Unique Theory of Leadership
Business Finance
No fewer than 10, non-textbook, relevant
references must be used and cited [use the APA Publication Manual for citation style; this
is very important for electronic sources–Internet, etc.]. At least ten sources are required;
with at least eight of those sources from current (2013-2018), reputable, peer-reviewed
journals. The other sources may include academic and professional periodicals,
government publications (to include CD ROM resources), magazines, and newspaper
articles.
Absolutely NO PLAGIARISM !!!
No dictionaries or encyclopedias, especially Wikipedia, are allowed. You must properly cite a source using the APA Style for anything that is not common knowledge, let alone if you quote from it.
Use standard formatting (double-spaced, 12 point Times or Times New Roman, normal margins, page numbering, etc.).
DO NOT do a Title Page or sub-headings. Do a Works Cites section (which will not count for length).
Here’s guidelines:
The individual/team research project is designed to answer one key question: using a
unique theory of leadership, how does leadership and ethical behavior affect employee
performance?
Phase I: Theory,Hypotheses: In this first phase, a theory is built about
leadership behavior or leader ethical behavior and how those behaviors impact employee
performance. Using text material, research, readings, and in-depth interviews (each will
interview at least two people; the people interviewed must be employed full-time and not
attending Troy University, and hopefully, those interviewed will be as different from one
another as possible). The specific interview questions will be left up to you, but you
should explore the interview subjects’ beliefs about which leadership or ethical behaviors
are important, and how these behaviors affect employee performance. Let them tell you
what is important! Do not provide a set of concepts for them! For example, one
interview question might be: “When you think about times that you had good leadership,
what specific leader behaviors contributed to how you performed?” or “When you think
about good ethical leaders, what behaviors stand out as being particularly effective in
changing employee behavior/performance?” Your project can focus on the concepts in
this course, but should go beyond those concepts as well.
Phase II: Interview Method Description: This section of your research paper should
describe your interview participants (no names or other identifying information), the
questions asked in the interviews, the participants’ responses to the interview questions,
and the themes/concepts that emerged from the interviews.
Phase III: Incorporate Interview Data into Theory and Hypotheses: Once your
interviews are completed, you will distill the most interesting themes from your
interviews and convert those into specific predictions that can be tested with data.
Hypotheses can focus on the concepts in this course, but (again) should go beyond these
concepts as well. Feel free to focus on the concepts that interest you or your team.
Incorporate your interview data into your Leadership Theory. Explicitly show the
changes you made to your original Leadership Theory based on the interviews. Express
your theory in diagram form.
Phase IV: Recommendations for practicing managers: Use this section of your paper to
make recommendations to practicing managers based on your theory and the interview
data that you collected.
This is expected to be a scholarly project. It will include a title page,
executive summary, research report body including introduction, theory/problem/issue,
and recommendations/suggestions for managers, (at least one) graphic(s), and references
page.
Your work should look business-like and
professional.
EXAMPLES OF REPUTABLE JOURNALS (primarily in Management &
Psychology, and mostly Peer-Reviewed):
Academy of Management Journal; Academy of Management Review; Administrative
Science Quarterly; Organization Science; Strategic Management Journal; Management
Science; Leadership Quarterly; Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes;
Journal of Management; Journal of Management Studies; Journal of Applied Psychology;
Journal of Vocational Behavior; Journal of Organizational Behavior; Personnel
Psychology; Psychological Bulletin; Journal of Personality & Social Psychology; Human
Relations; Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology; Harvard Business
Review; Applied Psychology: International Review; American Psychologist
