Analysis of Walmart Leadership - Research Paper Example

An explanatory research design tends to explore the research question and give a better understanding of the question without necessarily providing a suitable solution to the research problem. It mostly answers the question of why, with an aim of helping the researcher identify the main issues to be tackled in the study. This method will be used in the study to try to understand why leadership is vital for the success of any business. To answer the why questions, you must first develop a causal explanation (Becker & Schram, 1994). Causal explanations mainly state that phenomenon Y (success of a business) is affected by element X (leadership style) (Cooley, 1978). Although some causal relationships tend to be simple, others are more complex.

For example, we might state or argue that the transformational leadership at Walmart has a direct effect on its (Walmart) success. This method lays the ground for us to do more future research and studies on the same topic. A qualitative method was adopted for the study with an aim of achieving an in-depth understanding of the situation (Berg, Lune, & Lune, 2004). This method includes designs, techniques, and measures that do not produce discrete numerical data. The data can be collected through direct observation or interviews.

This method of research will help us know how (process) and why (the meaning) things happen. This method is flexible and informal, hence preferred since it is also suitable for small samples. Some of the ways used to carry out qualitative methodology include participant observation, direct observation, case studies, and unstructured interviews. The method can also help us generate a theory from the data i.e. a theory grounded in the data. Questionnaires with open-ended questions will be administered to various departments in the firm to enable me to obtain maximum information and interact with various views of the members.

Direct observation of the firm’s daily activities will be conducted to get a glimpse of what daily routine leads to such success.