Dissertation Project: Analyzing Leadership Impact on Performance

This project investigates the impact of leadership on organizational performance and productivity, focusing on Marks & Spencer as a case study. It aims to understand the significance of leadership in organizational development, identify specific strategies to improve leadership skills and employee efficiency, and determine the benefits of effective leadership in enhancing organizational productivity. The research employs both quantitative and qualitative approaches, exploring key concepts like leadership strategies, styles, and their influence on employee motivation and overall organizational success. The study also considers ethical considerations and data collection methods, ensuring a comprehensive and insightful analysis of leadership's role in driving organizational performance. The project further provides recommendations for organizations to enhance their leadership practices based on the research findings. Desklib provides students with access to this project along with numerous other solved assignments and past papers.

Identifying a Research Question for the Dissertation/Project
WORKSHEET FOR RESEARCH DISSERTATION PLAN
This template is to assist you in preparing your Research Dissertation Plan. Your research
Plan is the foundation of your dissertation. Please bring the sheet with you to the research
tutorials to demonstrate your progress – this is a record of your work-in-progress
Student’s Name Supervisor
Student’s Number Date Allocated
*2 What are the possible
sources of your
research question?
These may include
academic subjects you
have studied, your
(business related)
personal experience,
your future career
intentions. Above all the
topic should arouse and
engage your interest.
The main source of the research questions are to follow the
appropriate articles and journals so that researcher can get useful
information.
*3 What is your
proposed research
question?
This states the business
problem – add a
comment – what is the
anticipated benefit that
may result from
The proposed research question is to analyse the impact of
leadership to improve the performance and productivity of the
organisation.
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investigating the
problem
*4 How has the problem
arisen?
Provide the contextual
background to the
problem –
Summary of
organization and
summary of the problem
Generally, problem statement is regarded as the most important
section of this research since a real study first establishes the
problem, then employs various research methods and follows the
research methodology to answer the research difficulties. With
the use of issue statements, researchers may more effectively
meet the research's criteria while also discovering fresh
information to help design a better research output. The main
problem of this research to improve the performance and
effectiveness of the employees.
*2 *3 *4 with contrbution from Jan Green (2013) Senior Lecture Glyndwr University Wrexham
What are the aims
of the research
study?
One research aim
which will be
reflected in the title
of your dissertation
Title:
Studying the impact of leadership on organisational performance
and productivity
Aims of the study:
“To study the significance of leadership on the performance and
effectiveness of the organisation. A case study of Marks and Spencer
organisation”
Research question:
 What is the importance of leadership on the overall
development of the organisation?
 Which are the specific strategies to improve the leadership
skills , performance and efficiency of the staff members of
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Marks and Spencer organisation?
 What are the various benefits of effective leadership on the
enhancement of organisation productivity and performance?
Quantitative Study
What are the
objectives of your
research study?
What do you plan to
do during your
research?
For quantitative
research list up to up
to three objectives
(For quantitative research)
The main objective of this study is to understand the importance of
leadership in order to improve the performance of the organisation.
The explanation about the four research objectives are given below-
Research prepared a plan and in which the main concern is on the
leadership strategies and techniques so that researcher can effectively
improve the performance and productivity of the selected organisation.
The objectives of the study are :
 To understand the importance of leadership on the overall
development of the organisation.
 To analyse the specific strategies to improve the leadership
skills , performance and efficiency of the staff members of
Marks and Spencer organisation
 To determine the various benefits of effective leadership on the
enhancement of organisation productivity and performance.
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the fourth objective
is to recommend a
course of action
Based on the study findings it is expected to recommend that it is
necessary for the researcher to examine that which leadership
techniques and styles are more suitable for the development of the
Marks and Spencer organisation.
Qualitative Study
What are the
supporting
questions of your
research study?
What do you plan to
do during your
research?
For qualitative
research list up to
three supporting
questions
(For qualitative research)
The supporting questions of the study are “Which are the specific
leadership strategies to improve the performance and efficiency of the
staff members of Marks and Spencer organisation?”
The main plan is to follow specific sources like books, journals,
articles in order to gain in depth understanding about the research so
that researcher will frame the better outcome as a result.
Three supportive questions -
 To understand the importance of leadership on the overall
development of the organisation.
 To analyse the specific leadership strategies to improve the
performance and efficiency of the staff members of Marks and
Spencer organisation
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the fourth objective
is to recommend a
course of action
 To determine the various benefits of effective leadership on the
enhancement of organisation productivity and performance.
Based on the study findings it is expected to recommend that company
need to focus on the specific leadership style so that all the leaders can
motivate their staff members and improve the productivity and
efficiency level of the organisation.
What is the main
academic theme of
your proposal?
Include an academic
definition of the key
terms, supported by
academic literature
cited using the
Harvard referencing
system
Key terms -
Leadership
An participant's or a team's capacity to motivate and enable others to
contribute of an organisation is referred to as leadership .Effective
leadership is helpful in making smart and often tough decisions,
communicating a clear vision, defining attainable objectives, and
providing followers with the information and skills they need to reach
those goals are all part of leadership. From business to legislation to
region to society groups, leaders are found and necessary in almost
every sector of life (Leenstra and et. al., 2016).
Leadership strategies
A leadership strategy specifies how many leaders are required, which
types of leaders are required, where they have been required, what
talents they must possess, & how they must behave both collectively
and individually in order to accomplish the intended goals
Authoritarian Leadership , Participative Leadership, Delegative
Leadership, Transactional Leadership and Transformational
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Leadership are also considered the effective leadership strategies
(Bergstedt and Wei, 2020).
Leadership Style
Leadership experts also feel that there are several sorts of leadership
behaviours and that certain leadership have a dominating single style,
while others use certain methods in different circumstances or with
different followers. There are various leadership styles are considering
by the organisations such as Affiliative, authoritarian, mentoring,
coercive, charismatic, democratic, inventive, command laissez-faire,
pacesetter, servant, situational, and transformative leadership styles are
all common (Mary Pratt, 2017).
What Academic
theory underpins
the research
question?
This is addressed for each objective.
Objective 1 - To understand the importance of leadership on the
overall development of the organisation.
According to the Pratima K.,(2019), revealed that the primary goal of
leadership is to remove barriers so that individuals may behave freely
and independently. By innovative in organizing and judgement call
processes, leadership inspires and stimulates workers to take action.
Leadership is a critical component in the success of any corporation.
Leadership is the process of turning opportunity into actuality
(Alnakhli and et. al., 2020). Business, government & countless groups
and organisations that affect the way we life, study, and entertain all
require strong leadership. The following are some of the reasons why
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leadership is important: Motivate Power to Collective Goals , Assist
Authority, Emphasis on Human Performance , Bringing Formal &
Informal Associations Together, Establishing a Foundation for
Collaboration, Having a Clear Vision , Planning Effectively ,
Motivation and Inspiration , Fresh Concept Employee Relations
(Bebbington, 2021).
Objective 2 - To analyse the specific strategies to improve the
leadership skill , performance and efficiency of the staff members of
Marks and Spencer organisation
According to the Guest Author (2017), defined that discipline is
required of a competent leader. To be a capable politician and thus to
motivate people to be responsible, you should acquire commitment in
own professional life. Individuals will rate leadership ability based on
how disciplined are at work. Taking on new responsibilities is a terrific
method to improve your managerial skills. You wouldn't have to take
in far more than you should manage, however if you ever want to
advance, it is necessary to accomplish more than what your position
description requires (Glatthorn and et. al., 2018). The only way to learn
something different is to venture from your normal routine, and doing
this will make you stand out to managers somebody who takes
ownership. It is determined that empower the team mates, resolve the
conflicts and develop the situational awareness are considered the main
strategies to improve the leadership skills (Jiménez, Winkler and
Dunkl, 2017).
Objective 3 - To determine the various benefits of effective
leadership on the enhancement of organisation productivity and
performance.
According to the Erika Rhein,(2021), revealed that there are many
advantages of gaining leadership abilities is that effective
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communication would improve. Understand that somehow this was
among the most critical requirements for a team to function well
(Shanafelt and Noseworthy, 2017). People risk a lot of
miscommunication and maybe safety hazards. Understand that these
circumstances would only bring down the rate of employment and have
an impact on overall goals. There are various benefits are considered
by the organisation such as increase efficiency and productivity,
reduces employee’s turnover, good relationships and good team
communication (Sheninger, 2019).
Evidence
underpinning
Objective 1
One sentence explaining what the evidence says in relation to
objective 1:
To determine the importance of the leadership for the development of
organisation.
Evidence
underpinning
Objective 2
One sentence explaining what the evidence says in relation to
objective 2:
To analyse the strategies which can helpful to improve the leadership
skills of the employees
Evidence
underpinning
Objective 3
One sentence explaining what the evidence says in relation to
objective 3:
To analyse the benefits of leadership for the improvement of the
organisation.
List the academic
journal articles
Use the full Harvard
referencing system
References
Alnakhli, H., Singh, R., Agnihotri, R. and Itani, O.S., 2020. From
cognition to action: the effect of thought self-leadership
strategies and self-monitoring on adaptive selling
behavior. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing.
Bebbington, W., 2021. Leadership strategies for a higher education
sector in flux. Studies in Higher Education, 46(1), pp.158-165.
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Bergstedt, K. and Wei, H., 2020. Leadership strategies to promote frontline nursing
staff engagement. Nursing management, 51(2), pp.48-53.
Glatthorn, A.A., Boschee, F., Whitehead, B.M. and Boschee, B.F.,
2018. Curriculum leadership: Strategies for development and
implementation. SAGE publications.
Jiménez, P., Winkler, B. and Dunkl, A., 2017. Creating a healthy
working environment with leadership: the concept of health-
promoting leadership. The International Journal of Human
Resource Management, 28(17), pp.2430-2448.
Leenstra, N.F., Jung, O.C., Johnson, A., Wendt, K.W. and Tulleken, J.E.,
2016. Taxonomy of trauma leadership skills: a framework for
leadership training and assessment. Academic Medicine, 91(2),
pp.272-281.
Shanafelt, T.D. and Noseworthy, J.H., 2017, January. Executive
leadership and physician well-being: nine organizational
strategies to promote engagement and reduce burnout. In Mayo
Clinic Proceedings (Vol. 92, No. 1, pp. 129-146). Elsevier.
Sheninger, E., 2019. Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for
changing times. Corwin Press.
Online
Mary K. Pratt, Leadership, 2017 [Online] Available Through <
https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/definition/leadership>
Pratima K., importance of leadership? , 2019 [Online ] Available
Through <
https://www.toppr.com/guides/business-studies/directing/leadership/>
Guest Author, 9 Ways to Develop Your Leadership Skills, 2017
[Online] Available Through < https://www.wrike.com/blog/9-ways-
develop-leadership-skills/
Ethical considerations
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The application of ethical laws and regulations, as well as awareness of them, is a critical part
of the research advancement. The use of legal elements is crucial to the establishment of
useful and efficient research. The researcher is responsible for evaluating and developing
investigations from the viewing public. They must protect information with username and
password and use lock-ups with proper security but since this activity is essential without
taking into account other competitive industries or hacks. They will undoubtedly benefit from
this activity. As a result, having a good understanding of these words is critical, and
researchers should adopt this data-protection methodology.
Ethical Approval:
Explain how you
will obtain written
authorization to
collect research data
Compulsory for all academic research
Organisational level: Who is your contact? How do you know the
contact? At what level are they operating within the organization?
Individual level: Participant information sheet and consent form.
Issues related to implied consent (especially for survey questionnaires)
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