Qualitative Research Method on Leadership and Management in an Organization

Distinguishing Between Leadership and Management in an Organization

Q: Distinguish between leadership and management in an organisation, and yet understand their essential relationship to each other.·Critically analyse the roles and functions of management and the impact of leadership in an organisation.·Understand and apply different theories of management in organisational contexts.·Discuss and evaluate the role that ethics, values, and cultural diversity play in an organisation and their influence on the performance of its managers.

The assessment suite in this subject is designed to provide students with a framework to understand organisational behaviour and the dynamics of the business environment. The assessment suite aims to equip students with the necessary skills to understand the constraints managers and emerging leaders face in developing strategies to leverage advantages and overcome constraints and barriers in organisations. Instructions: Students will draw up a report on an organisation they are either working or have worked recently. You will work on the same organisation for both your assessments; so choose your organisation carefully. Your report will demonstrate your clear understanding of the 1-3 modules that includes the role of a good leader, functions of management, management theories, ethics and diversity. You will use all the information from 1-3modules and will then expand your discussion on a specific management issue relevant to the organisation. 

A specific management issue could include the organisational structure; communication and employee morale; the management style of leaders; ethical business practices; or a lack of organisational diversity – or there could be other issues. You will need to critically evaluate this issue in the chosen organisational context drawing from a relevant management theory. The case study report should include: · an introduction to the organisation and a brief justification of why you have selected this organisation; · a methodology outlining the qualitative research method, your data sources and collection techniques, and your data analysis and interpretation technique (e.g. content analysis);

· a review of management theory discussed in Modules 1 and 2 which is relevant to the issue of investigation in the chosen organisational context (e.g. management style);

· a critical examination of the role of ethics and diversity relevant to the chosen organisation is important (Module 3);

· drawing from the findings, provide recommendations and suggestions to the organisation on how to improve the management issue in the future; and · evidence of research should be reflected through the use of a reasonable number (10-15) of high-quality relevant academic materials (see the list of potential journals below).

Critical Analysis of the Roles and Functions of Management

The word limit for this report is 2,000 and this excludes the following sections: title page, executive summary, table of contents, references list, appendices, citations, tables and graphs. Students should submit one file through Turnitin. Please review the Turnitin percentage carefully to confirm that the total percentage does not exceed 25% as well as any single source does not account for more than 5%. There are a number of forms this report could take. The exact form of the report will depend on the additional research the student will undertake. For example, students may find sufficient data from internal publications or external media reports.

Students should aim for the demonstration of deep learning, founded on theory from academic sources and data from their own research. Students should also refer to the Handout in Module Two – Information Gathering and Naturally Occurring Data. This handout highlights a variety of data sources available to the manager, both internally and externally, to help them make decisions. This data is also available to students if they select the right organisation and are prepared to conduct the research. Students should search for internal data about the organisation – official websites, annual reports, strategic plans, other publications (newsletters, CSR reports, codes of conduct) and also media releases, digital media and social media published by the organisation.

Students should also search externally for data about the organisation – Australian Bureau of Statistics, Ibis world, industry associations’ database, media reports, journal articles, feedback from customers or commentary from employees and other stakeholders. Students will need to filter the data from the above sources and use only data that is relevant to the management of the organisation. The relevant data sources should be summarised in the Methodology section, and then used throughout the report to explain the management practices of the organisation. Students should stay focused on the topics from the first three modules of the subject and not be distracted by other functions of the organisation (for example marketing, financial performance). Students should commence this assignment early, keep regular backups and ensure they submit the correct, final version. Students should use this brief as the instruction set for the assignment requirements.

Additionally, the rubric below can be used to describe what unacceptable, functional, proficient, advanced and exceptional assignments might look like according to the criteria in the leftmost column of each row. As this is a Masters level subject, students are expected to engage with high-quality academic journal articles, using the Torrens University Library. Textbooks, Wikipedia and, in general, anything that can be obtained through an open Google search page are considered supplementary material.

· Academy of Management Journal 

· Academy of Management Review

· Academy of Management Perspectives

· Strategic Management Journal

· Management International Review

· Journal of International Management

· California Management Review

· Journal of Business Venturing

· Research Policy

· Journal of International Business Studies

· International Business Review

· Journal of Business Review.

There are numerous ways to interpret the assessment brief. This rubric should not be used as a prescription or tick-the-box list of requirements but as a description of an amalgam of several possible interpretations and the standards they might take. The assessment will be graded holistically, based on the criteria in the leftmost column. Your interpretation may not match the rubric exactly as you may extend the requirements, using your initiative to demonstrate your mastery of the subject matter. Additionally, you may demonstrate elements described in the Advanced column and still be graded ‘Functional’ for one or more of the criteria (the reverse trend is also possible). Higher performing submissions will depend on wider reading, rather than on the rubric verbatim.