Term Project - Research Paper Example

Authentic leadership is “a pattern of transparent and ethical leader behavior that encourages openness in sharing information needed to make decisions while accepting followers’ inputs” (Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber, 2009, p. 423). On the other hand, transformational leadership consists of “leader behaviors that transform and inspire followers to perform beyond expectations while transcending self-interest for the good of the organization” (Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber, 2009, p. 423). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is one of the most prevalent theories on motivation (Fisher, 2009).

This theory suggests that people are motivated by five level of needs, which are physiological, security, social, ego, and self-actualization (Ibid.). As such, workers are motivated by the needs that math the level that they are currently at. Consequently, leaders must be able to identify the level that workers of their department are working at in order to offer specific opportunities fitting the identified level (Ibid). The different leadership styles are thus seen to be an important consideration in motivating employees and consequently improving organizational performance.

If a relationship between these variables is found, organizations may set up the proper methods to encourage higher level management to enforce a particular leadership strategy and thereby improve the productivity of their respective organizations. This study aims to find if this relationship indeed exists, that is, if leadership styles contribute significantly to employee motivation, and translate this motivation to organizational productivity. This research study aims to answer the following research questions: R1: Is there a relationship between leadership style and motivation?

R2: If such a relationship exists, which relationship style motivates employees the most? R3: Is there a relationship between leadership style and organizational productivity? R4: If such a relationship exists, which relationship style leads to the highest organizational productivity? With these research questions in mind, the following research hypotheses will be tested for significance: Ho1: There is no relationship between leadership style and motivation. Ha1: There is a significant relationship between leadership style and motivation Ho2: There is no relationship between leadership style and organizational productivity.

Ha2: There is a significant relationship between leadership style and organizational productivity. Methods The research study will use a quantitative survey design, as it aims to find if there is a relationship between leadership style, motivation and organizational productivity. A quantitative research study is one wherein the variables used are quantifiable or measurable, and relationships among variables can be found through the use of appropriate mathematical and statistical tools (Creswell, 2003).

A survey design for quantitative research uses a set of structured questions in order to derive the required information (Agresti & Finlay, 2009). A pre-piloted questionnaire will be given to the respondents in order to identify the leadership style of their superior, the level of motivation that they have at work, and their level of organizational productivity. The respondents will be taken from a list of employees of Ford Company. Stratified random sampling will be used in order to ident