MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Management and Organisational Behaviour

Management and Organisational Behaviour

Introduction

In the past five years, research on leadership and management has evolved as a key area of interest among HRD scholars (Jacobs 2000; Woodall 2000). With in this area, two strands of scholarships can be discerned: the development of leaders and managers and their behaviors, attitudes and attributes (Kuchinke et al, 2002). The former has received much interest from UK scholars, with notable recent UK publications by Lee et al (1996) on Management education in the post communist central European states, Woodall and Winstanley (1998) on strategy and practice of management development, and Lessem (1998) on management development through cultural diversity. Peterson (1997) note that the behavioral studies and its aspects of management and leadership are regularly found in HRD research Journal, for example, issues of managers acting as facilitators of organizational learning (Ellinger et al, 1999), leadership styles, behavioral aspects (Hemphill and coons, 1957; Stogdill, 1948; Likert, 1961 in Ogbonna (2000)) and managers' abilities to create organizational visions (Greenberger et al, 1998).

Bryant and his associates (2002) note that the demonstration of an empirical link between individual leader style and the organizational climate remains an elusive target. There has, however, been great deal of research conducted independently on leadership style and organizational climate. He also investigated that a fully-articulated model of the relationships between leadership styles and organizational culture needs to be devised and tested with quantitative techniques.

Conceptual Framework

Culture and leadership

Culture and leadership is an interesting but difficult field for study. This is because both subjects are complex and multidimensional and little is known about the relationship between these two subjects. Morden (1994) and Hofstede (1993) note that culture interpretation and adaptation are a prerequisite to the comparative understanding of national and international management practice and to the establishment of effective programs of human resource development, and the development of appropriate skills and competencies on which the achievement of organization success depends. In order to carry out study, it is imperative to have as framework from which to work and understanding of the subject areas.

Since the late 1980s, much of the leadership research has concentrated on characteristics and specific effects of charismatic and transformational leadership (Bass 1985; Kanungo 1990; Sashkin 1988). In my research study, I will use a version of transformational leadership theory formulated by Bass and his colleagues (Bass 1985, 1996; Avolio et al. 1995). According to Bass (1985), transformational leaders motivate their followers by inspiring them, offering challenges, and encouraging individual development. Transformational leadership stresses achievement of higher collective purpose, of common mission and vision. The second leadership style is transactional leadership. Transactional leaders stress specific benefits that their subordinates would receive by accomplishing agreed-upon tasks. A transactional leadership style involves negotiations between leaders and their subordinates, and exchange relationships between them.

The behaviors are measured with the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) (Avolio et al. 1995). Transformational leadership includes individualized consideration (IC), intellectual stimulation (IS), charisma (CHA), and inspirational motivation ...