Relationship between Business Performance as well as Leadership Styles of Multinational Companies - Article Example

Article Critique Name: University: Date: Article Critique 1.0 Introduction In their article, Ali and Tang (2016) analyze the relationship between business performance as well as leadership styles of multinational companies (MNCs) that operates in Malaysia mediated through job satisfaction. In the introduction part, they try to demonstrate how leaders’ organizational roles have changed and how the organizations’ success relies on the styles of leadership utilized in the present business environment. For some years, the globe business operations according to the authors have been influenced by globalization. The MNCs had placed emphasis on the developing countries such as African and Asian countries, as well as numerous South American economies with adequate resources. The authors try to demonstrate how leadership plays an important part in the modern-day business organizations. They insist that leaders are the main soul of the business; therefore, organizations and leaders can be improved by knowing different forms of leadership styles and their possible benefits and limitation so as to effectively respond to changes in human capital management, distribution systems, technologies, marketing technique, as well as resources because of market globalization. 2.0 Literature Review In the article, there is no specific section for literature review, but in the introduction part, the authors demonstrate that they have read, and clearly understand, the existing published work about leadership styles, job satisfaction, and business performance. In the article’s introduction part, the author compares and contrasts views from different studies, and demonstrate how show their study is associated with the previous studies. Generally, the authors show how their study is associated with literature and provides a summary of arguments presented in previous studies. For instance, the authors cite Özer and Tınaztepe (2014) paper that analyzed how different styles of leaderships have enormous effect on the performance of the firm. They also cite numerous studies that focused on leadership styles such as Morales, Barrionuevo and Gutiérrez (2012), Kaplan & Norton (1992), and Emery and Barker (2015). Most of these studies demonstrated that transformational leadership is required for companies to enhance their organizational performance in business environments that are continuously changing. These studies as cited by the authors, further demonstrated that organizational performances are optimized by leaders through an improved spiritual leadership. The authors cite numerous other studies like Voon et al. (2011) that examined the connection between job satisfaction and leadership styles within the Malaysian public sector. The results from most of these studies demonstrated that transformational style of leadership was enormously related to job satisfaction as compared to transactional leadership. Nearly all the studies utilized in this article exhibited that job satisfaction was an important tool for organizational success. The authors’ objective to cite these previous studies was to limit and define the problem of leadership styles and firm performance as well as to relate their findings to the earlier knowledge and propose further research 3.0 Research Aims and Objectives In the article, the aim of the study can be describes as the broad statement of the sought after outcomes, or the research general intentions painting the picture of the research project. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between business performance as well as leadership styles of multinational companies (MNCs) that operates in Malaysia mediated through job satisfaction. Clearly, the article place emphasis on what it seeks to accomplish and reflects the expectations and expectations of the research topic. The objectives of the study can be described as steps set forth by the authors to accomplish the project goals. The main objective of the study was to fill-up the research gaps that had been identified in order to comprehensively review the different styles of leadership as well as their relationship with business performance and job satisfaction. Clearly, this objective is not only feasible, but highly focused. The study has four hypotheses; the first hypothesis indicates that different styles of leadership (spiritual leadership, transactional leadership, transformational leadership, and authentic leadership) have positive influence on job satisfaction. The second hypothesis points out that business performance are positively influenced by job satisfaction. The third hypothesis indicates that different styles of leadership have positive influence on the business performance. The last hypothesis asserts that the relationship between different styles of leadership and business performance are mediated by job satisfaction. 4.0 Research Methodology Methodology connotes the techniques employed by the authors to gather data. In this article, the authors have considered theories and concepts that underlie the research methods. The research methodology section is divided into two sections, sample and procedure as well as measures. In first section, the authors demonstrate how they utilized non-probability sampling technique for self-administered questionnaires that were directly distributed to 300 personnel working in multinational companies. The authors achieved a minimum rate of response (46 per cent) since only 140 employees completed and returned the survey form. The authors utilized the non-probability sampling since information was collected in a process where not whole population was offered an equal opportunity of being selected. It seems that the authors were bounded by labor force, money, as well as time; thus, becoming unfeasible to randomly sample all employees. The authors selected subjects in the non-probability sample based on their accessibility. As a result, unknown proportion of employees in MNCs was not samples; therefore, there is likelihood that the sample does not accurately represent the whole population. As a result, the research results cannot be utilized in generalizing the whole population. In the second section (measures), transformational and transactional styles of leadership were measured by the authors using the 32- item Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). Furthermore, the utilized the five-point Likert scale to measure the scale, whereby ‘1’ represented ‘not at all’ while ‘5’ represented ‘frequently’. The authors utilized the Likert Scales because the respondent does not provide a simple yes/no answer, but instead, make an allowance for some opinion. For this reason, it becomes easier to achieve quantitative data that can be analyzed relatively easy. The authors used 17-item Spiritual Leadership Theory (SLT) survey questions and 16-item Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) to measure the spiritual and authentic leadership style, respectively. Business performance and Job satisfaction were measured through 10-item survey questions and 32-item Job Satisfactions Survey, respectively. 5.0 Discussion In the discussion section, the authors try to demonstrate how the applied the Full Range Leadership Theory (FRLT) to explain the effects of leadership styles on employees’ job satisfaction. With the view to the study results, the authors try to show that job satisfaction amongst the employees play a crucial role in influencing the performance of the business. They also demonstrate how spiritual leadership style and authentic leadership style significantly influence job satisfaction. With the view to the effect of mediation, the authors argue that the effect of different styles of leadership on business performance are mediated through job satisfaction. The success of an organization depends on leaders’ ability to work on developing employees’ problem solving skills and confidence. The authors observed that the authentic leadership style encourage participation, promotes transparent, and consider communication as a crucial element. Therefore, the authors hold the view that the authentic leaders could bring about positive effects such as organizational commitment and performance, innovativeness, as well as extra-role performance. The authors also observed that spiritual leadership style does not only involve soft leadership criteria like kindness towards employees and integrity, but also some aggressiveness like ensuring the work teams efficiently maximize the output. The study findings demonstrated that organization with transformational or transactional leaders have positive employees’ job satisfaction which commonly result in improved business performance. Still, the study has some limitations; for instance, they focused only on how four styles of leadership influence job satisfaction and result in improved business performance in the multinational companies. Clearly, other types of leadership styles such as entrepreneurial, participative, and charismatic and others could have influence on business performance and job satisfaction, but they have been ignored in this study. Besides that, the authors did not identify leadership distinction in by organization as evidenced in Fok-Yew (2015) study. The authors have not provided any model or framework to describe the context of Malaysia MNCs and their study does not stand for all MNCs in Malaysia since they have not factored in issues such as cultural differences, management practices as well as ownership. Because of national culture, Fok-Yew (2015) in his study demonstrates that the relationship between leadership styles as well as business performance cannot be generalized. Therefore, the authors should have examined the other organizations’ model and should also have identified the other moderators such as neutralizers, enhancers, or leadership substitutes in the context of improving the business performance. 6.0 Paper Critique The title of the article is not only clear, but also appropriate since it succinctly reflects the paper’s content as well as importance in just one sentence. Besides that, the article’s abstract is specific and representative, the authors have briefly stated the research purpose, pointed out the research methods, sum up the main findings, and draw attention to major conclusions. In the introduction, the purpose of the article has been made clear considering that the authors have related the current study with the previous works, but have not offered a complete literature review. Still, the authors have highlighted the research objective, its originality, significance, and contribution to the knowledge of leadership styles, job satisfaction and business performance. The purpose of the study is clearly stated in the introduction. More importantly, the authors have cited appropriate references in the introduction. The study design and methods are seemingly appropriate for the study purposes since the authors have demonstrated how they utilized non-probability sampling to gather information. They omitted details of research procedures which are considered to be basic knowledge but they have briefly highlighted techniques employed to measure different styles of leadership. Therefore, in the research method section, the authors have described the research design and methods employed to determine the relationship between leadership styles, job satisfaction and business performance. Most parts of the discussion are relevant since the authors briefly explain the study findings, compare the results with the past studies and propose clarifications for the observed results. Still, there is some information in the discussion part that is not supported by the data, and this creates speculation. For instance, the authors suggest that the MNC leaders must improve their knowledge regarding the most recent trends and styles of leadership, but they do not provide data that shows improving knowledge would result to improved job satisfaction and better business performance. The authors have incorporated concluding statements at the end of the discussion section. There is no need for expanding, omitting or condensing any section of the manuscript since the authors have divided the article into subsections and the titles of these subsections are in italics. Besides that, the results and discussion have been presented separately, and this has enabled the authors to convey the results lucidly. All data have been presented in figures and tables, which have been designed carefully in order to maximize experimental data comprehension with exclusion of superfluous information. The author’s statements are very clear and they have taken full responsibility for the paper’s content. However, the authors have not acknowledged financing, organizations, and people. They have not mentioned sponsors and grant numbers in the article. The authors have been objective in their discussion of the topic since they provide factual information that can be verified. Their information appears to be well-researched as well as valid and they are supported by evidence. All the assumptions are reasonable and there are no observable omissions or errors. The language and words used in the article is biased and do not arouse emotions. 7.0 Conclusion In conclusion, the article has demonstrated why leaders in the multinational companies must steer clear of all passive behaviors and focus on the employees’ capabilities, demand, and talent development by providing them a supportive and encouraging work environment. The authors insist that the leaders have to develop the useful managerial skills such as their creativity which could enable them to improve job satisfaction. When taken in entirety, this article is not only relevant and but very persuasive. 8.0 References Ali, N. N., & Tang, S. Y. (2016). Does Multiple Leadership Styles Mediated by Job Satisfaction Influence Better Business Performance? Perception of MNC Employees in Malaysia. SHS Web of Conferences, 23, 1-17. Fok-Yew, O. (2015). The Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Followers’ Work Characteristics and Task Performance. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 5(6), 366-377. Read More