Bus 642 Business Research Methods & Tools Research Papers Examples

Studying the Interlinks of Manager’s Leadership Behavior, Teamwork and Employee Creativity

Introduction
The flatter organizational setups are prevailing in the current corporate world, and the companies are applying participative management in order to jolt the highest degree of creativity in the employees (Lurie, Schultz, & Lamanna, 2011). The sponsoring and application of teamwork warrants higher degree of delegation on the behalf of the managers (Limsila & Ogunlana, 2008). The managers have to empower the employee in order to exploit their intellectual powers and abilities to a fuller extent so that they can serve the goals of the organizations effectively. Following is the research questions that the intended paper will explore in detail: -
Q.1

What is the relation and interactivity present between teamwork and participatory style of managerial leadership?

Q.2

What kind of relation prevails between teamwork and employee creativity?

Q.3

What is the nature of relationship present between essence of teamwork and employees’ creativity?

Q.4
Does the organizational attribute of participative management acts as a channel of mediation for the relation between teamwork and employees’ creativity?

Literature Review and Summary of Past Research

Teamwork and Participatory Management
Participatory management styles endorse the managers to engage with the employees by showing lively, responsive and dynamic attitudes and behaviors. The companies are getting flatter and their structures are becoming organic as well. Additionally, the trend of interdepartmental communication is growing in the organizational pretext, and therefore, the element of teamwork that divides roles and responsibilities among the members by analyzing their skills first will provide the psychological grounds to implement democratic leadership within the company.

Hi: The variables of teamwork and participatory management style enjoy a supportive and positive regressive relationship with each other

Teamwork and Employee Creativity
The employee creativity as a construct measures the ability of the workers to engage in developing out of the box solutions to strategic and operational problems of the company. The element of teamwork takes away the burden of decision making from the personality of any one individual, and therefore, each member of the group can contribute towards managerial needs of the ship with freedom. The freedom supports creativity in all participants as well.

Hii: The factors of teamwork and employee creativity are having positive regressive linkages with each other as well

Teamwork, Participatory Management and Employee Creativity
Participatory management stimulates imagination and freedom of thought in the lower ranks of the company, and therefore, they receive the confidence to engage in unconventional thinking. The participatory management is going to act as a mental belief that no one is going to stonewall others from emerging as a prominent employee in a particular project. The climate of collaboration and participatory management will act as a channel between teamwork and employee creativity.
Hiii: The factors of participatory management and employee creativity are strongly connected in the light of regressive tool of statistical theory

Hiv: The attribute of participatory management acts as a meditative element between the relationship of teamwork and employee creativity.

Research Design
Following are the key parts of the research design that will study the abovementioned conceptual links with employing a statistical lens in this regard: -

Instruments

The questionnaires developed by Lurie, Schultz, & Lamanna, (2011), Moghimi & Subramaniam, (2013) and Bell & Mjoll, (2014) will be used in order to measure teamwork, employee creativity and particapitory management respectively. The respondents’ age, education, occupational field, gender, marital status, yearly earning will be recorded as demographic variables during the conduction of study. Finally, the responses on key constructs relevant to the investigation will be measured at a five point likert scale.

Ethical Management

The project will have ethically sound background because the participants’ identity will be kept undercover and will never be subjected to public viewing. Secondarily, the project will invite the respondents on a voluntarily basis as well.

Sampling Plan

The study will follow convenient sampling as a tool to select respondents from widespread industrial base. However, the investigation will record responses of hundred males and hundred females as well. The data will be used in order to run a comparative analysis of the two genderized groups so that the presence of significant differences between the mean scores of each segment can be uncovered. The researcher will apply convenient sampling in order to save time and money because other methods such as random sampling are difficult and time consuming as well. The organizations might not show willingness to provide the list of all employees that needs to be sorted out before the planned application of randomized sample selection.

Application of Focus Group

The method of focus group applies itself in order to uncover the hidden linkages those dwell amongst various variables of interest. The logical and empirically developed studies in the social sciences are necessary in order to entertain the measurable side of the field. The literature of other types does not have an empirical direction to itself, and therefore, one’s thoughts are sufficient in order to develop a masterpiece.
The researcher’s thoughts alone in the realm of science will not stand a chance of acceptance on the grounds that there is a significant chance of baseness if the involved scholar could not substantiate his or her findings in the light of statistical theory. On the basis previous discussion, one should wonder that why we need focus groups in order to study a set of relations material to a scientific study? The researcher cannot develop a background of his or her research in the air, and therefore, he or she has to study the relevant environment in order to identify the problem that needs a solution. Secondly, the researchers have to evaluate different socialistic and organizational claims.
I have decided to investigate an organizational and cultural claim that was about leader’s role in terms of supporting creativity in the employees, and I had to fill in the blank by adding an attribute of teamwork to the study because the leader cannot practice the art and science of influence if he or she does not have a team of workers engaged under him or her. Furthermore, I realized while crafting my paper that fearful and authoritative leaders cannot reach effectiveness because they force others into servitude rather than giving them the motivational reasons to follow them in order to achieve greatness. The famous leaders have equally significant followers, and therefore, greatness is infectious in nature.
However, the cowards lack the power of finding success either in the role of trailer or as a leading entity. The fearless individuals create confidence, and feared ones breed fearsome thoughts and philosophies. The employees were requesting that the leaders have to bless their followers with the gift of confidence and empowerment so indirectly, they were pointing out to the fact that their leader is an ineffective one because she does not have any sense of delegation, and therefore, the jobs do not have the enjoyable dimension to them. The teachers in the college were boring themselves out because they had to manage a dictated routine daily so creative sense inside themselves is dying out with the passage of time. Humana always respond to an emotional appeal that should have an envisioned exterior, and people need to transform into the part of any moment that has a much larger stature as compared to theirs.
I have conducted my focus group interview when I was in search of an issue, and I have reviewed a significant amount of literature in this regard. However, I could not hunt down an interesting area for the investigation because I fell into the trap of thinking that there was not a single literally gap present that I could fill from my research effort. I was in my room one day, and was worriedly pondering about the ways those can help me in terms of dragging my dying project forward. I decided to conduct a focus group study, and I had made decision to tag my friend along who was supposed to take on the role of a moderator in the discussion.
The day was Monday, and it was bright morning. I took a few sandwiches along with me because I have heard that gatekeepers test the patience of the researchers so I thought of the adventure as a challenging one for my stomach. I have communicated with my friend on the phone, and she was waiting for me at a local community college, and we have already arranged an appointment with the Principle by email. She was anticipating our arrival at 9 in the morning, and we were at her office half an hour early.
Then, we had to wait, and the residence of the office came to her desk in 15 minutes, and we were nervous because she had a graceful yet fearful personality that made us feel creepy from the inside. We went through a sensation of having alive butterflies in our bellies, and the urge of leaving became powerful, but we received the summon from our host, and now the doors to return were closed.
We went inside the office, and the place was awesome because it was filled with paintings, and the Iranian carpet was a main highlight. The fragrance of rose was scintillating the nerves. The atmosphere was so conducive towards creativity that I would not have left the room if it was in my power.
The Principle read our disorientation, and therefore, she cleared her throat slightly in order to grab our attention. Afterwards, she presented us with elegantly designed chairs with softer futons those provided us with ease after an hour long journey from our homes to the college.
I produced an application that stated the purpose of our visit, and our host was more than happy with the perspective of helping us out so she called a staff meeting immediately, and we were in the middle of a focus group discussion before we can know it. I have posed an initial inquiry in order to stimulate the discussion through a few opening stages.
I have probed the small collective about the element of happiness that they feel while performing their jobs, and a few of them responded that when they have the freedom of developing a personalized approach in the direction of job performance then, they actually find pleasure and satisfaction in their work.
I added a subsequent inquiry that was about the role of empowerment in regards to the seeking of happiness in work, and they again responded that the leadership has to come forth in order to stimulate their deep participation in their work, and the Principles have to play and cast a notable hand during the process of providing intrinsic energy that can push the subordinates in the direction of having a belief that they have the potential of making a difference in this world. The discussion headed to the road of philosophy, but I reaped the real fruit of the conversation already.
I noted down everything, and moved to home at my earliest convenience so that I can search down constructs those can resemble the key concepts discussed during the focus group session. After 4 hours of meticulous surfing on the internet, I have found two constructs with the titles of Teamwork and Employee Creativity. The holistic picture of the planned study would reach partial illumination with availability of the featured variables so I decided to look deeper. I took a break, and I was enjoying my coffee when I read the note about the importance of educational leadership from the Principle.
I left my beverage, and returned to the computer. I searched for six hours, and dig out another useful piece of literally puzzle. The managerial leadership style completed my model of research, and now it was time for me to take some rest, and on proceeding days I worked without the sense of night and day to give my project a complete face.

Using Secondary Data

I hate to apply secondary data as an only means of conducting academic research because this approach will not permit me to add unique valuable insights in the literature, and therefore, I went to considerable lengths in order to mine relevant concept to work with. I developed the conceptual framework with the help of joining previously published research in the field of motivation.
However, I had an urge to cut down the number of constructs as the project emerged more difficult than I have expected and anticipated, but I had a firm belief that the study will put itself together eventually, and one day, my dream came true, when I understood the challenging concept of moderation after an 8 hour shift. I have used secondary researches as the sources of joining the variables together in order to form a flowing and well organized philosophical base for my investigation.

Demographics

This study will consider age, qualification, age, marital status, employment, and annual income as demographical variables during the detailed statistical analysis in the proceeding sections.

Analytical Tool

The famous regressive analysis will be used as a defining step in the procedure of data analysis. The mean scores of all the respondents on each measure will be put into the abovementioned statistical formula. The average scores on teamwork will act as independent variable for those of participatory management and employee creativity. The isolated link between participatory management with employee creativity will also be analyzed. The participatory management acts as an independent one for employee creativity as well. Finally, the multiple regression analysis will be applied in order to study meditative relation of participatory management within the link of teamwork and employee creativity. The effect of participatory management will be controlled to test the mediation hypothesis. However, if one of the relations does not appear to be significant in a conceptual pyramid then, the mediation will not occur, and if the controlling meditative variable will render the relation between teamwork and employee creativity insignificant then the hypothesis will be accepted.

Data Analysis and Results

Following are the tables those the usage of SPSS 17 generated after we inputted the relevant data into the program.

Graph 1: Graphical Representation of Cornbach’s Alpha Relevant to each of the Instrument Applied During the Conduction of the Project

Based on the above tables, one can infer some scientific beliefs about the conceptually developed interlinkages amongst target constructs of the study. First of all, the element of teamwork is determining the significant degree of employee creativity in the target population (R2 = 0.298, B = 2.092, Change in R2 = 0.281), and therefore, the variable of teamwork operates in order to explain 28.1% of the variance in the Employee Creativity. The investigation is experiencing an inclination to accept Hii. The organizational attribute of Teamwork determines the notable level of Managerial Leadership Style (R2 = 0.767, B = 1.98). The Teamwork is explaining 76.6% of change in the management’s leadership style, and therefore, the study moves in order to accept Hi as well. Additionally, Management Leadership Style and Employee Creativity are strongly linked with each other as well (R2 = 0.546, Change in R2 = 0.248, B = 3.46). The management’s leadership style is predicting 24.8% of the change in employee creativity, and the study does not have any option other than accepting Hiii (Limsila & Ogunlana, 2008). Finally, after controlling the influence of Management’s Leadership Style (Moghimi & Subramaniam, 2013), the relation of Teamwork and Employee Creativity went in the hole of insignificance (R2 = 0.0324, Change in R2 = -0.513, B = 0.089). The hypothesis about mediation stands true.

Scatter Diagrams

Following are the scatter diagrams those depict various relationships material to this study: -
Graph 2: Teamwork Predicting Managerial Leadership Style
Graph 3: Teamwork Predicting Employee Creativity
Graph 4: Managerial Leadership Style Predicting Employee Creativity
Discussion
This paper revealed a reality about the relations amongst Teamwork, Managerial Leadership Style and Employee Creativity. All of the hypotheses developed during the study, and therefore, the management cannot cultivate creativity in the workers without strengthening team culture first. In this way, the managerial levels of the organizations have to forego their authoritative figures in order to mold the creativeness of people under them. The innovation in products’ design and troubleshooting cannot take place, if the management does not relax their ego boundaries in order to freely communicate (Chiavenato, 2001) and engage with the underlying personnel in the companies.

References

Bell, C., & Mjoll, T. (2014). The Effects of Participative Leadership on Organizational on organizational commitment: comparing its effects on two gender groups among bank clerks. African Journal of Business Management Vol 8(12) , 451-459.
Chiavenato, I. (2001). Advances and challenges in human resource management in the new millennium. Public Personnel Management, 30(1), 17-26.
Limsila, K., & Ogunlana, S. O. (2008). Performance and leadership outcome correlates of leadership styles and subordinate commitment. Engineering, construction and architectural management, 15(2), 164-184.
Lurie, S. J., Schultz, S. H., & Lamanna, G. (2011). Assessing Teamwork:A Reliable Five-Question Survey. Family Medicine Vol 43(10) , 731-734.
Moghimi, S., & Subramaniam, I. D. (2013). Employees’ Creative Behavior: The Role of Organizational Climate in Malaysian SMEs. International Journal of Business and Management Vol 8(5) , 1-12.