1 Organizational Leadership Strategies Ashford University GEN103: Information Literacy Mary-Catherine Ferguson June 29th, 2020 Organizational Leadership Strategies Research Question: How do Organizational Leadership Strategies improve business performances and profits in the modern age? Thesis Statement: In an effort to increase profits and performance in the ever-changing and competitive world of businesses, companies have turned to organizational leadership strategies as an answer. Scholarly Article 1 Reference: Patrick, H. A. (2018). Impact of Leadership Strategies of Managers on Employees in Information Technology Organizations. Journal of Contemporary Management Research, 12(1), 1–13. Annotation: This scholarly article by Patrick explores the impact of different leadership strategies on IT organizations. The article focuses on two main leadership strategies: prescriptive and restrictive. The paper hypothesizes that prescriptive leadership that enables employees to have more say in how the company operates within a set parameter will produce a more well-rounded, highly motivated, and happy workforce. The paper provides multiple sources to support its clams. One is a study of 515 IT employees from 87 IT companies and several other studies on the subject by Schaubroeck et al. (2011) and Colbert & Witt (2009). Another claim that the article makes that should be noted is that leaders who motivate their employees to think and behave in an Achievement-oriented and cooperative way with an emphasize growth and development well have better performance, more satisfaction, and lower levels of stress. The article sufficiently supports its thesis by providing evidence that confirms its clams. The information in the paper is current, and the paper its self was published in 2018. The author of this article, Dr. Harold Patrick, has sufficient authority. He is a Ph. D. in the business field and the paper was published by the CMS Business School of Jain University. The limitations of this source are that it only focused on IT organizations and was limited to Indian companies. The article does help answer part of my research question by addressing leadership strategies and performance but does not touch on profit changes. Scholarly Article 2 Reference: Oncioiu, I., Stanciu, A., Boteanu, C., & Bilcan, F.-R. (2017). Relationship between Corporate Culture and Organizational Performance. Electrotehnica, Electronica, Automatica, 65(3), 221. Annotation: This scholarly article explores the impacts of corporate culture on organizational performance, financial performance, and employee satisfaction. The main clams of the article are that corporate culture has no or little effect on employee satisfaction, company performance, or financial growth. To test the hypothesis, a study was performed consisting of 110 small firms from the South-Eastern region of Romania. The data from the study were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software that is used for complex statistical data analysis. The article also claims that globalization will significantly impact these statistics due to the diversity of economies. The sources and methods used to test the thesis of the article are sound and verifiable. However, the article ends up disproving its hypothesis in every category, finding that the opposite is true. The evidence and data in the Methodology and data section of the paper clearly showed this. The article was published in 2018, and the writing was based on a study done in 2017. The authors of the article all have PhDs in the business field, lending to the credibility of the piece. The limitations of this article are that is only surveyed small businesses. This would bring into question its crossover into larger companies. This article does answer my research question by addressing the impacts that leadership strategies have on performance and profits. It also fills in the gaps that my other scholarly article lacks. EBook Reference: Schein, E. H., & Schein, P. A. (2016). Organizational culture and leadership. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.proxy-library.ashford.edu Annotation: This eBook looks at the role that organizational culture has on leadership. The ebook's central thesis is that leadership within any company must adapt to its ever-changing growth and culture to be successful, and provides strategies and methods to accomplish this. Part two of the eBook is of particular interest to me due to its content on the effectiveness and stats of leadership strategies. The central thesis of the eBook is well supported by many scholarly sources, especially one academic article that covers Evolution and revolution as organizations grow that was published in Harvard Business Review. Another important clam in the eBook that is of note to me it the section in part three of the eBook that covers how to plan culture change within an organization. This eBook sufficiently supports the thesis by providing evidence of successes and by the indepth research and explanations the author goes in to. The author is considered the father of organizational culture research and is a professor emeritus at the MIT Sloan School of Management. The eBook was published in 2016 and fits with my requirement of the modern age. The limitations of this source are its lack of statistical data in the areas of profits and performance increases. While I think that this source contains beneficial information that helps answer my research question, I will have to be careful with that information because it could be considered anecdotal. Non-Scholarly Source 1: Reference: Gleeson, B. (2018, June 4). The Critical Role of Leadership Development during Organizational Change. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2018/06/04/leadershipdevelopments-role-in-successful-organizational-change/#14f8409efdd6 Annotation: This is a non-scholarly article from the Forbes web site written by Brent Gleeson. It is an opinion piece that examines how companies that are going through some type of change will benefit from a well-trained and knowledgeable leadership staff. The author supports his thesis by walking the reader through the steps of assessing a company's current leadership workforce and implementing new strategies and concepts to improve leadership performance. Some examples of the steps are: “Begin with data collection and analysis with custom 360-degree surveys”, “use that data to design programs that not only address a specific challenge," and "Ensure that the participants have enough bandwidth to be fully engaged and take advantage of the opportunity." The author does note that if any company or organization fails to embrace the change from the leadership strategies he listed, they will be less like to succeed in the future of business. While the article does try to support its thesis that good leadership is essential to any company’s growth, it falls short of providing any data to prove or show that it is indeed true. The article was written in June of 2018, and the author is of credible standing. The author Gleeson, B is the founder of Talking Point Leadership, a consulting firm specializing in leadership and organizational development, and he is a former Navy Seal. Some of the limitations of this article are that it does not provide any data to back up its claims; it is not peer-reviewed and has no references to follow up with. However, this article explores the concept of organizational leadership strategies in the real world and how they benefit the companies that embrace them. Non-Scholarly Source 2: Reference: Zenger, J. (2015, January 15). Great Leaders Can Double Profits, Research Shows. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackzenger/2015/01/15/great-leaders-can-double-profits-researchshows/#58bc9c326ca6 Annotation: This article is a non-scholarly source written by Jack Zenger, published by Forbes. The article looks at how good, poor, and great leadership can impact profits in companies. The piece has many examples to support its claims. It provides data that shows the profits of the different types of leaders. Starting with poor leaders, the data shows a 1.2 million dollars loss among the bottom 10 percent. The middle or good leaders have 2.4 million dollar gain among the middle 80 percent. And the excellent leaders with a 4.5 million dollar gain among the top 10 percent. An essential point that the article does note is that excellent leadership traits can be taught through an excellent organizational leadership program. This article does effectively support its main topic by providing reviewable data that is back by an academic study and by providing an example of how General Electric was able to increase its profits by investing in its leadership staff. The article was published in 2015, which meets my standard of the modern age. It was published in Forbes magazine, a reputable business magazine, and was written by Jack Zenger, the CEO of Zenger/Folkman, a strengths-based leadership development firm. He also wrote 13 books on the subject of leadership. One of the limitations of this piece is that it does not provide a reference section to the article; it only cites the study's source. While this is not an academic source, it does touch on the heart of my research question. It directly correlates profits to good leadership strategies.
