Organizational Behavior, Leadership, Ethics, Gender, and Other Variables Essay

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Leadership and Change," Burns & By (2012) examine the relationship between leadership ethics and effective organizational change. In "Coping with Job insecurity," Loi, Lam & Chan (2012) examine the relationship between procedural justice (or injustice) and job security (or insecurity). In "Gender Differences in Leadership Role Occupancy," Schuh et al. (2014) examine the relationship between power motivation and being in positions of leadership to show why women are underrepresented in positions of power. Each of these studies examines some aspect of leadership to show how individuals and organizations can approve their overall effectiveness in key measurable or qualitative areas. Each of the studies provides a strong case with reference to prior literature. However, Burns & By (2012) only analyze existing studies, whereas Loi, Lam & Chan (2012) and Schuh, et al. (2014) conduct original research using an experimental design. The studies are all important in their own ways, with Burns & By (2012) discussing the interface between ethics, leadership and change.

Research Questions

Schuh, et al. (2014) present several research hypotheses including whether or not gender is related to power motivation, and whether women have less power motivation than men. Another research question in the Schuh, et al. (2014) study is whether power motivation is correlated with leadership role occupancy. In other words, is a person with high power motivation more likely to be in a position of power? Third, Schuh, et al. (2014) ask whether power motivation mediates the relationship between gender and leadership role occupancy (p. 366). In other words, is the gender disparity in leadership attributable to differences in power motivation? These research questions are completely different in their content than those presented by Loi, Lam, & Chan (2012) as well as Burns & By (2012), because those two studies do not address gender. Loi, Lam & Chan (2012) ask whether or not procedural justice is related to job insecurity, whether ethical leadership mediates this relationship, and if there is an overall connection between the three variables of ethical leadership, procedural justice, and power distance orientation on job insecurity. Burns & By (2012) do not focus either on gender or on job security. Instead, Burns & By (2012) ask whether or not leadership and change are linked, and how ethical clarity in leadership is related to change processes. All of these studies question relationships between variables that are linked to organizational culture, psychology, and behavior, especially with regards to leadership.

Sample Populations

The Burns & By (2012) study does not include a sample population because it is exploratory research and not experimental. On the other hand, Loi, Lam & Chan (2012) as well as Schuh, et al. (2014) both employ an experimental research design using sample populations. The Loi, Lam & Chan (2012) research involved employees at two different garment manufacturing companies in Macau and on mainland China. In total, 381 completed surveys from the two factories were used in the research, 149 from Macau and 232 from Zhuhai. Most (76%) of the participants were female, and 44% were aged 31-40.

Schuh, et al. (2014) conducted four separate studies in this research. Study one involved students from a large German university including 240 business students, 125 of which were female. The second study included 61 students from a German university. The third study involved using online portals to acquire 382 participants of varying ages, 57% of which were female. The fourth study used participants from industry, including 861 employees of varying ages, 255 of which were female. The intricate nature of the research design, and is being broken into several different studies to measure the dependent variables, makes the Schuh, et al. (2014) study far more complex than either the Burns & By (2012) research or the Loi, Lam & Chan (2012) study.

Results

Because they used four different and distinct research designs in one project, Schuh, et al. (2014) report results individually for each one, followed by a discussion. The results of the first study conducted with business students confirmed the hypothesis that females have lower power motivation than men. The results of the second study also substantiated the hypothesis that power motivation is related to the gender differences in leadership. Because of their lower power motivation, women occupy positions of power less frequently than men. In the third study, a similar result was reached and extraneous variables like impression management and achievement motivation were also controlled for here. Finally, the fourth study yielded similar results showing that power motivation, gender, and gender disparity are all linked in organizations.

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The results of the Loi, Lam & Chan (2012) study substantiate the hypothesis that ethical behavior at the managerial level improves job security, and that adhering to procedural justice rules can help employees cope with job insecurity as well. When employees feel confident that procedural justice is in place, and when leadership acts ethically, employees feel more secure and this may impact performance. In their research, Burns & By (2012) do not conduct any experiment. However, the authors do find that a review of literature shows that ethical leadership can be integral in promoting healthy organizational change. In particular, Planned Change is an approach that maximizes ethics and minimizes egotistical motivations for certain policies or procedures. Emergent Change, on the other hand, is associated with organizational deviance and unethical behaviors or outcomes. It is therefore critical to identify ethical behaviors and promote ethical behaviors among leaders during times of change.

Conclusions

Each study has its own limitations. Burns & By (2012) do not conduct an experiment and therefore cannot make any clear statements as to whether one variable impacts the other. Loi, Lam & Chan (2012) employ a cross-sectional design and rely on self-reports, making validity and generalizability limited. Although the Schuh, et al. (2014) research is thorough, it has several limitations the authors address, including the multifaceted and often "dichotomous" nature of leadership (p. 376), and the small sample size in a few of the studies.

Their conclusions all show that leadership has implications for organizational behavior and organizational success. Schuh, et al. (2014) add the dimension of gender. The original questions in Burns & By (2012) refer to the importance of managing organizational change through attention paid to ethical leadership models such as those showing that transformational leadership has a net benefit on relationship quality in organizations (Carter, et al., 2013). Therefore, this question was indeed answered. Loi, Lam & Chan (2012) underscore the importance of procedural justice from an ethical consequentialist perspective, as well as from a deontological perspective in which employee happiness is also taken into consideration. Like the research conducted by Burns & By (2012), the Loi, Lam & Chan (2012) study parallels research showing that a "strong ethical climate and supportive top management for ethical behaviors" improves organizational outcomes as a whole (Ahmed, et al., 2012, p. 2966). The importance of the study is that it can help leaders improve organizational outcomes. Finally, Schuh, et al. (2014) state that gender parity is importance from a human rights and social justice perspective and that a greater understanding of gender differences in motivation is warranted. Research by Niederle, Segal & Vesterlund (2012) shows that indeed women benefit from affirmative action programs that work with an understanding of motivation. All these studies examine some aspect of ethics in organizational behavior, and each can be used as springboards for future research in areas such as gender disparity, ethical leadership, and role modeling.

Literature Review

Main themes in the reviews of literature include those that range from ethical theories and theories of leadership to research studies linking the variables in question. The Schuh, et al. (2014) and the Loi, Lam & Chan (2012) studies are organized as a traditional research report with an introduction and description of theoretical viewpoint, followed by an explanation of their procedures and methods, and then followed by discussions and conclusions. Within this framework, a review of literature is woven into other sections. The Burns & By (2012) study is organized thematically or by topic. In fact, the Burns & By (2012) research is a literature review unto itself, and cites a plethora of prior research in a references section spanning more than two whole pages. Loi, Lam & Chan (2012) likewise have an extensive references section and review literature early in the body of the report to show how their study differs and extends previous research. Schuh et al. (2014) also have a substantial literature review related to their areas of research. Although there are some references shared in common due to all of the researchers focusing on topics related to ethics, leadership, and organizational psychology, there is also a preponderance of unique entries that testify to the wide and diverse body of evidence available.....

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