Business research assignment on Nokia Performance management in Australia
Question
Task Description: Please provide an outline of a research project that you intend to use as the basis for your final assessment task 3, full project proposal. You should briefly write:
- Title of the project
- A brief statement of the problem that you would like to investigate; and research aim and objectives that can solve the problem you have identified
- A brief methodology: Provide details about what type of methodology you will choose such as quantitative or qualitative or mixed methodology
- Clearly identify secondary data source(s) and data that require for your research; also identify the methods and tools that you will use to analyse the collected data.
This is an individual research task. As a Masters student, you are required to engage in research and demonstrate your understanding of the relevant body of works that have discussed recent developments in a discipline and/or area of professional practice. You are also required to demonstrate knowledge of research methods applicable to a real-life business research. We expect you to read and reflect on at least ten recent refereed journal articles on your topic supported by any other evidence or information that can help identify the problem of your research and the methods of data collection and analysis.
In addition, as a part of topic presentation, all on-campus students are required to discuss their project topic and available secondary data during the tutorial sessions in front of other students. You are also expected to provide constructive feedback on each of the group members' project. Distance students will do the same activity in the online discussion forum of the unit Moodie site. Please see detailed guidelines about the topic and data presentation and specific research requirements on the unit Moodie site. You can write 600 words maximum for this assignment. The cover page and the list of references are not counted in the word limit.
Answer
Introduction: This Business research assignment explores the context of leadership style and conducts a research to understand the implication on the organisational performance.
Problem statement: According to Bolden (2016), in the contemporary business scenario, the needs and desires of the consumers are ever changing. Coccia (2016) defines organisational performance as the ability to adapt to the changing market needs and generate the expected revenue to maximise the profitability. In this regards, it is clear that organisational change is effective towards bringing the necessary change, which can maximise the competency as well as maximise profitability (Polack & Polack, 2015).
Rosenbaum, More, and Steane (2018) establishes that organisations requires effective leaders that can help to align the organisational objectives with the functional objectives of the various department of the organisation. In this Business research assignment, Nokia, their leaders did not anticipate the need for appropriate leadership roles that can help the team to orient themselves for the impending change in the organisational direction to adapt to the market needs.
Paulien? (2017) points out that there are various types of leadership that help an organisation to adapt to the needs. While a laissez-faire leadership style completely decentralises the decision making process, it is not effective to bring about a change because, the involvement of the leader is limited. On the other hand, complete autocracy may lead to centralised decision-making, which in turn will make the organisation rigid and susceptible to employee dissatisfaction, limited innovation and low employee morale. However, democratic leadership is a combination of these two extremities that will allow for limited flexibility while allowing the leaders to guide the team through the transformational process enhancing their individual performance (Bolden, 2016). Bolden (2016) defines a transformational leadership as the one that evaluates the competency of the team and act in accordance to their needs. While it is clear that a transforming market such as the smartphone market has to undertake proactive actions, a transformational leadership offer flexibility and allows the team to adapt themselves to the changing needs. It is also clear from the argument by Para-González et al. (2018) that transformational leadership has significant impact on the improvement of the performance of the functional department of an organisation. Hence, it can be pointed out that the major problem for Nokia is the identification and understanding of the need for an effective leadership style that can help them to adapt to the impending market change.
Project Aim: The project aims is to grasp whatever leadership style manifests inside Nokia Australia that has an impact on the organisational performance.
Research Objectives: The research objectives are as follows: -
- To determine the impact of leadership style on Nokia’s overall performance
- To determine the impact of the leaders that nurtures the organisational performance of Nokia Australia.
Research Methods: The Business research assignment will utilise both the primary and secondary research methods. The secondary research method will use textual analysis to explore various secondary sources of data such as published articles, journals, annual reports, textbooks and other secondary sources. The primary research methods will include interview process. The interview process essentially uses open-ended questions to explore the topic further. The sample size for the primary research will be five people and the interview questionnaire will contain about five questions.
Conclusion: This research discusses the importance of leadership and its possible influence towards enhancing the organisational performance. While the connection is clear from theoretical perspective, this study will identify its relevance in the context of Nokia Australia. This study undertakes a mixed method for research in order to explore and substantiate the theoretical claims identified through the literature review in the secondary research. The outcome of this Business research assignment will possibly help to understand the relation between the leadership roles and its impact on organisational performance.
References
Bolden, R. (2016). Leadership, management and organisational development. In Gower handbook of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158). London: Routledge.
Coccia, M. (2016). Radical innovations as drivers of breakthroughs: characteristics and properties of the management of technology leading to superior organisational performance in the discovery process of R&D labs. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 28(4), 381-395.
Para-González, L., Jiménez-Jiménez, D., & Martínez-Lorente, A. R. (2018). Exploring the mediating effects between transformational leadership and organizational performance. Employee Relations, 40(2), 412-432.
Paulien?, R. (2017). Interaction between managerial competencies and leadership in business organisations. Regional Formation and Development Studies, 21(1), 97-107.
Pollack, J., & Pollack, R. (2015). Using Kotter’s eight stage process to manage an organisational change program: Presentation and practice. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 28(1), 51-66.
Pollack, J., & Pollack, R. (2015). Using Kotter’s eight stage process to manage an organisational change program: Presentation and practice. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 28(1), 51-66.