Week 7 essay

Workplace Engagement, Generational Considerations, and Cultural Differences.html

Throughout the course, we have been focusing on business trends. This week, we will consider workplace engagement and commitment, generational differences, and cultural differences.

There is a great amount of research presenting evidence that engaged employees are happy, and happy employees feel more committed to the organization, which leads to reduced stress, tension, and conflict. If employees are unhappy or not engaged, they will leave. Technology has made changing jobs relatively easy, and employee turnover affects the bottom line of the organization.

Employees want a meaningful work environment before they can feel committed to an organization. Issues such as flexible schedules are important; many employees are caring for their aging parents and young children at the same time; many are working full-time and attending college. Organizations are struggling to find qualified employees; and global companies are struggling to find senior leaders. Perhaps a new type of leader is needed; one with trans-global leadership skills and cross-cultural competencies. Another line of thinking is changing from appointing an individual leader to creating a team of leaders.   

There are currently five generations in the global workforce: Traditionalists (or veterans), Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z – those who were born between 1994 and 2010. The Millennials (Gen Y) are starting to move into management and leadership positions, and many Gen Zs are graduating high school and college. The Traditionalists and early Baby Boomers are working longer – many have lost their retirement savings and cannot afford to retire. With this mix of generations in the workforce, there is a growing concern that it is difficult to please all employees.

Emerging countries such as the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and MIKT (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey), may have five generations in the workforce. However, employee satisfaction and employee commitment may not mean the same in the United States as it does in developing and emerging countries. In today’s diverse, global environment, numerous differences are in effect:

• Cultural: collectivism versus individualism;
• Communication: high context, indirect styles versus low context, and direct styles;
• Time Orientation: monochromic versus polychromic;
• Ethics: deontological versus utilitarianism; and
• Religious beliefs.

While diversity presents opportunities, it also presents challenges in the workforce. These challenges can present opportunities for doctoral students! As a doctoral student in the field of business and technology, there is an unlimited amount of topics and ideas from which to base your own research study. 

As a doctoral student, you must stand on the shoulders of those who went before, meaning your particular study must be based on one or more studies that were previously conducted. The use of theoretical and conceptual frameworks is part of the research. A conceptual framework pulls on concepts from several theories and conclusions to guide the research. A theoretical framework supports one theory. Most researchers use more than one theoretical framework in their studies. A study could be based on Transformational leadership and Emotional Intelligence, or Cultural Intelligence and Employee Commitment, as two examples.

An overview of the conceptual/theoretical framework concept was provided in Skill Builder 6, covered earlier. To prepare for this week’s assignment, practice using the following steps as an example. Note: The following is an example for illustrative purposes. You will repeat the steps when you work on your assignment.

Warm-Up Exercise

Be sure to complete this practice exercise so that you can complete the main assignment. Students who do not take the time to do the warm-up exercise usually do not successfully complete the assignment.

For this practice exercise, you will research the constructs or frameworks of transformational leadership using library provided resources. These sources provide the following for each management method, model, or concept: a concise description, its history, calculation, usage and application, process steps, strengths and benefits, limitations and disadvantages, assumptions and conditions, references, and an interactive user forum. The focus is on concepts that are both scientifically accepted and applicable in management practice.

Kessler, E. H. (Ed.) (2013). Encyclopedia of management theory (Vols. 1-2). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781452276090

Kurian, G. T. (2013). The AMA dictionary of business and management. New York, NY: AMACOM, Publishing Division of the American Management Association. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ncent-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1153980

For the warm-up exercise, use the dictionaries provided above to locate an academic definition of transformational leadership. Then, examine Bernard Bass’s (1993) seminal work listing four behaviors. Next, research the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, which is used by researchers when researching this topic. This article also covers this topic:

Avolio, B., Bass, B., & Jung, D. (1999). Re-examining the components of transformational and transactional leadership using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology, 72(4), 441-462.

http://proxy1.ncu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=2635131&site=eds-live

Here is an example of what your response would look like this, if you were to present Transformational Leadership:

Transformational Leadership

The seminal author for the Transformational Leadership framework is Bernard Bass. One instrument that is used for data collection is the Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire by Bass and Avolio. The focus of the Transformational Leadership framework is based upon the following behaviors: (a) Idealized Influence, (b) Inspirational Motivations, (c) Intellectual Stimulation, and (d) Individual Consideration. A second instrument that could be used is the Full-Range Leadership Model by Bass and Avolio (Statistics Solutions MLQ. (n.d.). Additional survey instruments are listed on the (Statistics Solutions) webpage, as well as Google.com. The NCU library has myriad journal articles as well as dissertations on the subject. Additional dissertations on the Transformational Leadership Framework may be found in the ProQuest Dissertations in the NCU library. Transformational Leadership framework is often combined with additional frameworks. Transactional versus Transformation Leadership, or Transformational Leadership and Emotional Intelligence, are two examples.

References

Avolio, B. J. (2011). Full range leadership development Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781483349107 http://sk.sagepub.com.proxy1.ncu.edu/books/full-range-leadership-development-2e

Statistics Solutions Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.statisticssolutions.com/multifactor-leadership-questionnaire-mlq/

Statistics Solutions Directory (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.statisticssolutions.com/directory-of-survey-instruments/