The Impact of Leadership Styles on Employee Engagement in the UAEs Ministry of Interior - Research Proposal Example

The Impact of Leadership Styles on Employee Engagement in UAE’s Ministry of Interior Professor (Tutor) The Name of the School (University) The City and State Date The Impact of Leadership Styles on Employee Engagement in UAE’s Ministry of Interior Aims and Objectives The proposed research aims at conducting an empirical study to determine the impact of different leadership styles on employee engagement in the UAE’s Ministry of Interior. The main research question is: What is the impact of leadership styles on employee engagement in the UAE’s Ministry of Interior? The area of leadership styles and employee engagement has gained increased focus among researchers and scholars. Nonetheless, previous and current studies have focused on the western world. Based on the perspective of international business environments, it is important to understand the effects or influence of leadership styles on employee engagement in the UAE as part of the rising nations in the Middle East. The Middle East has risen over the past few decades in terms of population and GDP. The proposed research will focus solely on the UAE. This is because the UAE continues to champion its neighbors in the Middle East in technological developments and business growth. Moreover, the UAE is characterized by an increased number of multi-cultural expatriate professionals and workers. Therefore, the leadership environment in the UAE is challenging. Nonetheless, previous research has not focused on the public sector where professionals and workers are mostly from the UAE. The proposed research will contribute to the previous and existing literature on leadership and employee engagement in the public sector. Moreover, it will also contribute to previous research on the leadership styles and employee engagement in the Middle East. The main objectives of the proposed research include: 1. Identify different leadership styles and employee engagement theories and concepts across different cultures through literature review. This objective is aimed at understanding the relationship between leadership styles and employee engagement across different cultures in previous and current research. 2. Identify the type of leadership styles used in the UAE. This aims at determining whether the UAE or Middle Eastern leadership culture is different or similar to the dominant Western leadership cultures. 3. To investigate the impact of leadership styles on employee engagement in the UAE’s Ministry of Interior or the public sector. This is aimed at furthering research on leadership and employee engagement in the public sector specifically that of the UAE. 4. Identify the suitable leadership styles or leadership traits for increased employee engagement. This will allow the current study to build on previous and current studies to develop future implications and recommendations in research and practice. Literature Review There exists an extensive body of research on leadership styles and their impact on employee engagement. AON Hewitt, (2015, p. 38) states that “leaders hold the key to employee engagement”. Leaders associate to their followers while the employee associates to their work or duties. Therefore, leadership styles or traits can impact employee outcomes in terms of satisfaction, performance, and engagement. The importance of employee engagement is that most successful and profitable companies have engaged employees. An engaged employee can be described as one who is loyal to the company, dedicated, ethical, and motivated among others. A research by AON Hewitt, (2015, p. 13) concluded that the number of engaged employees has risen to about 50% globally in the last few years. Another research by Moody, (2012, p. 25) illustrates that only about 30% of the global workforce is engaged with about 60% of employees being ambivalent and disengaged with their work. The UAE is a leading country in the Middle East based on its recent rapid growth in its economy. On a regional focus, the Middle East has improved in terms of employee engagement where about 65% of employees are engaged (AON Hewitt, 2015, p. 13).These engagement gaps have increased the overall implications organizational performance, reputations, and financial performance among others. Numerous studies have focused on researching the different leadership styles in the UAE. The main focus of leadership styles in a global perspective is based on transformational, transactional, and authentic leadership styles. Bhanugopan, & Bealer (2014, p. 293) conducted a cross-cultural research investigating the differences in leadership styels illustrated by national and expatriate managers in the UAE. The study found that national managers applied less-transformative leadership styles compared to expatriate managers from the U.S. Overall, this research offers a better understanding of relative leadership styles across Europe, U.S., and the Middle East. The proposed research will focus on both identifying the common leadership styles in the UAE and Middle East and their influence on employee engagement. Additionally, by focusing on the public sector the proposed research will help governments improve efficiency in terms of public service. Randeree & Chaudhry, (2012, p. 61) examined the scope that different leadership styles influence employee organizational commitment and job satisfaction in the UAE’s construction sector. The results revealed that consensus and consultative leadership styles were common in the construction sector of UAE (Randeree & Chaudhry, 2012, p. 84). Moreover, it also noted that leadership was a common determinant of job satisfaction and commitment. Nonetheless, the research only focuses on the construction industry and employee satisfaction and commitment. The proposed research will focus on identifying the leadership traits or behaviors that are positively associated with employee engagement. The focus on leadership styles may be misleading since different situation call for different leadership approaches. Therefore understanding the best leadership practices or behavior to use is relevant to both future research and current practice. Moreover, the research will also focus on expanding the area of employee engagement to include elements such as motivation, vigor, and absorption. A study by Jogulu, (2010, p. 705) conducted a research on the different leadership styles across different cultures i.e. Malaysia and Australia. The results of the study found cultural variations among the leadership styles where transactional leadership was common in Malaysia while transformational leadership was common in Australia. This research is relevant in illustrating the cultural differences in leadership styles. Nonetheless, it focus on East Asia is not enough to cover the gap that has left the Middle East disengaged. The proposed research has the ability to offer practical implications for companies wishing to expand to the Middle East and specifically the UAE. This is especially for companies seeking to understand how the public sector operates in terms of leadership. Shahin, (2004, p. 499) research focuses on investigating the appropriateness of the Bass and Avolio’s Multifactor Leadership Model on transformational and transactional leadership. The study used a modified multifactor leadership questionnaire that reflected the Egyptian culture on managers and employees in ten banks. The results indicated that the model of leadership was inconsistent to the Egyptian or Arab culture on different items. The implications of the study are the modification of such models and frameworks used in investigating leadership styles across cultures. Despite the huge research on Western leadership styles, little research has focused on the Middle East. Predominant leadership models have been overly used to the point that the issue of culture is no longer a factor. Nonetheless, the proposed research will aim at developing an authentic model drawn from previous and emerging frameworks to investigate leadership styles based on the Middle East culture by focusing on the UAE. This will offer increased insight to some misconceptions on leadership styles in the Middle East. Abbasi, (2012, p. 643) investigated the effects of organizational justice on employee engagement in the Pakistan banking sector. The overall impact of organizational justice was positive to employee engagement. The issues included in organizational justice closely relate to leadership styles such as treating employees with respect and dignity. This study is relevant in attempting to investigate employee engagement outcomes based on organizational justice. With correlations to leadership, this study has focused on part of the Middle East. The proposed research will further this research by focusing on numerous countries rather than a single country. This will offer an unlimited amount of research implications for future research as well as practice. Last, but not least, Abdulla, (2011, p. 127) studied the determinants of job satisfaction among UAE’s police employees. The study revealed both internal and external determinates that included leadership as well as recognition and rewards. These issues are in line with leadership styles and employee engagement. Job satisfaction is one of the indicators of employee engagement. The focus of the research on UAE is not well structured to identify leadership styles as well as their effect on employee engagement. The proposed research will focus on identifying the widely accepted area of leadership styles and their impact on employee engagement. By focusing on the Middle East, the proposed research will offer a foundation where current research and previous research can be used to understand leadership and employee engagement in the Middle East. The predominate focus of Western cultures in terms of leadership styles and employee engagement have created a gap in the leadership field in the Middle East. The proposed research aims at closing this gap by investigating the common leadership styles and their impact on employee engagement in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait. This will allow scholars and leaders in practice to understand the relationship between leadership styles and employee engagement in the Middle East business/organizational concept. Research Approach The proposed research will utilize a qualitative research methodology. The qualitative research approach will focus on acquiring opinions and ideas rather than numbers. It will focus on top-level managers and employees from the Ministry of Interior. A total of 15 participants will be used in the proposed study including 5 managers (all male) and 10 employees (5 female and 5 male). Data collection will be achieved through questionnaires. The research proposal will use a modified version of the multifactor leadership questionnaire to investigate the different types of leadership styles, traits, and behaviors. Moreover, the proposal will also apply a modified/updated version of the employee engagement models such as the AON Hewitt Employee Engagement Model. These data collection methods will be distributed to potential participants through emails. All measures including seeking consent for the research and ethical issues of confidentiality will be taken into context. Respondents will answer the questionnaires and then resend them for analysis. The research proposal will use both correlations and regression analysis to analyze the results. Each item in the questionnaire will have different rating systems such frequently, often, less often among others. The basic structure of the questionnaires is aimed at realizing the aims and objectives of the study. No specialist resources will be needed or facilities for this research. Expected Outcomes The proposed research expects to challenge previous and current literature as well as research on the common leadership styles, traits, and behaviors in the Middle East. This is because not many studies have focused on investigating leadership styles in the Middle East specifically in the public sector. Moreover, the study is also expected to accomplish the indicated aims and objectives. One of the main contributions of accomplishing the objectives is gaining a foundation for analyzing leadership styles in the Middle East. Furthermore, the project will also assist leaders around the world to understand the main leadership styles in the UAE’s public sector.. Organizations will also understand the main leadership styles, behaviors, and traits associated with positive or negative employee engagement. On a personal level, this project will offer a unique opportunity to improve my research skills in leadership and strategic planning. Moreover, I will gain insight into leadership based on the Middle East region. The project will offer future research a foundation for exploring leadership and employee engagement in the Middle East. It is also expected that the project will offer insightful implications in the area of leadership styles based on cultural differences. This will put the Middle East into focus in terms of leadership research and development. References Abbasi, A, S, 2012, ‘Impact of Organizational Justice on Employee Engagement in Banking Sector of Pakistan’, Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research, 12, 5, pp. 643-649. Abdulla, J, 2011, 'Determinants of job satisfaction in the UAE : a case study of the Dubai police', Personnel Review : A Professional Journal Reporting New Developments In Research, Theory And Practice Of Personel Management, 40, 1, pp. 126-146. AON Hewitt, 2015, 2014 Trends In Global Employee Engagement [online] available from [24 July 2015]. Jogulu, UD 2010, 'Culturally-linked leadership styles', Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 8. Randeree, K, & Chaudhry, A 2012, 'Leadership – style, satisfaction and commitment an exploration in the United Arab Emirates' construction sector', Engineering Construction & Architectural Management (09699988), 19, 1, p. 61 Moody, VJ 2012, Examining leadership styles and employee engagement in the public and private sectors (Doctoral dissertation, UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX). Shahin, A, & Wright, P 2004, 'Leadership in the context of culture: An Egyptian perspective', Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 6. Bealer, D, & Bhanugopan, R 2014, 'Transactional and transformational leadership behaviour of expatriate and national managers in the UAE: a cross-cultural comparative analysis', International Journal Of Human Resource Management, 25, 2, pp. 293-316. Read More