Research Proposal for Dissertation (Dissertation Sample)

A Research Proposal on the Relevance of Leadership Theories, Behaviors and Skills in a State-Owned Profitable Organization in The Oil and Gas Industry: A Case Study of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
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Chapter One: Introduction
Background Information
Undeniably, effective leadership is a great driving force in the accomplishment of organizational goals; and leadership theories, behavior and skills are important variables having substantial impacts on the effectiveness of leaders. Specifically, leadership theories have been seen as tools to enhance competitiveness and profitability when properly put in practice and outcomes evaluated (Northouse 2012). According to Benson (2012) these theories are vital due to the fact that they represent the patterns of personality and behavior attributes that exact direct or indirect influence on others. Larsson and Storhannus (2007) studied the relationship between leadership theories and organizational performance. In their research, they found a very great association between the theories and the effectiveness of leaders. In essence, a leader follows a particular theory in order for him/her to become successful in achieving organizational goals.
There exist a lot of different leadership theories and the choice regarding which theory an executive should follow depends on the organizational structural foundation as well as what the leaders aim to accomplish (Benson 2012). A leader may choose theories that emphasize on persuasion, collaboration, reward for performance, autocracy, authority or many other attributes. The choice, as highlighted, earlier depends on the organizational structure and the aim of the concerned leaders. In the modern world, many organizations have been observed to adopt theories that facilitate collaborative, persuasive, participative and reward-oriented leadership theories (Benson 2012). Some of these theories include; Behavioral theory, theory Y, participative theory, transformational theory among others. During 19th to the early 20th century, though, many organizations adopted autocratic, authoritarian, and trait-oriented leadership theories, such as; the transactional theory, the great man theory, the contingency theory, the situational theory among others (Larsson & Storhannus 2007). This raises a question as to whether the change from autocratic, authoritarian and trait-oriented leadership to a shared form of leadership have created any significant impact on organizational performance. Another question is, are the impacts negative or positive? Pervez (2009) insists that, in the modern world, the most successful organizations are those that have leaders who are friendly, accessible, considerate and understanding to all employees. In this point of view, it is quite apparent that the change has impacted positively on organizational performance.
The behavior and skills of leaders have also been observed to be important tools facilitating leadership performance (Benson 2012), which in turn determines the overall performance of an organization (Waldman et al. 2001). According to Leign (2009) leadership is an observable set of skills, abilities and behaviors. With regard to this statement, leadership cannot, therefore, exist without the three attributes.
Common leadership behaviors include; talking straight, respect, friendliness, being accessible, transparency, righting wrongs, loyalty, delivering results, getting better, confronting reality, clarifying expectations, accountability, effective listening, commitment, trust, inspiring and motivating others, having a driving force for better results, building relationships, supporting others, among others. According to Folkman (2010) improving on any of the behaviors have a positive impact on employees’ satisfaction which in turn have a positive impact on employees’ output. However, some behavior changes have more impact than others.
Change in leadership skills also has very high impacts on a firm’s performance. This is due to the fact that skills are essential tools in proper execution of most of the leadership responsibilities. In the modern world, many employers are emphasizing on good skills as a requirement for leaders (Leign 2009). This is why work experience has been a key determinant of the candidates to be chosen during interviews held in almost all modern organizations. Many modern organizations are also focusing on skillfulness when offering promotions.
Looking specifically at a single company, leadership has been a key factor determining the performance of the State-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Nigeria, which produces more than 2 million barrels of oil per day is rated as one of the most corrupt countries globally. Analysts say that mismanagements at NNPC contributes the worst cases of corruption in the country, making the company the major black hole of Nigeria’s public fund. Particularly, the company has been rated among the top eight oil and gas companies that have the highest levels of corruption within their management team. However, a number of improvements in terms of reduced corruption and improved performance have happened since the organization was transformed into a profit-making organization.
Recently, the company has experienced quite a lot of changes in leadership, which have in a way caused positive impacts on the company’s performance. One of these recent change involves the shift from male’s leadership to women’s leadership. Although, the leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is still overwhelmingly male, women’s representation has been observed to rise over the last few years. These women, who mostly belong to the wealthiest class of women in the country, say that they have vision of changing the face of the company (Gordon 2014). The women come in with different leadership behaviors, skills and theories which they use to change the management situation in the company. Two women who currently hold two of the biggest cabinet positions in Nigeria; the petroleum and finance ministry, act as their figurehead (Gordon 2014). "We are there not because we are women. We are there because of our competence as managers," said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala the finance minister during her interview with the BBC (Gordon 2014).
Another one of the recent changes in the leadership of NNPC involves the shift from authoritarian style of leadership towards a shared kind of leadership by adopting team approaches. Currently, top leaders who used to make all the major decisions in the company are now responsible for just passing the decisions made by the team of employees in the company (Ijaw Monitoring Group 2010). The organization has also taken another step to open up its management to locals (Gordon 2014). Essentially, the views of local Nigerians now count so much when making, leadership decisions in the company. Interestingly, despite the rapid leadership changes that have happened over the last few years, NNPC’s performance continues to rise.
Statement of the Problem
This research aims at evaluating whether leadership theories by various theorists have been a central force in ensuring the profitability of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Specifically, the research will focus on those theories that affects the employee-management leadership, including; behavioral theory, theory Y, participative theory and the transformational as compared to the transactional theory. It will investigate whether the above named theories have taken part in facilitating the profitability of the company. This will be done in order to provide answers to some controversies by the researcher, due to the company’s constant profitability despite the frequent occurrence of changes in its leadership. The research will also investigate the impact of leadership behaviors and skills on the growth of NNPC’s profit margins. Essentially, changes in leadership styles and leadership personnel leads to change in leadership behavior and the introduction of new skills. In this regard, the researcher has chosen to evaluate the impacts of leadership behavior and skills on the profitability of NNPC due to the fact that despite frequent changes in NNPC leadership behaviors and skills the company’s financial performance continues to rise.
Rationale of the Study
Although many studies have been carried out to study the relationship between leadership and the performance of organizations in the oil and gas industry, very few studies have narrowed their research to specific leadership theories. There also exist very shallow research on topics related to the relationship between leadership behavior and skills and the performance of organizations in the oil and gas industry. Owing in mind that the oil and gas industry is a major revenue generator in many countries and a key player in the global trade and the global economy (Karl 2010), this study is highly essential. It will reinforce the few researches that have been conducted previously to study the same topic. In doing this, the paper will act as a source of more information for not only NNPC leaders, but also leaders in other oil and gas companies all over the world. Specifically the paper will act as a guide to these leaders on how they can apply different theories, behaviors and skills to enhance the performance of their organizations. In addition, the research will also act as a source of literature material in the field of economics. This will allow management scholars to have a wide range of materials from where to base their arguments. Of greater importance, adding to the existing literature materials will give other researchers a basis for their research. This will in turn help...