Assignment 1: Research Questions
In order to guide your inquiries for your three projects in this course, you will need to formulate corresponding research questions. Drawing from insights you gained from the Discussion this week, formulate one overarching research question for each of the three projects.
You will need to refer to your research questions in order to complete each of the three projects, which are due in Weeks 5, 8, and 10, respectively.
Note
Include proper APA citations and peer-reviewed references.
Submit your three overarching research questions.
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MGMT 8705M: Organizational Behavior Performance and Evaluation
Hints
Week 3: Research Questions
Hints for Week 3 Discussion
Development of your research questions is critical. Once you have reviewed some of
the literature on each of the topics, you will want to ask questions about what you would
like to learn about the topics. There are general questions that might interest you, but
when you begin a research project, remember to tie your research question to the
problem or opportunity you identified. The research question helps to further focus your
scope.
Example
Theme: Organizational Culture and Structure
Topic: Leadership Influences on Culture
Issue: Role of leader in developing, communicating, and sustaining
organizational culture; How learning is transmitted through culture
Research questions in Shah (2015):
What is the relationship between organizational culture and job satisfaction?
Does organizational culture play a significant role on job satisfaction of
employees?
Analysis:
Shah (2015) stated the question under investigation as follows:
This paper represents research results of analyzing the
culture of the organization, examining the relationship
between organizational culture and job satisfaction and
testing whether organizational culture is playing significant
role on job satisfaction of the employees. (p. 29)
The author of this study used previously published questionnaires to examine the
organizational culture and job satisfaction in the case being analyzed for this
article. If these previously validated questionnaires had not been used, I would
have been concerned with the lack of precision in the first research question, as
the term organizational culture is very broad, and not well defined in the
question.
The second question uses the term significant to describe the role of culture on
job satisfaction. I would consider rewording the question as To what extent does
organizational culture play a role in job satisfaction of employees, since the term
significant is not specific and could be misinterpreted.
Usefulness
This study contributes to the above-stated theme, topic, and issues in that it
explores the impact of organizational culture on job satisfaction, which is a part of
the selected research focus.
Reference
Shah, S. (2015). Impact of organizational culture on job satisfaction: A study of
steel plant. Pranjana: The Journal of Management Awareness, 18(1), 2940.
doi:10.5958/0974-0945.2015.00004.7
Permalink to article in Walden Library:
https://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx
?direct=true&db=bth&AN=122611258&site=eds-live&scope=site
Note:
Clicking on the link above will not work. Please copy the entire link and paste it
into the location bar of your browser to access the resource in the Walden
Library.
Criteria for superior initial post:
Student accurately includes the complete reference and link from a peer-
reviewed article, includes information from the relevant columns, and provides a
thorough and detailed evaluation of the research questions and the usefulness of
the study to one of the projects.
Student consistently follows APA writing style and basic rules of formal English
grammar and written essay style. Student communicates in a cohesive, logical
style. There are no spelling or grammar errors.
Student demonstrates full adherence to APA style with respect to source
attribution, references, heading and subheading logic, table of contents and lists
of charts, etc. There are no APA errors. Citations and references support
position.
Hints for Week 3 Assignment 1
Be sure to include your selection of theme, topic, and at least two issues along with the
research question.
Example (extract)
Theme: Organizational Behavior
Topic: Individual Employee Motivation and Behavior
Issue: Impact of leader/member relationship; Impact of social and cultural
differences
Rationale
Studying the relationship between a leader and organizational members and how
that relationship impacts employee behavior is an especially relevant topic in
todays organizations, which are becoming increasingly diverse and distributed
across geographic boundaries. There is a significant gap in the literature,
especially regarding the relationship between a leader and member(s) from
different cultural backgrounds that is worthy of further research.
Steps
I began by looking for studies that example the relationship between the leader
and organizational members, referred to as LMX (leader/member relationship) in
the literature. I then added the search terms employee motivation to find
research on how that relationship impacts motivation of employees. I wanted a
recent research study, so limited my search to the range of 2016 to 2018 and
found three articles, one of which (Selvarajan, Singh, & Solansky, 2018) dealt
with issues across U.S. and Mexican cultures, which I found to be especially
relevant to my concern.
Gap
The relationship between leaders/members and its impact on employee
motivation in organizations that cross cultures.
Research Question
What effect does the leader-member relationship have on individual employee
job motivation in organizations that cross cultures?
Reference
Selvarajan, T. T., Singh, B., & Solansky, S. (2018). Performance appraisal
fairness, leader member exchange and motivation to improve performance: A
study of US and Mexican employees. Journal of Business Research, 85, 142
154. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.11.043
Note: Remember, your research question should at this point be open ended, at least
for your first project. Study how to structure the proper types of questions. There are
many kinds of questions that are associated with different types of research. Carefully
consider the type of question or questions you are asking.
Criteria for superior Assignment:
Student identifies a total of three appropriate overarching research questions,
one for each project. Each question addresses a different theme as specified in
the Topic List.
Student consistently follows APA writing style and basic rules of formal English
grammar and written essay style. Student communicates in a cohesive, logical
style. There are no spelling or grammar errors.
Hints for Week 3 Assignment 2
Continue adding to your literature review for your other projects.
Criteria for superior Assignment:
Student provides a total of 11 or more additional relevant peer-reviewed journal
entries with some related to the ethical and social change impact of the research.
Student presents a detailed and thorough explanation for every entry provided.
Student has no spelling or grammar errors. Matrix is organized, clear, and easy
to understand. Correct APA format and style is applied.
