Research Design
The purpose of this quantitative study is to examine the effects of leadership styles, measured by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), and employee satisfaction in a healthcare setting for Orthopedic departments in Southern California as these factors play an integral role in employee retention or turnover. The design focuses on the experiences of social workers and the longevity of their employees to understand better why some certain leadership styles have more tendency to retain employees while others have a higher turnover rate.
Nature of the Study
The study is a quantitative analysis to evaluate the correlation between the leadership styles of the managers and the employee satisfaction, and turnover rate. For this purpose, statistical methods will be applied using the statistical methods such as ANOVA. This statistical analysis will be used to verify the hypothesis, and a comprehensive conclusion will be drawn.
Based on previous research completed, it has been identified that leadership styles may affect employee satisfaction. For this study, employees were surveyed to show if there is an existing relationship between leadership style about employee satisfaction in Orthopedic departments in Southern California.
Population Sample
As a population sample, 100 staff member participants from various departments, were asked to complete MLQ (Bass & Avolio, 1997) to understand their level of satisfaction. All participants were asked for their consent to participate. The data collected from the participants were used to analyze findings.
For the orthopedic practitioners, the levels of stress and job dissatisfaction may increase as their workload increase with lack of proper supervision and leadership controls. Furthermore, the sample population may also be influenced by their level of empathy, interpersonal skills, learning capabilities, theoretical and practical knowledge, etc. They may experience job dissatisfaction, fatigue, mental health issues, work-family conflict, strain and physical conditions; symptoms that could increase the risk of agency turnover.
Variables
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- Independent Variable
- Leadership styles
- Transactional
- Transformational
- Laissez-faire
- Dependent Variable
- Employees Level Of Satisfaction
Research Question and Hypothesis
Research Questions
To better understand the connection between leadership styles, and leaders’ educational background on employee satisfaction in a healthcare setting.
Research question 1. What is the impact of leadership style on employee satisfaction?
Hypotheses
H10. There is no statistically significant relationship between leadership styles and the employee satisfaction.
H1a. There is a statistically significant relationship between leadership styles and the employee satisfaction.
H1b. The educational background of leaders is directly correlated to their leadership styles and psychological perception.
H1c. The leadership style of the manager/supervisor is proportionally correlated to the employee motivation.
H1d. There is a direct correlation between employee motivation and job satisfaction, and turnover rate.
Operational Definitions
- Employee satisfaction. Employee satisfaction refers to a feeling of engagement that the employee has with the workplace (Uzonna, 2013).
- Hospital. A place that provides medical care for those individuals those are ill or injured (Cutler & Morton, 2013).
- Job satisfaction. Refers to a feeling that an employee has about their place of employment (Uzonna, 2013).
- Leadership. Ability to lead others while contributing or achieving a common goal (Caillier, 2016).
- Great Place to Work. A survey company that compiles a list of great places to work for the annual Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work for (Great Place to Work, 2017)
Instrumentation
For gathering the data, Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) will be used for evaluation and recording of the satisfaction level of the employees.
Data Collection and Analysis
The data analysis will be conducted through ANOVA for the results generated from MLQ.
Assumptions
The assumptions of this qualitative study are the participants will respond truthfully to their opinions. Creswell (2013) stated that the researcher has determined this research topic is best examined using a phenomenological approach. The seven research questions will guide the study with semi-structured interviews and follow-up questions, should they evolve. It is assumed that orthopedic practitioners are highly stressed and overworked. Having excessive caseloads can increase the risk of experiencing mental health issues and may impact the quality of service to the client and the longevity of their employment.
Limitations
This qualitative study will survey orthopedic practitioners who have agreed to participate and choose the first 25 who volunteer and meet the requirements of being currently employed South Carolina having more than five years of field experience. The phenomenological design is chosen as it provides a rich, detailed descriptions from employees who have experienced multiple leadership styles and the potential negative impact this may have on the employee performance. This study does not consider gender, race, ethnicity or cultural backgrounds. Future research could include these features to expand research based on these characteristics and determine if they factor in how the employees manage leadership pressures. Other considerations for this study are trustworthiness of the participants and researcher biases.
Delimitations
The focus of the research will be specifically on assessing the Transformational Leadership Style against several other popular leadership styles to evaluate and identify the potential benefits of Transformational Leadership in enhancing the rate of retention of employees and reducing the turnover rate.
Ethical Considerations
The data collected from the sample population will be kept completely anonymous. After the research analysis has been done, the data will be destroyed electronically and manually so that it may not be misused further. The data will not be further provided to any other party or stakeholder unless the permission of volunteers is sought. Also, no volunteer will be forced to provide personal data unless they have willingly signed the No-Objection agreement.
Significance of Study
Employee satisfaction is one of the main drivers of organizations success and can be influenced by many factors. Understanding some of the variety of factors that go into success is essential. This study will examine the relationship between leadership style about employee satisfaction in Orthopedic departments in Southern California.
Leadership and employee satisfaction are two distinctly important issues for the healthcare organization about retention. The research questions in this study are related to leadership styles as well as the what type of leaders drives employees to be satisfied. This study will contribute to the organizations understanding of leadership styles about employee satisfaction.
Specifically, for the orthopedic practitioners, the importance of employee satisfaction and retention is immense as the quality and efficiency of each health care practitioner depend on their competencies and aptitudes as well. Their turnover can have a significant impact on the healthcare facility performance, efficiency and budget management. Therefore, the hypothesis directs the study to evaluate leadership style as a major competency to overcome the rate of retention of the employees, i.e., orthopedic practitioners.
The significance of this study is to understand which factors such as leadership styles played a role in employee satisfaction. The significance of the study, specifically for the orthopedics practitioners is immense as they require great dedication, hard work, and experience to provide quality healthcare services to their patients. Their lack of motivation and satisfaction can lead to improper service quality that can have a significant impact on the well-being of the patients. Furthermore, the cost of retaining and replacing a high-quality orthopedic practitioner is extremely high. It also poses a significantly adverse impact on the overall efficiency of the healthcare institution as well. The intent of this research is for similar organizations and leaders to be able to apply the findings to their jobs. Leadership and employee satisfaction remain as an important key word in healthcare. Determining the leadership styles that are most effective can positively contribute to the organization’s overall success. Having engaged and happy employees within the healthcare organization can increase patient satisfaction as well. This study will be beneficial for other researchers who are studying areas of motivation and satisfaction. If this study is not completed, the organization can continue to have high turnover in their leadership and employees. Therefore, the contributions of this study can be significant regarding increasing overall satisfaction of the organization.
References
Creswell, J.W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approach (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
