Proposed Research
Project Working Title
The Role of Leadership in an Organisation’s Transformational Change.
Project Summary
This project addresses the issue of leadership in the context of transformational change. Aggressive competition characterises the modern world, meaning that multiple businesses should look for new operational ways to improve their performance and overcome rivals (Mansaray, 2019). Transformational change is a suitable method to achieve these objectives because this process aims at the qualitative improvement of performance indicators. At the same time, leaders play a significant role in managing their organisations’ transformational change because these individuals are responsible for motivating others and increasing firms’ effectiveness and profitability (Jabbar and Hussein, 2017). This information demonstrates that it is rational to investigate the role of leadership in an organisation’s transformational change.
At this point, it is reasonable to identify how this topic is covered in the current literature. For example, Yang (2016) states that leadership is significant because it can influence employees’ job satisfaction. Yue et al. (2019) add that this phenomenon positively impacts employees’ openness to change. Brandt et al. (2019) argue that leadership can either facilitate or delay organisational changes. Furthermore, the studies by Seijts and Gandz (2018) and Ross et al. (2019) focus on leaders’ personalities and demonstrate that these individuals are significant in this case. Nyberg and Smedeby (2020) also admit that the world digitalisation provides leaders with new challenges. Finally, McNaney and Bradbury (2016) stipulate that effective leadership is necessary to achieve positive change. Thus, this project’s aim is to identify what consequences can arise if an organisation’s transformation is not accompanied by effective leadership.
Research Method
It is evident that achieving the aim above requires an appropriate methodology. This project will use a method of literature review to investigate the given topic. Snyder (2019) admits that this approach is suitable “to assess the collective evidence in a particular area of business research” (p. 333). Simultaneously, it is reasonable to emphasise the benefits of using this methodology. According to the Thomas G. Carpenter Library (2020), a literature review allows scientists to analyse the current state of research on a topic. Furthermore, this approach helps identify experts who specialise in the issue, which is useful to assess the credibility of sources under investigation (Thomas G. Carpenter Library, 2020). It means that if a person has written more than ten articles on a particular subject, their thoughts should be trusted.
The data selection and collection procedure will be limited to the use of specific databases. The project will use Google Scholar and Semantic Scholar to identify relevant articles. These databases have been chosen because they provide free and convenient access to a large cohort of scholarly and peer-reviewed articles. A specific search strategy will be used to select the necessary sample size of studies. Firstly, there will be a limited number of keywords, including leadership, role, transformational and change. Secondly, the project will only rely on the studies that were published no longer than five years ago. This fact will ensure that the project does not work with outdated evidence. The proposed search strategy will require essential personal efforts. It will be necessary to identify whether a specific article will be suitable for the project.
That is why the articles’ abstracts will be read to determine their contents. This strategy will help find 15-20 articles on the given topic. This number of studies seems sufficient to investigate the current state of research and achieve the project’s aim.
The information above demonstrates that the project will use secondary data. At this point, it is reasonable to stipulate that this approach implies essential advantages. Firstly, Foley (2018) argues that the most significant benefit refers to the cost-effectiveness of these data. It means that the data collection procedure will not require many material resources or much individual efforts. Secondly, this type of data is convenient for research because they have been already synthesised and stored in an electronic format (Foley, 2018).
Finally, a large cohort of scholarly articles on the topic under consideration justifies the reliance on secondary data (Foley, 2018). It relates to the fact that researchers only need to find the required information without the necessity to take specific efforts to generate it.
This section has demonstrated that a literature review is a suitable option to investigate the issue under analysis because of its benefits. The proposed data collection and selection strategy will provide the project with sufficient and reliable sample size. In addition to that, it has been mentioned that the use of secondary data implies essential benefits that will address both the project and its authors.
Research Outcomes
Finally, it is reasonable to explain what outcomes this research will try to achieve. Thus, the project will allow accumulating the existing knowledge about the role that leadership plays during an organisation’s transformational change. A few areas of application can demonstrate the usefulness of these data. On the one hand, the project will show that the concept of leadership is significant in the modern world. It will mean that educational establishments should draw more attention to developing this phenomenon among their students.
Specific courses and programmes will be suitable to teach these individuals why they should take efforts to acquire leadership skills and qualities.
On the other hand, the project will also generate some recommendations for organisations. In particular, the research is expected to show that the absence of effective leadership will provide a business with essential drawbacks during a transformational change. This fact means that organisations’ management should initiate specific training courses to make their employees take any opportunity to enhance their leadership qualities. At the same time, the project will emphasise the Human Resource Division’s responsibility for leading a successful transformational change. The idea relates to the fact that Human Resource managers should draw specific attention to leadership skills during the hiring process. Thus, the project will be useful because it is going to bring more leaders in organisations.
References
Brandt, E. N., Kjellström, S., & Andersson, A.-C. (2019). Transformational change by a post-conventional leader. Leadership & Organisation Development Journal, 40(4), 457-471. Web.
Foley, B. (2018). Why you should consider secondary data analysis for your next study. Surveygizmo. Web.
Jabbar, A. A., & Hussein, A. M. (2017). The role of leadership in strategic management. International Journal of Research – Granthaalayah, 5(5), 99-106. Web.
Mansaray, H. E. (2019). The role of leadership style in organisational change management: A literature review. Journal of Human Resource Management, 7(1), 18-31. Web.
McNaney, N., & Bradbury, E. (2016). Developing systems leadership for transformational change. International Journal of Integrated Care, 16(6), p. 1. Web.
Nyberg, E., & Smedeby, G. (2020). Leadership in troubled waters: A case study about the role of shared leadership in transformational change when professions are getting automated. Web.
Ross, D., Brueckner, M., Palmer, M., & Eaglehawk, W. (Eds.). (2019). Eco-activism and social work: New directions in leadership and group work. Taylor & Francis.
Seijts, G. H., & Gandz, J. (2018). Transformational change and leader character. Business Horizons, 61(2), 239-249. Web.
Snyder, H. (2019). Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 104, 333-339. Web.
Thomas G. Carpenter Library. (2020). Benefits of conducting a literature review. Web.
Yang, Y.-F. (2016). Examining competing models of transformational leadership, leadership trust, change commitment, and job satisfaction. Psychological Reports, 119(1), 154-173. Web.
Yue, C. A., Men, L. R., & Ferguson, M. A. (2019). Bridging transformational leadership, transparent communication and employee openness to change: The mediating role of trus. Public Relations Review, 45(3). Web.