Reserach Proposal on Leadership Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Reserach on Leadership - Research Proposal Example Transformational leadership is increasingly seen as critical, not only in the competitive landscape of an organization, but also to the leader’s impact on team effectiveness (Grant, 2012; Ozaralli, 2003). Increasingly, leaders are not only faced with the challenge of how to introduce change, but also how to manage change (Watkins, 2004), which seems especially important when the introduction of the new leader is the change. Watkins (2003) notes that on average twelve employees are impacted by a new manager. This finding implies that what the new leader in transition does would affect a wide network of employees and, hence, performance within the organization. Since transformational leadership is deemed as critical for team performance, this research study seeks to examine the relationship between transformational leadership style and team effectiveness for new leaders in transition, with a special focus on professional knowledge-based work teams Problem / Opportunity Statement Most organizations in the current business climate are highly dependent on leaders to lead organizations to success. This dependence is especially so in the current high competitive business environment characterized by high leader turnover, frequent change, and high accountability to stakeholders (Grant, 2012; Hoffman, Bynum, Piccolo, & Sutton, 2011; Stewart, 1992). The problem is that organizations and leaders have failed to execute effective leadership transition action plans, which may lead to negative effects, such as leader stress, decreased productivity, higher turnover, and ineffective team performance (Gilmore, 2003). Understanding the role of transformational leadership in leadership transition and the impact that it has on team effectiveness would be an essential resource in understanding develop effective leadership transition plan. Both Wageman, Hackman, and Lehmen (2005), who proposed a model of team effectiveness in an organizational context, and Manderscheid and Ard ichvili (2008), who proposed a paired model integrating leadership transition theory that proposes effective team relationships are the result of successful leadership transitions, posit that transformational leadership style may be a critical success factor for team effectiveness and the success of new leaders (Appelbaum & Valero, 2007). Watkins (2004) maintained that, to accelerate the transition and build momentum, the new leader must have the ability to engage and influence many individuals throughout the organization â€Å"using vision, expertise and drive† (p. 16). Unlike well seasoned leaders who may have some understanding on what works in teams or how to handle various challenges that arise in newer teams that they are faced with, new leaders lack the experience of having to deal with such challenges. Most only have theoretical knowledge. Past literature have depicted transformational leadership as the most effective in enabling team performance and effectiveness (Wa geman, Hackman, and Lehmen, 2005). Although there is substantive research on leadership style and team effectiveness, there is less on new leader transition (Manderscheid & Ardichvili, 2008). Most of the research have focused on strategies to be employed in transitioning a leader (Manderscheid, 2008), formal interventions that organisations need to undertake in helping