Research methods for strategic Managers

Research Methods for
Strategic Managers
(Word Count: 4520)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
1.1: Research question.................................................................................................................3
1.2: Factors that contribute to the process of successful research question selection.................4
1.3: Justify their choice of research question...............................................................................4
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................6
2.1: Conduct research to find literature relevant to the research question...................................6
2.2: Undertake a critical review of the key literature for inclusion in a research proposal.........8
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Evaluating techniques for use with quantitative data in a research proposal........................9
3.2 Techniques for use with qualitative data in a research proposal.........................................10
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................10
4.1: Evaluating appropriate research methodologies in terms of the research question............10
4.2: Choosing an appropriate methodology in terms of the research question..........................11
4.3 Justifying the methodology selected in terms of the research question...............................12
LO 5...............................................................................................................................................13
5.1: Record findings on a research question, literature review and methodology in an agreed
format.........................................................................................................................................13
5.2: Summarize the findings using suitable methods................................................................14
5.3: Present the findings using suitable methods.......................................................................15
5.4: Critically analyse the findings............................................................................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................17
REFERENCE.................................................................................................................................18
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INTRODUCTION
Leadership is considered as significant variable in business organizations. It is defined as
a process to appeal and influence the activities of employees working in a firm with an objective
to achieve organizational goals. Managers work to develop positive relationship with their
manpower in a firm (Franke and Felfe, 2015). Retail industry of UK has been showing
tremendous growth. This is because of leadership and its impact on organization which tends to
deliver excellent outcomes. Asda is the retailer firm which is the second largest supermarket
chain of the nation. With the manpower of 180,000 employees, Asda has been known for
effective and efficient management (Asda Stores Limited, 2016). Asda is proposing to introduce
a company-wide leadership programme. It is due to the fact that as it was evidenced that one in
four managers of Asda from the past had knowingly breached professional conduct guidelines at
work. Looking at this, there raises emergence need of taking action for implementation of
appropriate leadership styles. Asda provides management training to various managers who are
working as leader. They are trained for adopting effective leadership styles in an organization for
managing the workforce. Hence, the programs run with association with Asda Leadership Event
and management training specialist Cirrus. Moreover, the rationale behind using the retail sector
is because of the fact that maximum job opportunities for employees in UK and cross border
arise in retail sector only.
However, there is need to focus various aspects on how leadership activities influences
the employees of Asda. Along with this, there is need to find out the role of leadership strategies
and activities in supporting effective decision making at the organizations. The given research
study is on evaluation of leader effectiveness and its role in decision making at Asda. Project
report thus, comprises of Research Proposal followed by formulation of aims, objectives and
research questions. Evaluation of research has been provided with the use of various techniques
to present the outcome of current investigation.
LO 1
1.1: Research question
Aim of the Research
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“To evaluate the effectiveness of leadership style in decision making process at Asda in
UK”
Objectives of Research
 To analyse various leadership styles used by different managers at Asda.
 To evaluate the effectiveness of leadership style in decision making at Asda.
 To identify the impact of democratic leadership style of middle manager on decision
making process at Asda.
 To recommend effective leadership style which provides more career growth
opportunities for middle managers in Asda
Research Questions
 What are the various leadership styles used by different managers at Asda?
 How democratic leadership style affects the decision making process at Asda?
1.2: Factors that contribute to the process of successful research question selection
Given below factors has been discussed which contribute to the successful selection of
research questions:
 Suitability of research questions: The formation of research questions must be clear and
authentic. In the present research, leadership style has been focused as it plays effective
role in leading workforce at Asda. It needs to be properly investigated for ascertaining the
outcome of more appropriate and suitable decision making at Asda.
 Valid and clear formation: The research objectives must be clear and valid. Aims and
objectives defined must be clear and concise (Carroll and Levy, 2010). For instance, in
the present research report, the core of framing effective objectives should meet the
demand of research undertaken. As in present case, when there is need to find out the
more future benefits for the organization in UK, the in-depth efforts are employed to
frame the questions in a clear and precise manner. This has been done by using the
particular study on leadership style used at Asda.
 In depth structure: The first task of the assignment is the selection of the research
question (Perkins and Arvinen-Muondo, 2013). It should be appropriately taken into
account as selection of proper questions based on leadership style used at Asda will help
to gain the effective outcome.
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