Research Proposal: Impact of Leadership Styles on Employee Performance

This research proposal investigates the impact of different leadership styles on employee performance. The study aims to analyze the effects of autocratic, democratic, charismatic, and bureaucratic leadership styles. It explores the factors influencing these styles and their relationship with employee performance, including issues like employee involvement in decision-making, creativity, and flexibility. The research will employ a descriptive research design, utilizing a survey research strategy with a simple random sampling technique to gather data from 50 employees. The study will use a positivism philosophy and a deductive approach, analyzing data quantitatively using mean and percentages, presented in graphs and charts. The proposal includes a literature review, conceptual framework, research methodology with the use of primary data collection, and detailed discussion of data analysis techniques. The ultimate goal is to provide recommendations for overcoming leadership style issues and improving employee performance.

Running head: PROPOSAL
Impact of Leadership Styles on Employee Performance
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Authors’ Note:

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................2
1.1 Overview................................................................................................................................2
1.2 Problem statement.................................................................................................................2
1.3 Research aim..........................................................................................................................3
1.4 Research objectives...............................................................................................................3
1.5 Research questions.................................................................................................................3
1.6 Research hypotheses..............................................................................................................3
1.7 Research rationale..................................................................................................................4
1.8 Structure of the dissertation...................................................................................................4
Chapter 2: Literature review............................................................................................................5
2.1 Leadership styles...................................................................................................................5
2.2 Types of leadership styles......................................................................................................5
2.3 Concept of employee performance........................................................................................6
2.4 Impact of leadership styles on employee performance..........................................................7
Chapter 3: Research methodology...................................................................................................8
3.1 Research philosophy..............................................................................................................8
3.2 Research approach.................................................................................................................8
3.3 Research design.....................................................................................................................8

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3.4 Research strategy...................................................................................................................9
3.5 Sampling technique and sample size.....................................................................................9
3.6 Data collection process..........................................................................................................9
3.7 Data analysis technique.......................................................................................................10
3.8 Accessibility issues..............................................................................................................10
3.9 Ethical considerations..........................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Overview
The employees are the key pillars whose effort, hard work, dedication and commitment
help business organizations achieve greater heights and success. Adequate engagement and
commitment of the employees highlights improved performance that offers several benefits for
the business organizations. According to Nanjundeswaraswamy and Swamy (2014), leadership is
defined as the ability of the individuals to influence and inspire others for achieving goals, take
swift decisions and outperform the competitors. Different leadership styles are used and
practiced by the business organizations for ensuring effective and efficient performance out of
the employees successfully (De Hoogh, Greer and Den Hartog 2015).
1.2 Problem statement
Different types of leadership styles are applied and practiced by the business
organizations for bringing out the best from the employees thereby, ensuring improved employee
performance. One of the major problems that affect the performance of the employees is not
including them in the decision making process due to which they feel insignificant and less
valued for the business organizations (Yahaya and Ebrahim 2016). As a result, input from their
side is less and the employees lack adequate dedication, commitment and engagement towards
their job roles and responsibilities that affect their overall performance (De Hoogh, Greer and
Den Hartog 2015). Another issue that affects the performance of the employees is restricted
scope of creativity and flexibility that prohibits the employees to take extra initiatives and
innovative measures thereby, affecting the performance negatively (Saeed et al. 2014).

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1.3 Research aim
The aim of the research is to analyze the impact of leadership styles on the performance
of the employees.
1.4 Research objectives
The objectives of the research are:
 To study the different types of leadership styles
 To critically analyze the factors affecting leadership styles
 To assess the relationship between leadership styles and employee performance
 To provide suitable recommendations for overcoming leadership styles issues and
improving employee performance
1.5 Research questions
The questions of the research are:
 What are the different types of leadership styles?
 What are the factors affecting different leadership styles?
 What is the relationship between leadership styles and performance of the employees?
 What are the suitable recommendations for overcoming leadership styles issues and
improving employee performance?
1.6 Research hypotheses
The hypotheses are:
H0: Leadership styles do not have an impact on employee performance
H1: Leadership styles have an impact on employee performance

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1.7 Research rationale
This research is significant because this will help in studying the different types of
leadership styles that are in existence and practiced within business organizations (De Hoogh,
Greer and Den Hartog 2015). Analyzing the impact of leadership styles on the performance of
the employees is necessary because this will facilitate identifying the disadvantages of each of
the leadership styles and its impact on the performance of the employees (Amanchukwu, Stanley
and Ololube 2015). Addressing the issues in each of the leadership styles will allow assessing the
relationship between leadership styles and the performance of the employees. Additionally,
identifying the disadvantages of each leadership styles on employee performance will help in
providing suitable recommendations for overcoming the gaps and improve the performance of
the employees using the leadership styles (Arnold et al. 2015).
1.8 Structure of the dissertation
The overall structure of the dissertation will be categorized into six chapters namely
introduction, literature review, research methodology, data analysis, findings and discussions and
conclusion and recommendations. Each chapter is significant and must be developed using
authentic and relevant information.

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Leadership styles Employee performance
Autocratic leadership style
Democratic leadership style
Charismatic leadership style
Bureaucratic leadership style
Chapter 2: Literature review
2.0 Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework developed in this research based on factors such as
demographics, leadership styles and employee performance. The study will investigate these
three variables are related that will help in answering the research questions. The variables will
be discussed in detail in the literature review chapter.
Figure 1: Conceptual framework
(Source: Created by the Author)

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2.1 Leadership styles
For the success of the business organization leadership and leadership styles are
undeniable truths and largely affect the ability of the employees. As mentioned by CAillier
(2014), leadership is defined as the ability of the individuals or the actions undertaken by
individuals for leading group of people or an organization successfully. Ensuring effective
leadership styles is highly crucial, as this encourages, inspires and motivates the employees in
performing their best.
2.2 Types of leadership styles
The different types of leadership styles include autocratic, democratic, charismatic and
bureaucratic leadership styles.
Autocratic leadership style
According to De Hoogh, Greer and Den Hartog (2015), autocratic leadership style is an
extreme style of leadership where the leaders posses the complete authority of exercising power
over others. As a result, the ideas and perspectives of the leaders are imposed on others.
However, as argued by Iqbal, Anwar and Haider (2015), the employees are allowed to share their
inputs in this leadership style. Therefore, the employees feel insignificant and undervalued that
affects their performance negatively to a certain extent.
Democratic leadership style
Democratic leadership style is also known as participative leadership style because the
employees are given adequate opportunities of participating in the decision-making process. As a
result, the employees feel valued and encouraged that affects their performance positively (Puni,
Ofei and Okoe 2014). However, on the contrary, democratic leadership styles makes the decision

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making process slow and inefficient because considering the inputs of individual employees is
not always feasible and practical (Amanchukwu, Stanley and Ololube 2015).
Bureaucratic leadership style
As mentioned by Van Der Voet (2014), bureaucratic leadership style ensures that the
organizational policies are followed rigorously and preciously without any compromise. As a
result, the employees are bound to abide by the existing policies and cannot incorporate anything
new. However, as argued by Cunningham, Salomone and Wielgus (2015), bureaucratic
leadership does not facilitate innovations, flexibility and creativity that impose a negative impact
on the performance of the employees.
Charismatic leadership style
For this leadership style, the leaders project their strengths for influencing the employees
that helps them in boosting their performance by rectifying the mistakes and overcoming the
issues (Shamir, Arthur and House 2018). However, on the contrary, the strengths of the leaders
might underdetermine the abilities and capabilities of the employees thereby, affecting their
performance negatively (Zehir et al. 2014).
2.3 Concept of employee performance
As the employees are the pillars of the business organizations, it is necessary for them to
perform efficiently. As mentioned by Anitha (2014), the concept of the employee performance is
defined as the job related activities expected from a worker along with determining how well the
employees are performing their job roles and responsibilities.

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2.4 Impact of leadership styles on employee performance
Leadership and leadership styles are said to have a significant impact on the performance
of the employees. According to Chen et al. (2014), suitable leadership style makes the employees
feel significant and valued for the business organizations thereby, deriving the best out of them.
As the employees are included in the decision making process and encouraged for the initiatives
they take, the employees feel positive and highly engaged that inspires them to give their best.
As a result, improved employee performance is noticed if suitable leadership style is applied.
However, as argued by Bedarkar and Pandita (2014), as the leaders only have the ultimate power
of taking decisions, the employees feel that the ideas and decisions shared by them are of no use.
As a result, the employees feel demotivated and retrieve themselves from sharing ideas in the
future that imposes a negative impact on their performance.

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Chapter 3: Research methodology
3.1 Research philosophy
Positivism philosophy will be used because this will help in using logic and factual
knowledge about leadership and leadership styles thereby, making quantifiable observations on
the impact on the performance of the employees. Using positivism philosophy will help in
backing up the findings of the impact of leadership styles on employee performance with
scientific and statistical evidence. As a result, the data obtained will be reliable and valid that
will help in ensuring data authenticity (Kumar 2019).
3.2 Research approach
Deductive approach will be used because this is the most-suited approach when
positivism philosophy is used. As the name indicates, using deductive approach will help in
referring to previously existing information about leadership and leadership styles and make
suitable observations regarding its impact on the performance of the employees (De Hoogh,
Greer and Den Hartog 2015). Referring to previously conducted studies and literatures will help
in analyzing the concepts, theories and models related to leadership styles and employee
performance by comparing and contrasting the views and opinions of different authors. As a
result, deductive approach will help in developing in-depth study on the impact of leadership
styles on employee performance (Mackey and Gass 2015).
3.3 Research design
Descriptive design will be used because this will help in analyzing the impact of
leadership styles on employee performance by applying the characteristics of both exploratory
and explanatory research designs. Using descriptive design will help in identifying ad exploring

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the issues pertinent to each of the leadership styles that are used by business organizations.
Additionally, descriptive design will also facilitate in determining the emergence of the issues in
respect to each leadership style that affect the performance of the employees (Silverman 2016).
3.4 Research strategy
Survey research strategy will be used because this will help in gathering responses and
data from a large population thereby, minimizing biasness and improving data accuracy. The
employees will be selected as the population from whom the impact of different leadership styles
will be analyzed. Using survey research strategy will help in collecting a bird’s eye view about
the impact of leadership styles on the performance of the employees. Additionally, survey
research strategy will be used because this method is cost-efficient and in less time huge data can
be gathered that ensures efficient analysis (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015).
3.5 Sampling technique and sample size
Simple random probability sampling technique will be used because this will provide
random and equal chances for all the employees to be a part of the data collection process. From
the specific population of the employees, simple random probability sampling technique will
offer equal and random chances for all the employees to take part in the data collection process
and share their opinion on the impact of leadership styles on their performance. 50 employees
will be selected in this research for analyzing the impact of leadership styles on employee
performance (Flick 2015).
3.6 Data collection process
Primary data collection process will be used because this will help in collecting data from
primary sources and analyze the impact of leadership styles on employee performance. Primary

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data collection process will facilitate collecting recent and updated data from the employees
about how their performance is affected due to different leadership styles. Therefore, using
primary data collection process will be justified and effective for undertaking this research
(Neuman and Robson 2014).
3.7 Data analysis technique
Quantitative data analysis technique will be used because this will help in analyzing the
collected data quantitatively. The data collected will be analyzed using mean and percentages
that will be presented and explained using graphs and charts. The quantitative results obtained
will help in justifying whether leadership styles have an impact on the performance of the
employees or not (Alvesson and Skoldberg 2017).
3.8 Accessibility issues
The potential accessibility issues that will arise while undertaking the research of
analyzing the impact of leadership styles on employee performance are time and budget. As the
researcher specific time for completing the research, limited opportunities of visiting the
supervisor will be possible that will be a potential issue because it will be difficult to know
whether the work is proceeding in the right direction or not. Additionally, budget will be another
issue, as the researcher will have limited access to budget.
3.9 Ethical considerations
Ensuring compliance with the ethics of the research is necessary for completing the work
successfully. Data confidentiality will be one of the significant ethics that will have to be
maintained while undertaking the research. In accordance with this ethics, the identity and data
shared by the participants will have to be kept confidential and cannot be disclosed without

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individual consent. Other important research ethics are prohibition of data manipulation,
collecting data from inauthentic sources, using the collected data for commercial purposes,
harming the surrounding environment and forcing the individuals for participating in the data
collection process (Bresler and Stake 2017).

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