Chapter 3
11
Chapter 3
Amekí Williams Comment by Bob Widner: Thank you Ameki for your hard work on Ch.3. I have added feedback that I would like you to incorporate into a revised Ch. 3. Once you have done this please send the revision to me via an email. Thank you. Bob Widner
South University
Doctoral Dissertation Preparation
Dr. Widner
1/16/2023
The Role of Leadership Styles on Employee Performance, Motivation, and Job Satisfaction in a Remote Setting
Chapter 3: Methodology
Introduction
The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was for remote workers to identify what leadership style their supervisors or managers are. The chapter included an overview of the research design and rationale, study participants, sampling method and instrumentation, data collection, analysis, and ethical considerations taken in the design. Comment by Bob Widner: Please delete extra spacing.
Chapter 3 contains a descriptive discussion of the conduct of this study, and how it informed the problem. The detailed explanation supports future design replication, data collection, and analysis. The description of the population and sample ensured that the reader could understand the research subjects. The Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) data collection tool allowed valid and reliable data collection. As described, data analysis procedures, followed ethical practices. The chapters discussion on limitations and delimitations expands the discussion in chapter 1. Comment by Bob Widner: Avoid use of the term "subjects". Rather use "participants". Comment by Bob Widner: Not a data collection tool. It is a data analysis approach.
Research Design
Quantitative Causal Comparative Design
Based on the application of this design in establishing the cause-effect connection between variables (independent and dependent) (Bloomfield, & Fisher, 2019), this quantitative casual comparative study is objectified to establish the significance of various leadership styles on employee performance, motivation, and job satisfaction in a remote setting. It is without a doubt that working remotely has been continuously adapted, particularly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In correlation to this, it is paramount to have an understanding of the aspects of remote working and what it entails in terms of productivity. As Bloomfield, J., & Fisher, M. J. (2019) establish, a quantitative casual comparative study supports the comparison of two variables. As such, this study’s selected design will facilitate the comparison of five essential levels of leadership styles commonly associated with remote working in relation to job satisfaction, motivation, and employee satisfaction. Comment by Bob Widner: Please research this a bit more to see if indeed we can make cause-effect statements with this design. Comment by Bob Widner: APA issue; please check for instances of this throughout your document. Comment by Bob Widner: Here you want to not emphasize "remote" as this is what you will be researching. However, make note these are the major leadership styles in the workplace. Comment by Bob Widner: Please delete extra spacing.
With the aid of questionnaires, this study will examine a series of questions, including; 1) whether structural leader rewards and punishes team members based on performance insist on clear goals experiment, 2) whether servant leader listens empathy awareness, 3) whether participative (democratic) leader are open-minded and encourage effective communication, 4) whether freedom-thinking leader give employees freedom to perform and stays out of the way as well as comments and helps when needed, and 5) whether transformational leader inspires and empowers strong role models. These questions govern this study’s research. Comment by Bob Widner: These will be your research questions. These should also be part of your Problem Statement and your Purpose Statement. Your research questions should also tie to your dependent variables. We will chat more about this on our weekly ZOOM call. Comment by Bob Widner: These questions will not be addressed in this study but rather the dependent variables will be your study goals. Comment by Bob Widner: Please delete extra spacing.
Given the nature of the study, the independent variables entail the leadership styles, including structural leadership, participative leadership, servant leadership, freedom-thinking leadership, and transformational leadership (Alheet, Adwan, Areiqat, Zamil, & Saleh, 2021). The dependent variables to be discussed in this section are performance, motivation, and satisfaction. With remote working being the mantra in most organizations globally, this study will make significant contributions towards revolutionizing and enhancing productivity in this type of setting. For applicable results, the sample size in this study was 100 remote workers. With the application of Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), statistical analysis will be integrated to compute the results acquired from the questionnaires, through which the research questions will be adequately addressed. Comment by Bob Widner: You only have one independent variable. The independent variable in your study has 5 levels with each of the levels representing a leadership style. Comment by Bob Widner: We chatted about this on our ZOOM call. Please sue the G*Power software to determine sample size. Also, do not forget to add 15% to this number for possible attrition and another 15% for possible use of nonparametric tests in the event that statistical assumptions are violated. Comment by Bob Widner: Once you have defined what an MANOVA is you do not need to spell it out each time - just use MANOVA. Comment by Bob Widner: Specify your instruments here.
5 levels of leadership styles Comment by Bob Widner: We chatted about this on our last ZOOM call. We will chat more about the research questions in our next ZOOM call.
Structural leader
RQ1: Do structural leaders reward and punish team members based on performance insist on clear goals experiment?
H1o: structural leadership is not a statistical prognosticator for employee performance among remote workers.
H1a: structural leadership is a statistical prognosticator for employee performance among remote workers.
Participative leader
RQ2: Are participative (democratic) leaders open-minded and encourage communication?
H1o: participative leadership is not a statistical prognosticator for motivation, communication, and job satisfaction among remote workers.
H1a: participative leadership is a statistical prognosticator for motivation, communication, and job satisfaction among remote workers.
Servant Leader
RQ3: Do servant leaders listen and practice empathy awareness?
H1o: servant leadership is not a statistical prognosticator for empathy awareness among remote workers.
H1a: servant leadership is a statistical prognosticator for empathy awareness among remote workers.
Freedom- Thinking Leader
RQ4: Do freedom-thinking leaders give employees freedom to perform, stays out of the way, as well as comment and help when needed?
H1o: freedom-thinking leadership is not a statistical prognosticator for enhanced employee performance among remote workers.
H1a: freedom-thinking leadership is a statistical prognosticator for enhanced employee performance among remote workers.
Transformational Leader
RQ5: Do transformational leaders inspire and empower strong role models?
H1o: transformational leadership is not a statistical prognosticator for employee motivation and shaping role models to be emulated among remote workers.
H1a: transformational leadership is a statistical prognosticator for employee motivation and shaping role models to be emulated among remote workers.
Variables
|
Variables |
Definition |
Operational definition |
Measurement Level |
Data source/ Instruments Comment by Bob Widner: In this column specifically state the instrument that you intend to use to collect the data. |
|
Leadership styles (independent) |
The leaders’ methods and approaches when governing others |
Structural, participative, servant, freedom-thinking, or transformational |
Nominal |
Response from the questionnaires |
|
Performance (dependent) |
The productivity of the employees |
The level employees collaborate to attain the set organizational objectives and goals |
Ordinal scale |
Graphic rating |
|
Motivation (dependent) |
The motivation level exposed on behalf of the employees |
The drive promoting enhanced performance |
Ordinal scale |
Observable responses |
|
Satisfaction (dependent) |
The satisfaction of the employees with their jobs |
The function of the positive perceived emotion in close relation to contentment of employees. |
Ordinal scale |
Generic work station scale |
Population and Sample
Remote employees
The population will comprise of employees. The target population will be remote workers that work closely with their supervisors, and managers. The study sample will be employees from organizations where strategic management will be studied. The unit of analysis is the impact of leadership styles on management. Selection will be done using the simple sampling technique. Comment by Bob Widner: The target population Comment by Bob Widner: Unit of analysis will be the individual employee. Comment by Bob Widner: You will be replacing this with the G*Power analyses.
following sampling formula:
n=(z^(2 ) xρ ̂(1-ρ ̂ ))/∈^2
Where:
z = is the Z score
∈= is the margin of error
N = is the population
ρ ̂ = is the population proportion
The type of sample the researcher is using is the sample size. The sample size used for this study was 100 remote workers. The only factor that disqualified workers from participating in this study was being traditional workers. The selected workers answered the questionnaires and it was established that their leader adopted different leadership styles. For more than half of the population, their supervisors showed relatively high levels of motivation, performance, and satisfaction. Each participant will be informed of the research objectives and fill out consent forms (see Appendix A) before participating in the study. Data collected will be kept confidential by the researcher for 5 years. There will also be an age range of the participants from 18 to 64 years of age . Comment by Bob Widner: Reference the appendices where these can be found. Comment by Bob Widner: Delete - we don not know this yet. Comment by Bob Widner: Please provide a citation for this. Comment by Bob Widner: Let's chat about this on a ZOOM call.
Instrumentation
Data collection
The information required for this quantitative casual comparative research will be collected with the aid of questionnaires as the primary instrument, which will be structured to garner the significance of different leadership styles (independent variable) as applied in a remote setting. The dependent variables for this study will include job satisfaction, motivation, and employee performance as tabulated above. Additionally, to measure the different levels performance and job satisfaction among the employees, graphic rating and generic work station scale will be used respectively. Observable responses and responses from the questionnaires will also be used as adequate instruments for the collection of data. The validity and reliability of the instruments used for data collection are vital as they will shape the results of the study (Heale & Twycross, 2015). Validity will ascertain that the results computed are applicable, and accurate. On the other hand, reliability is significantly intertwined with how trustworthy the attained results are and its application in the study to eliminate possible errors and threats (Heale & Twycross, 2015). Comment by Bob Widner: No. You will have three instruments each designed to collect data for each of your dependent measures. Comment by Bob Widner: This will be determined using a questionnaire - not an instrument. Comment by Bob Widner: no Comment by Bob Widner: What do you mean by this? Comment by Bob Widner: Need much more information here. Have separate sub-headings for validity and reliability. Please take a look at the example paper I provided to you. You need to present the psychometric properties for each of your instruments. Also, be sure we that have written permission from each of the instrument authors.
Data Analysis: Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) Comment by Bob Widner: This section needs a great deal of additional work. Please be sure to add the statistical assumptions that we chatted about on our previous ZOOM call and use the example paper that I provided to you to help you with this.
While descriptive statistics facilitates the completion of different variables of a study, inferential analysis supports the investigation of the relationship between dependent and independent variables. In correlation to this, it is without a doubt that these analysis tools are of significance to this study. With the aid of these tools, the data collected will be analyzed by integrating MANOVA (Multivariate Analysis of Variance), through which each of the variables will be analyzed at a given time (Scheiner, 2020). The use of a 5-Likert scale will play a critical role in the collection of data since it supports the assignment of numeric values to the leadership questions in the questionnaire. In this same context, the dependent variables will be measured on a 5-point Likert scale, with number 1 being termed as strongly disagree while number 5 will be assigned to strongly agree. The center of the scale will read “neither agree nor disagree”. Additionally, SPSS was used in analyzing the data.
Research Procedures Comment by Bob Widner: This section needs a great deal of additional work. You need to provide a chronological step-by-step approach to how the study will be conducted/analyzed. Use the example paper that I provided to you to help you with this.
Technology will be instigated to facilitate the procedures of the research, particularly in selecting the sample population. Organizations that have adopted remote working will be contacted to provide access to their employees. A representative sample of 100 remote workers will be scheduled to answer the questionnaires. The willingness of the employees to take part in the study was significant as it would ascertain accurate results will be collected. The questionnaires will be disseminated, answered, and submitted online, with strict adherence to a governing set of rules.
Protection of Human Rights Comment by Bob Widner: Please discuss the Belmont Report.
The selected sample population will be required to be willing to provide honest and unbiased information. They are also subjected to have an understanding of what the study entails and what the data collected will be used for. The population will be assured that their information will be protected and used only for the purpose of the study. It was also for the interest of this study that the involved companies remained anonymous to eradicate any form of possible opinion bias and scrutiny. In correlation to this, confidentiality and anonymity will be highly integrated throughout the study.
Ethics Comment by Bob Widner: We need more detail here.
This study adhered to the ethical guidelines for quantitative research, through which it was ensured that the participants were treated with upmost respect. Additionally, the vital parameters of confidentiality, credibility, confirmability, and transferability were used to stipulate an enhanced research process. These parameters ensured that the study valued the relevance of moral principles and ethics. In addition to this, the ethical standards of this study played a central role in the data processing and associated procedures. Comment by Bob Widner: What ethical guidelines?
Delimitations and Limitations
While the selected research design will facilitate the attainment of applicable results, it is associated with various limitations and delimitations that will be discussed in this section. In consideration of the sample population, the length of remote working experience was a limitation of interest. Without sufficient experience, the study could yield undesirable results. Another limitation is tied down to the problem statement in the sense that only remote workers were considered. It would be of importance if traditional workers would participate in the study as it will facilitate a usable comparison of the various leadership styles utilized. Comment by Bob Widner: First define this term and then provide a citation. Comment by Bob Widner: First define this term and then provide a citation. Comment by Bob Widner: Then this should be addressed in the recruitment procedure by adding it as an inclusion criterion. We will chat about this on our next ZOOM call.
Assumptions, Risk, and Biases
For starters, it was hoped that the participants will provide accurate results that would not contaminate the collected information. Despite involving the organizations that have adopted remote working, there is a risk that some participants contacted don’t have relative experience as remote workers. It is also notable that a significant population use remote working as a way of earning extra income, and as such, could pose a threat to the results of the study. The only bias associated with this study is attributed to the limit of only using remote workers as the sample population of choice. Comment by Bob Widner: How do you know this?
Significance of the Study Comment by Bob Widner: Please provide more detail as to how the results form your study will impact relationships between remote employees and leaders.
It is without a doubt that this study is of critical importance as it will facilitate an understanding of the different leadership styles and the variables of job satisfaction, motivation, and employee performance in a remote setting. The study will explore the impact of structural, servant, freedom-thinking, participative, and transformational leadership styles on the productivity and performance of employees. Taking the attained results into account, the study will provide evidenced results establishing the most productive leadership style. Comment by Bob Widner: This is a strong subjective assertion. Let's avoid such statements.
Summary Comment by Bob Widner: This will be revised based on the changes made in earlier sections of your paper.
This quantitative casual comparative study was purposed to determine the relationship between independent and dependent variables by establishing role of leadership styles on employee performance, motivation, and job satisfaction in a remote setting. With the aid of questionnaires, significant information will be collected from a sample size of 100 remote workers. A quantitative methodology will be integrated to scrutinize and analyze the data collected, forming the basis of this third chapter. In correlation with the limitation attributed to the sample population, various challenges were associated with the study. Regardless, the ethical standards in association facilitated the attainment of dependable results. With an understanding of the methodology to be incorporated, the subsequent chapter will cover the vital aspects of data collection and analysis.
References
Alheet, A., Adwan, A., Areiqat, A., Zamil, A., & Saleh, M. (2021). The effect of leadership styles on employees’ innovative work behavior. Management Science Letters, 11(1), 239-246.
Bloomfield, J., & Fisher, M. J. (2019). Quantitative research design. Journal of the Australasian Rehabilitation Nurses Association, 22(2), 27-30.
Heale, R., & Twycross, A. (2015). Validity and reliability in quantitative studies. Evidence-based nursing, 18(3), 66-67.
Scheiner, S. M. (2020). MANOVA: multiple response variables and multispecies interactions. In Design and analysis of ecological experiments (pp. 94-112). Chapman and Hall/CRC.