¶ … 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...

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…