Essay Title: 'Develop a research proposal evaluating the impact of leadership and culture on the sustainable development of the 21st-century organizations'.

Title: Develop a research proposal evaluating the impact of leadership and culture on the sustainable development of the 21st century organizations.

Word Limit: 3000 words (absolute max 3500)

Assessment Point No: 2 (2 out of 2) 50% of final module mark

Learning outcomes assessed:

1. Illustrate the ability to evaluate the existing literature, identify potential gaps and propose a research which examines the relationship between leadership and culture on the sustain how you understand your research area

2. Demonstrate knowledge, critical evaluation and practical understanding of leadership.

3. Present critical and evidence-based arguments in written form.

Guidelines:

1. Add in depth evidence of advanced research and theories beyond the core readings which have been provided in the module.

2. The essay should be reported by using the APA referencing format. Full and detailed “References” section should be included at the end of the essay.

3. The essay should be within the indicated and appropriate word limit. Assignments that overly exceed the absolute maximum will not be marked.

4. Your assignment should be word processed; Arial font size 11 or 12 and double- spaced and numbered pages.

5. Headings (e.g., Introduction/Discussion/Conclusion) should not be included in your final essay.

Note: Essential information must be included in the body of the essay and will be counted in the word count. Extra illustrative information may be included in the appendices.

Your essay will be assessed using the Writing Rubric located at the top of the course shell.

Students will decide on the appropriate structure and content but we would expect to see the following elements:

 Introduction: Typically, research proposals are developed by scholars who aim to be funded for a research project (or as the initial step for getting approval to develop a dissertation). Despite this being a course assignment, in your introduction you should have a clear statement of your idea and an examination of the significance of a research problem:

o What is the central research problem?

o What is the topic of study related to that problem?

o What methods should be used to analyse the research problem?

o Why this is an important research, what is its significance?

 Literature review: introduce the area of research, review key publications, identify any gaps in the knowledge or questions which have to be answered. Note that this section is not an essay going over everything you have learned about the topic; instead, you must choose what is relevant to help explain the goals for your study. In addition, you must include your hypothesis, your aims and objectives, how is the research beneficial and to whom. All the elements that are included in the assignment must be adequately analysed and supported with material that is properly cited, paraphrased and referenced from a wide variety of external sources.

 Methodology (Research Design and Methods): The methodology identifies the data collection and analytical techniques that you intend to use. You should propose a quantitative study. Propose the research methodology (e.g. techniques, sample size, target populations, equipment and data analysis) and explain why it is most appropriate to effectively answer the research question. This section must be organized in a logical manner because you are not actually doing the research, yet, your reader has to have confidence that it is worth pursuing. The reader will not receive an actual a study outcome from which to evaluate whether your methodological choices were the correct ones. Thus, the objective here is to convince the reader that your overall research design and methods of analysis will correctly address the problem.

o Specify the research operations you will undertake and the way you will interpret the results of these operations in relation to the research problem.

o Anticipate and acknowledge any potential barriers and pitfalls in carrying out your research design and explain how you plan to address them. No method is perfect so you need to describe where you believe challenges may exist in obtaining data or accessing information. It's always better to acknowledge this than to have it brought up by your reader.

 Results: Just because you don't have to actually conduct the study and analyse the results, it doesn't mean you can skip talking about the analytical process and potential implications. The purpose of this section is to argue how and in what ways you believe your research will refine, revise, or extend existing knowledge in the subject area under investigation. Depending on the aims and objectives of your study, describe how the anticipated results will impact future scholarly research, theory, practice, or forms of interventions.

 Conclusion: bring together your main points; address the main question and adequately summarize the expected findings of your research. This section should be only one or two paragraphs long, emphasizing why the research problem is worth investigating, why your research study is unique, and how it should advance existing knowledge.

The following points should be noted for this part of the assessment:

 This is an individual assessment, not a group task.

 Literature should be sourced from a range of journal articles and textbooks.

 The submission should use cases and examples from a variety of organisations to illustrate the application of the leadership theory in organizations. This information should be referenced to reports, websites and other relevant documents to allow tutors to access it.

 The word count is 3000 words +/- 10%. This does not include the reference list and any appendices the assignment may include.

 Accurate referencing of sources is crucial in this coursework. The referencing system used in this module is the APA Reference system. Please make sure you are familiar with this. Marks will be deducted for inaccurate referencing.

 The assessment must be submitted electronically via ‘Turnitin’.

 Please familiarise yourself with the regulations on late submission. Last minute accidents involving the loss of data sticks, corrupted files, faulty laptops and so on can be guarded against by backing your work up thoroughly and regularly.

 Do not put your name on the assignment cover sheet – use your student number for identification only.

 Please note that tutors will not be able to pre-assess draft assignments. We will comment on short sections if students are concerned about their writing style, and we are happy to advice on outline structures. Please do not ask tutors to comment on whole draft assignments.

 Feedback will be available within twenty working days.