BULLET RESEARCH FRAMEWORK 1
Doe, Jane
Strategic Management
Applied Doctoral Research Project
Post-Positivism
Flexible Single Case Study
Resource Allocation in Strategic Management
Research Framework Outline
NOTE: This is just an example of how the work should be set up.
The information inside may not match the framework descriptions, it is only for the
purpose of showing how this assignment should be set up. This is a change, effective with
the new guide V2.1
BULLET RESEARCH FRAMEWORK 2
Research Framework
Figure 1. Relationship between concepts
Concepts
• Resource allocation is fundamental to organizational performance.
o Maritan and Lee (2017) present resource allocation as a central focus in strategic
management whereby resources must be effectively aligned with the strategy to
support the organizational goals and objectives.
o This concept underscores the specific problem statement, i.e. the potential lack of
effective resource allocation results in potential failure to achieve strategic
performance measures.
• Success or failure in strategic management is dependent on resource allocation.
o Yang (2019) explains the role of resource allocation in strategic management as a
critical step needed in coordination with behaviors of key members within the
organization to achieve desired strategic outcomes.
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o This concept is related to the specific problem statement in that successful execution
of strategy requires the organization to have well-aligned resources in support of the
activities needed to meet the goals and objectives.
• The balanced scorecard is critical in strategic management.
o The balanced scorecard is a logical approach to transform the organization’s mission
and vision into strategic objectives allowing management to effectively allocate
resources to support strategy (Wudhikarn, 2016).
o This concept is related to the specific problem statement in that a balanced scorecard
provides a structured way of developing strategic alignment and identifying potential
failure to strategic performance measures.
Theories
• Transactional Leadership Theory.
o The Transactional Leadership Theory is based on the idea that managers give
employees something they want in exchange for getting something they want and
posits that workers are not self-motivated and require structure in order to complete
tasks correctly and on time (Van der Hoek et al., 2016).
o This theory relates to the specific problem in that the purpose is to understand how
leadership affects performance measures.
• Maslow’s Motivational Theory.
o Maslow’s motivation theory presents human needs in a hierarchical manner arguing
that people tend to perform well when their needs are met in a tiered method (Logan,
& Everall, 2019).
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o This theory relates to the specific problem in that resource allocation can affect the
organization’s ability to meet the needs of its members hence influencing the
resulting performance outcomes.
Actors
• Senior organizational leadership.
o According to Sonmez and Adiguzel (2020), senior leaders must ensure the objectives
are aligned with the mission and vision of the organization.
o The senior leaders have a direct connection to the specific problem in that they are at
the helm of the decision-making process regarding resource allocation and the
establishment of performance measures.
• Department managers.
o Mjaku (2020) defines managers as vital members of the organization whose role is to
carry out the vision and execute the decisions made by the senior leaders in support of
the strategic plan.
o The success or failure of the organization to allocate resources effectively and achieve
the strategic performance measures heavily depends on the execution work done by
the department managers hence the connection to the specific problem.
• Front-line staff.
o Front-line staff members play a critical role in the organization by providing services
at the unit level with the potential to impact organizational performance (Knies et al.,
2020).
o In light of the specific problem, front line staff members are directly impacted by
resource allocation thus strategic performance outcomes.
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Constructs
• Leadership style.
o According to Gemeda and Lee (2020) leadership style impacts organizational
performance and transformational leadership positively influences employees’ work
engagement while having has a positive impact on the employees’ task performance.
o Considering resource allocation as a function of leadership, leadership style and
organizational strategic performance is related to the specific problem.
• Employee productivity.
o Employee productivity is influenced by leadership style; leaders have an impact on
the employees’ job satisfaction and motivation hence productivity (Gemeda & Lee,
2020).
o Employee productivity contributes to the achievement of strategic performance and is
directly related to the specific problem.
• Return on investment.
o Return on investment is an evaluation of the benefit to an organization in relation to
the costs incurred in establishing and managing a given program (Brousselle et al.,
2016).
o Considering the specific problem, return on investment is relevant in this context in
that the resources allocated to support strategy have a financial cost attached to them
and therefore management must evaluate the return on investment for using the
resources.
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References
Brousselle, A., Benmarhnia, T., & Benhadj, L. (2016). What are the benefits and risks of using
return on investment to defend public health programs? Preventive medicine reports, 3,
135–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2015.11.015
Gemeda, H. K., & Lee, J. (2020). Leadership styles, work engagement and outcomes among
information and communications technology professionals: A cross-national study.
Heliyon, 6(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e03699
Knies, E., Leisink, P., & Kraus-Hoogeveen, S. (2020). Frontline managers’ contribution to
mission achievement: A study of how people management affects thoughtful care.
Human Service Organizations and the Question of Impact, 54–72.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429280535-4
Logan, J., & Everall, K. (2019). First things first: Exploring Maslow’s hierarchy as a service
prioritization framework. Weave: Journal of Library User Experience, 2(2).
https://doi.org/10.3998/weave.12535642.0002.201
Maritan, C. A., & Lee, G. K. (2017). Resource allocation and strategy. Journal of Management,
43(8), 2411–2420. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206317729738
Mjaku, G. (2020). Strategic management and strategic leadership. International Journal of
Scientific and Research Publications (IJSRP), 10(8):914-918.
https://doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.08.2020.p104113
Sonmez Cakir, F., & Adiguzel, Z. (2020). Analysis of leader effectiveness in organization and
knowledge sharing behavior on employees and organization. SAGE Open, 10(1),
215824402091463. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020914634
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Van der Hoek, M., Groeneveld, S., & Kuipers, B. (2016). Goal setting in teams: Goal clarity and
team performance in the public sector. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 38(4),
472–493. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x16682815
Wudhikarn, R. (2016). An efficient resource allocation in strategic management using a novel
hybrid method. Management Decision, 54(7), 1702–1731. https://doi.org/10.1108/md-08-
2015-0380
Yang, L. (2019). A model for enhancing strategy execution. Journal of Human Resource and
Sustainability Studies, 07(03), 360–367. https://doi.org/10.4236/jhrss.2019.73023
