topic selection and its scope	Ø
Identification of secondary data sources	Ø
Preparation of research proposal	Ø
Preparation of literature review		Ø
Description of research methodology			Ø
Preparing interview/survey, ethics form			Ø
Collecting primary data			Ø
Analyzing data				Ø
Comparing findings				Ø
Conclusion and recommendations					Ø	Ø	Ø	Ø	ï‚	Ø
collecting feedback from the mentor						ï‚	ï‚	ï‚	ï‚	ï‚
Finalizing and submission										Ø

Project budget

The project would be completed within 10 weeks and it would cost the researcher $72 Australian and it is required to conduct the data collection, data entry and printing and other stationary required for conducting the research effectively (Goldfarb, 2008).

References

Bernard, H. R. (2011) Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. 5th ed. Plymouth: Alta Mira Press.

Chang, S. C., & Lee, M. S. (2007). A study on relationship among leadership, organizational culture, the operation of learning organization and employees' job satisfaction. The Learning Organization, 14(2), 155-185.

Grant, A. M. (2012). Leading with meaning: Beneficiary contact, prosocial impact, and the performance effects of transformational leadership. Academy of Management Journal, 55(2), 458-476.

Hakim, C. (2007). Research design: successful designs for social and economic research. 5th ed. London: Routledge.

Harrison, R. L. and Reilly, T. M. (2011). "Mixed methods designs in marketing research", Qualitative Market Research: an International Journal, 14(1), pp. 7 – 26.

Hubbard, G. (2006). Sustainable organisation performance: Towards a practical measurement system. Monash Business Review, 2(3), 1-19.

Keller, R. T. (2006). Transformational leadership, initiating structure, and substitutes for leadership: a longitudinal study of research and development project team performance. Journal of applied psychology, 91(1), 202.

Lappalainen, P. (2012). Socially Competent Leadership-predictors, impacts and skilling in engineering. Acta Universitatis Lappeenrantaensis.

Morgan, D. L. (2007). “Paradigms lost and pragmatism regained: methodological implications of combining qualitative and quantitative methods”, Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 1(1), pp. 48-76.

Saunders, M. N., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2009) Research methods for business students, Page 52, 5th ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall

Srivastava, A., Bartol, K. M., & Locke, E. A. (2006). Empowering leadership in management teams: Effects on knowledge sharing, efficacy, and performance. Academy of management journal, 49(6), 1239-1251.

Ullah, A. (2013). Impact of Leadership on Organizational Performance.

VanderStoep, S. W. and Johnson, D. D. (2009). Research Methods for Everyday Life: Blending Qualitative and Approaches. 4th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Xenikou, A., & Simosi, M. (2006). Organizational culture and transformational leadership as predictors of business unit performance. Journal of managerial psychology, 21(6), 566-579.

Schein, E.H., 2010. Organizational culture and leadership (Vol. 2). John Wiley & Sons.

Bolden, R. and Gosling, J., 2006. Leadership competencies: time to change the tune?. Leadership, 2(2), pp.147-163.

Bass, B.M. and Riggio, R.E., 2006. Transformational leadership. Psychology Press.

Schein, E.H., 2006. Organizational culture and leadership (Vol. 356). John Wiley & Sons.

Rahman, S.U. and Bullock, P., 2005. Soft TQM, hard TQM, and organisational performance relationships: an empirical investigation. Omega, 33(1), pp.73-83.

Boxall, P. and Macky, K., 2007. High-performance work systems and organisational performance: Bridging theory and practice. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 45(3), pp.261-270.

Goldfarb, B., 2008. The effect of government contracting on academic research: Does the source of funding affect scientific output?. Research Policy, 37(1), pp.41-58.