Analyzing the impact of Middle Management's Leadership and Their Impact on the Employee's Performance

by

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

DECLARATION

I, [type your full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

Signed __________________ Date _________________

ABSTRACT

We investigated the relationship between middle managers' transformational leadership and the performance of frontline employees who are two levels below the middle managers. We identified two pathways through which this cross-level influence occurs and tested two moderators operating on these two pathways. The first pathway is a direct effect from middle managers to employees, bypassing the influence of employees' immediate supervisor (the bypass effect). We further hypothesized that the bypass effect is moderated by the employees' collectivistic value. Surveys were conducted from middle managers and frontline employees of twenty 5-star hotels on USA. A total of 130 participants were surveyed in this study, which included 30 middle managers and 100 employees. The transformational leadership skills of middle managers and the determinants of frontline employees' performance were identified through previous studies. These variables were then tested using SPSS 16.0 to measure the association between the transformational leadership of middle managers and the performance of frontline employees. Regression Analysis was done to measure the impact of the transformational leadership of middle managers on the performance of frontline employees. From the results it was found that the transformational leadership of middle manager has a slight but significant impact of the performance of frontline employees. The second pathway is a cascading of leadership behaviours from middle managers to first-line supervisors, whose transformational leadership then enhances employees' performance (the cascading effect). We further hypothesized that this cascading effect is moderated by the supervisors' power distance value. These hypotheses were tested with a sample of 491 frontline employees, 98 frontline supervisors, and 30 middle managers in three organizations in China. The three-level hierarchical linear modeling results supported the four hypotheses.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background of the Problem2

Statement of the Problem4

Purpose of the Study5

Research Design6

Research Aim and Objectives6

Significance of the Study6

Research Questions7

Assumptions and Limitation8

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW9

Introduction to Leadership9

Leadership10

Styles and Analysis12

Leadership Emergence13

Leadership Evaluation14

Leadership Effectiveness15

A 21st Century Model20

Cultural Factors21

Leadership Models: Theory and Research24

Consequences of Transformational Leadership25

The Middle manager26

Evolution of Middle Management28

Middle Managers as a Leader28

Performance of Organization30

Performance Management32

Job Performance34

Theoretical Framework35

Leadership35

Frontline Employee's Performance35

Transformational Leadership and Performance45

Summary50

Management Intervention51

Scientific Management53

Participative Management55

TQM61

Elements63

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY69

Purposes of the Study70

Data Collection Technique70

Secondary Research70

Search Technique72

Literature Search72

Inclusion and exclusion criteria73

Additional Online searches73

Primary Research73

Quantitative76

Qualitative77

Justification for Chosen Method77

Research philosophy and Approach78

Research strategy80

Research Design80

Overview of Quantitative Research Approach80

Appropriateness of Design80

Participant Selection81

Instruments82

Research Questions and Hypotheses83

Procedures84

Data Collection Process86

Data Analyses87

Appropriateness of Correlation, Chi-square test and Multiple Regression Analysis88

Ethical Concerns88

Informed Consent89

Confidentiality89

Validity89

Reliability90

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION92

Discussion92

Influence of Transformational Leadership on Organizations and Individuals92

Influence on Organizations92

Influence on Individuals93

Key Role of the Manager96

Managers as Communicators98

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION103

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