Management and Leadership Study

¶ … Leadership in Local Small Businesses • General Topic and Purpose of Your Study This research proposal will focus on three to five small organizations in the local community and the types of leadership that can be found within those organizations. The first step will to compile a list of leadership models that would most likely to be found within these organizations and then develop a questionnaire or interview process to see which models would fit best in the organizations.

By identifying the leadership styles that are used in the organizations, it could be useful to the organization to understand leadership models and adapt or improve the current styles of leadership that are used in the business • Background Leadership is a complex concept and there are a variety of different models that have been developed to try to understand the different styles that can be used.

It is likely that small businesses may have not considered formal leadership models or have an understanding of the types of leadership styles that are used in the organization. It would be interesting to see what kind of leadership styles exist in small businesses in the local community. • Research Objectives The research objectives will to be to identify the leadership style that is used in an organization by interviewing several members from within the organization who serve different roles.

It will be interesting to see whether the different sources are in agreement about the perception of the leadership styles that are present in the organization. • Research Methods The primary research method will consist of a short questionnaire that was designed to identify different types of leadership that are present in the organization. The questionnaire will be given to as many members of the organization as possible and the questionnaires will be collected and the data will be compiled and analyzed.

• Research Resources The research should be able to be conducted with the assistance of a spreadsheet like MS Excel to code the data and make the statistical calculations. • Research References; at least 2-4 IAAP. (2009, April 28). Leadership Theories and Styles. Retrieved from ETSU: https://www.etsu.edu/ahsc/documents/Leadership_Theories.pdf Judge, J., & Bono, J. (2000). Five factor model of personality and transformational leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 751-765. Kilburg, R., & Donohue, M. (2011). Toward a "Grand Unifying Theory" of Leadership. Consulting Psychology Journal, 6-25.

Turner, R., & Muller, R. (2005). The project manager's leadership style as a success factor on projects: A literature review. Project Management Journal, 49-61. Situation Analysis The questionnaire identified in this proposal to collect data on organizational leadership should be given to employees at a local business with more than one location. For example, a restaurant might be ideal and by surveying multiple locations, the study could look for differences or similarities in the leadership styles among the different locations.

Brief History Leadership and management have been studied from a scientific perspective for roughly a century and there are many different concepts that have been developed to attempt to explain what leadership is. Frederick Taylor developed a theory of scientific management and countless individuals after him have continued to refine what is thought of as management. Although there typically considered to be differences in the concepts of leadership and management, the two terms basically represent the same kinds of actions from a very general perspective.

For example, Leaders are typically thought to be more motivation or inspiring, and while managers are frequently assumed to be more administrative and organized despite the fact that these two terms are often used interchangeably. However, despite all of the attention that these concepts have gained throughout the years there is still not a consensus on what an ideal form of leadership is and some of challenges lie in the fact that leadership can be studied in isolation.

For example, the leader by definition has to lead other people and the other people and/or the situation can be as important as the leadership style selected. However, there have been at least eight major approaches to leadership theory produced in the scientific literature in the last few generations as well as countless others from different sources (Kilburg & Donohue, 2011). Despite the complexities of trying to define leadership, it is still one of the most important success factors in businesses everywhere.

Today's business environment can be summarized as operating in a highly dynamic environment that is also generally highly competitive. Many technological developments have allowed resources to be shared in new ways and for overall productivity levels to rise significantly and consumers in general expect more value in the products and services that they consume. Such an environment has made leadership one of the most important aspects of the modern organization.

Key Concepts Over time, a number of theories of leadership have been proposed, including (IAAP, 2009): • Great Man Theory • Trait Theory • Behavioral Theories -- The.