Research Project Proposal: Impact of Cultural Factors on Leadership

This report is a research project proposal that investigates the impact of cultural factors on leadership effectiveness within Company X, an Australian supermarket facing issues with employee commitment and performance. The study aims to identify the effects of cultural factors on leadership and assess the impact of leadership style on employee performance. The research will explore the challenges of a transactional leadership style in a cross-cultural environment, advocating for a shift toward transformational leadership to improve decision-making and employee engagement. The proposal includes a literature review highlighting relevant keywords such as cultural factors, employee performance, and leadership effectiveness, along with sample articles. The project also includes a letter of permission from the industry partner, confirming the student's ability to conduct research within the organization.

Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University:

Assignment 1 – Research Project Proposal
Report title Impact of Cultural Factors on Leadership
Industry partner The industry partner to conduct research is Company X. There are
approximately 150 employees working in Company X. The company deals is one
of the best supermarkets in Australia that deals in selling fruits and vegetables,
One of my cousins works in the organization who told me about the need for
better employee satisfaction. The company is facing issues with employee
commitment and low performance rate due to leadership ineffectiveness. There
have been issues relating to decision making, employee training and other
cultural barriers that need to be taken care for better organizational
performance.
Research field The research field for this project is Organizational Behaviour.
Overarching
problem
Company X is facing issues to adopt the appropriate leadership style due to the
presence of cross-culture in the organization. The organization is following
transactional leadership style and lacks encouragement of creativity. The
managers of the organization have an extent of insensitivity where rules cannot
be changed. Such leadership style is difficult to operate in a cross-cultural
environment.
This research project shall make recommendations to improve leadership
effectiveness in cross-culture. There is a need to change the leadership style to
transformational style from transactional leadership
It is important to solve decision making problems for achieving high employee
commitment and enhance their performance.
Overarching
research aim
The primary aim of this research project is to identify the relative impact of
cultural factors on leadership.
The research project also aims to assess the effect of leadership style on
employee performance and commitment.
Research What are the impacts of cultural factors on leadership?

questions(s) What are the effects of leadership style on employee performance and
commitment?
Literature review:
Keywords used for
literature search
The keywords that shall be used in the research project are Cultural Factors,
Employee Performance and Leadership Effectiveness.
Literature review:
Name 2 relevant
articles
Aktas, M., Gelfand, M.J. and Hanges, P.J., 2016. Cultural tightness–looseness
and perceptions of effective leadership. Journal of Cross-Cultural
Psychology, 47(2), pp.294-309.
Dabke, D., 2016. Impact of leader’s emotional intelligence and transformational
behavior on perceived leadership effectiveness: A multiple source view. Business
Perspectives and Research, 4(1), pp.27-40.
Hopkins, W.E. and Scott, S.G., 2016. Values-based leadership effectiveness in
culturally diverse workplaces. Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, 23(2),
pp.363-385.
Zhong, L., Wayne, S.J. and Liden, R.C., 2016. Job engagement, perceived
organizational support, high
‐performance human resource practices, and
cultural value orientations: A cross
‐level investigation. Journal of
Organizational Behavior, 37(6), pp.823-844.
Company letter Name of the Company: Company X (To be filled in by the student)
Address: (To be filled in by the student)
Name, position and contact number of the owner/manager- (To be filled in by the
student)
Student name approved for undertaking research- (Name of the student)
I am writing to grant you the permission to conduct a research study at
Company X for the title “Impact of Cultural Factors on Leadership”. I would
request you to keep the company name, address and other crucial information in
your project confidential. You are requested to provide consent forms to the
employees and only conduct research after their approval. I will be happy to
follow up and answer your questions or concerns relating to the project.
Sincerely,
(Name of the Manager)