Research Proposal: Leadership Styles and Employee Behavior at Unilever

This document is a comprehensive research proposal submitted to Excelsia College, focusing on the impact of leadership styles on employee behavior, specifically within Unilever. The proposal includes a coversheet with researcher details, a checklist addressing ethical considerations, and a detailed description of the research, including aims, value, methodologies (questionnaires and interviews), and participant demographics (employees of Unilever). Appendices include a reference list, research tools, recruitment materials (email invitations), a participant information form, and a consent form. The study aims to determine how leadership styles influence employee behavior, with the intention of providing insights into employee motivation and organizational outcomes. The proposal outlines the research's value in understanding leadership's role in guiding employees and fostering a positive work environment, and indicates the intention to report the research findings through a thesis or dissertation, with the potential for conference presentations or journal articles. The research has received ethical approval from Excelsia College's Human Research Ethics Committee.

All research proposals for Excelsia College staff and students must be approved by the Excelsia College Research
Ethics Committee prior to commencement.
❖ If you are uncertain about how to answer any of the questions please seek advice from your Department Head or
the Chair of the Research Ethics Committee.
❖ Protocols that do not provide sufficient information to enable an adequate assessment will be returned for revision.
SECTION 1: Coversheet
Researcher's name
(Please underline family name)
Researcher's School
Postal address for
correspondence
Telephone number/s
Email
Please
circle the
type of
research
being
undertake
n
Staff PhD Professional
Doctorate
Masters
Research
Masters
Coursework
Grad Dip/
Grad Cert
Honours Undergraduate Other
Title of research project Impact of leadership styles on employees behaviour.
Plain English title
(for inclusion on material
provided to research
participants)
Proposed commencement date
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Researcher's signature
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Supervisor's signature
Supervisor's name
Supervisor's contact details
(email addresses, telephone number/s)
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SECTION 2: Checklist
Please circle your response to each of the following questions:
Does the research involve participation of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people who
have been selected as research participants because they are indigenous Australians?
YES / NO
Does the research involve any artifacts that are of cultural, spiritual or religious
significance to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people? YES / NO
Does the research involve an unusually dependent relationship between the researcher
and any of the research participants? NO
Could the research place research participants in an unusually vulnerable situation? YES
/ NO
Is there any potential risk (physical, emotional, social or legal) to individual participants'
well being, beyond that normally encountered in everyday life, as a result of their YES
/ NO
involvement in the research?
Does the research involve the administration or application of drugs and/or Clinical Trial
Notification Scheme (CTN) documentation? YES
/ NO
Is there any reasonable likelihood that the research will result in the reporting of
suspected child abuse? YES / NO
Is there any potential risk to the researcher's safety, beyond that normally encountered in
everyday life, as a result of their involvement in the research? YES / NO
Do you plan to vary the usual written consent processes? YES
/ NO
Is the study known to involve research into illegal activities? YES
/ NO
Does the study have potential legal implications for the researcher or the Institute? YES
/ NO
Have you applied for funding for this research (other than Divisional funds)? YES
/ NO
If YES, please give the name of granting body applied to and the type of grant sought.
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The checklist continues on the next page.
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Please answer the remaining questions
What research methodologies will you use (tick those applicable)
Anonymous questionnaires √ Questionnaires requesting intimate personal,
identifying, or sensitive information
Internet questionnaires
Other questionnaires
Face to face interviews which do not request
personal or sensitive information
Face to face interviews which request personal
or sensitive information
Observation of participant's usual activities Focus groups
Observation of an activity set up for the
purposes of the study
Action Research
Access to medical records (or records which
contain intimate personal information, and
Experiment or testing of a procedure, drug or
equipment
are individually identifiable and are not publicly
available)
Other (please specify)
Please tick the group/s from which your sample of participants will be drawn for this study
General public Children or young people under the age of 18
Friends or family Patients of a hospital or clinic where you need
approval to do the research
Work colleagues √ Prisoners or people in the care of correctional
services
People with whom you have an ongoing
professional relationship (e.g. students or
clients)
Members of the armed forces
Other (please specify) Employees of targeted
organisations
In which country is data collection to take place? __________Australia________________
List the organisations where the research will Azure Entertainment
be undertaken. (Please note that written
approval from all organisations must be
obtained before the research can commence).
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Will the research involve access to individuals, clients or records required from any organisation? YES / NO
If YES, has approval been received from these organisations? YES / NO
Will you access individually identifiable information about participants from any
government department? YES / NO
or
from another organisation (for example a state based register, education department,
hospital, health department, correctional services)? YES / NO
If YES, list the government department(s) and/or organization(s)
Have you received approval to access this information from the government
department(s)/organization(s) listed above? YES / NO
Are the following appendices attached?
● Appendix 1 Reference list Y
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Asrar-ul-Haq, M. and Kuchinke, K.P., 2016. Impact of
leadership styles on employees’ attitude towards their leader and
performance: Empirical evidence from Pakistani banks. Future
Business Journal. 2(1). pp.54-64.
Fiaz, M., Su, Q. and Saqib, A., 2017. Leadership styles and
employees' motivation: Perspective from an emerging
economy. The Journal of Developing Areas. 51(4). pp.143-156.
Abdelhafiz, I.M., Alloubani, A.M.D. and Almatari, M., 2016.
Impact of leadership styles adopted by head nurses on job
satisfaction: a comparative study between governmental and
private hospitals in Jordan. Journal of nursing
management. 24(3). pp.384-392.
Al Khajeh, E.H., 2018. Impact of leadership styles on
organizational performance. Journal of Human Resources
Management Research, 2018, pp.1-10.
● Appendix 2 Research tools Y
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● Appendix 3 Recruitment
material
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Study 1
Email or Flyer Header
Invitation to participate in a study…...
Email Body
To employees of _______________
You are invited to consider participating in a study that will
explore how you experience aspects of your leader – things like
leadership styles and organisational outcomes like job
satisfaction and corporate reputation, and how you respond to
these aspects.
If you are a current employee of your organisation and work in a
position which allows you to interact directly with your
organisational leader and you are willing to participate in the
research, I would love to hear from you.
Please contact………….(primary researcher) at or email at
…….to indicate your possible interest in the study, noting that
this is not a commitment to participate. You will be contacted
and provided you with a Participant Information Form and
address any questions you might have about the study. If you
then agree you will be given information about arrangements for
contributing to the study.
If you are interested in participating in the study and would like
to learn more, please contact……. Please note that the study has
received ethics approval from the Excelsia College Ethics
Committee, Approval no: 2020-xxx
Thank you for your consideration of this invitation.
● Appendix 4 Information
sheet
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NB This is an inclusive information form that will be selectively excerpted for specific
studies within the program of research.
PARTICIPANT INFORMATION FORM
Title: To determine impact of leadership styles on employees behaviour.
A Study on Unilever.
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Primary Researcher:
What is the purpose of the research?
The main purpose of conducting present investigation is
that this determine the leadership styles on which help in guide
the employees and also provide the right direction to be work.
On the other hand, conducting present investigation helps to
learner in providing the detailed understanding about particular
area. This also helped learner in enhancing the skills and core
competencies in conducting am investigation.
Who is eligible to participate in this study?
The employees of Unilever are eligible to participate in
present study.
What is expected of you in this study?
From conducting this investigation, learner can be aware
about the different concepts and the ways to leading employees
at workplace. It helps to a learner in providing the guidance to
perform similar kind of investigation in future.
How will your information be used and distributed?
The information will be used in performing similar kind
of information in future and this will be distributed through
emails.
Ethical Approval
This study has been reviewed by the Human Research Ethics
Committee of Excelsia College. If you have any concerns or
complaints regarding the way this research has been conducted,
you can contact the Excelsia Ethics Officer,
Thank you for your assistance and support this research.
● Appendix 5 Consent form Y
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● Appendix 6
Correspondence
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Date:
To,
Subject:
Dear Sir,
………………………
I would like to inform you that this study is only for academic
purpose. The results from this study will be presented in a
written thesis. If you wish to receive a synopsis of the results
from this study, you can contact any one of the following
persons:
Primary researcher:
I look forward to getting your favourable response.
Sincerely,
(Signature)
___________________
Language of the consent form, information sheet
and any other material provided to research participants
if other than English.
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How do you intend to report your research?
Thesis/dissertation √ Conference presentation
Journal article/s Commissioned report
Research paper Other (please specify)
Will research participants have the opportunity to receive a copy of your final report if they wish? YES / NO
Will research participants receive any payment in relation to their participation? YES / NO
(Adapted from http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/Resources/workshop-Ethics%20Protocol/Ethics%20Protocol/EthicsProposal.doc)
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SECTION 3: Detailed description of the research
(Adapted from http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/Resources/workshop-Ethics%20Protocol/Ethics%20Protocol/EthicsProposal.doc)
To be completed as a separate document and attached to Sections 1 and 2.
1.1 State the aims of your research To determine impact of
leadership styles on
employees behaviour. A
Study on Unilever.
1.2 Explain the need for, and value of, your research. The need for conducting
investigation is to know
about the role of
leadership and the style
chosen for guiding the
employees. In regards to
this, leaders plays a
necessary role in an
organisation that helps in
provide the right
direction to employees
and the team members.
This is helpful for the
company to motivating
employees and also
sustain them at
workplace for longer
time period. The value of
investigation is that it
provides the detailed
understanding the
particular area. The
leaders assist themselves
and also others to do
right things. They set the
direction, develop
inspiring vision and
develop the new things.
The leaders set direction
as they should use the
management skills to be
guide the people to right
direction in an effective
manner. It is necessary to
an organisation to keep
the each one on similar
page and assist prepare
the certain kind of the
leaders for future.
Company could be filter
for the leaders who
mainly meet financial
objectives that means
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only the leaders that can
be prioritise things
would be promoted in
firm. The main focus of
a leader is on enhancing
the profit level and also
earning the money that
would not be fare better
in firm that focused on
developing the
empathetic leaders.
The employee behaviour
is mainly explained the
reaction of employees to
specific condition in an
organisation. There is a
requirement to staff
members to behave in
sensible manner in an
organisation not gain the
respect as well as
appreciation from others
but maintain healthy
workplace culture. The
better leadership helps in
improving culture of
company and also
motivate the staff
members so that they can
work effectively for
attaining set objectives.
2.1 List your research questions or hypotheses. Research Objectives
 To examine the
role of leaders in
increasing the
morale of
employees at
workplace.
 To determine the
different styles of
leadership used
by leaders.
 To examine the
different facts
impacting on the
employees
behaviour?
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