VI. DISCUSSION
VI.2. Research Contribution and Limitations
VI.2.2. Contribution to Practice
One of the aims of this study was to determine whether any one organizational structure type was better than another. The results, however, did not find that any organizational structure type was better than others. This therefore provides a contribution to executives of technology companies, who previously believed that changing from one organizational structure to other helps improve their organization’s innovativeness or organizational effectiveness. Although it is good to have a good structure, there is no need for companies to spend time changing from one organizational structure to another, because the change in itself is disruptive to the business and does not add to its innovativeness and bottom-line
The findings of this research recommend that practitioners, particularly entrepreneurs and business executives, focus on developing their transformational leadership capabilities, instead of their transactional leadership capabilities, if their objective is to improve organizational
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Several studies have shown that the transformational leadership behaviors can be learned (Castiglione, 2006, Russell & Mizrahi, 1995).
VI.2.3. Study Limitations & Recommendations for Future Research
As with any research, this research has limitations. One such limitation is that the measure used for comparative performance was neither objective nor a validated measure. Knowing that the respondents work with private companies, I concluded that the respondents would be uncomfortable providing financial performance metrics about their organizations, such as revenue, sales volumes, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and
amortization), or return on total assets (ROTA). For the comparative performance measure, I had initially proposed using ROTA-change over a 3-year period to be able to compare companies of varying capital structure, debt structures, and geography; however, it was not favorably received by the test respondents to the survey. Future research can consider targeting organizations with publicly available financial data to achieve a more objective measure for comparative
performance.
To obtain additional context about the organizations, future researchers can include more qualitative questions on the survey and possibly do interviews, thereby conducting mixed- method study, which was not this study’s approach. Another way to obtain additional contextual or qualitative information is to target specific organizations and obtain information directly from the CEO, as well as from different people in the organization. These approaches may resolve one of the limitations of this study, which was its incapacity to distinguish if the respondent was the CEO or not. It would be valuable to be able to differentiate the responses by level (i.e., separate responses given by CEOs, from responses given by those in top-management positions, and from
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responses given by other employees). This separation would enable researchers to evaluate any biases in the responses and consider response scores by level, against the transactional and transformational norms.
An interesting extension of this study may be to evaluate whether transformational leadership style is better in a functional, divisional, or matrix organization. Researchers may also undertake my same research, but on non-tech companies, in other countries, or on smaller or larger organizations.
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VII. APPENDIX VII.1. Summarized Survey Instrument
About the Company
• Please characterize the form of your organizational structure based on the definitions provided below (Functional: ; Divisional: ; Matrix: ; Other: ____________).
• In which US State is your company headquartered?
• How many years has the company been in operation since its founding date or date it commenced operations (whichever is more recent)?
• How many employees are employed in this company? Business Performance:
Dimensions: Comparative Performance, Employee Commitment, and Employee Job Satisfaction Comparative Performance
Options: Far below average – 1; Somewhat below average – 2; Average – 3; Somewhat above average – 4; Far above average – 5
• How would you rate your company’s overall financial performance compared to competition? Employee Commitment - Shoham, Vigoda-Gadot, Ruvio and Schwabsky (2012)
Options: Strongly Disagree – 1; Somewhat Disagree – 2; Neither Disagree nor Agree – 3; Somewhat Agree – 4; Strongly Agree – 5
• On the average, employees of the company:
o Are willing to put in a great deal of effort beyond that normally expected in order to help the organization be successful
o Talk up this organization to their friends as a great place to work o Find that their values and the organization’s values are very similar o Really care about the fate of this organization
Employee Job Satisfaction – Shoham, Vigoda-Gadot, Ruvio and Schwabsky (2012)
Options: Strongly Disagree – 1; Somewhat Disagree – 2; Neither Disagree nor Agree – 3; Somewhat Agree – 4; Strongly Agree – 5
• On the average, employees of the company… o Are satisfied with their jobs
o Are satisfied with their supervisors o Are satisfied with their co-workers o Are satisfied with their pay
o Are satisfied with their promotion opportunities
Organizational Innovativeness - Shoham, Vigoda-Gadot, Ruvio and Schwabsky (2012)
Options: Strongly Disagree – 1; Somewhat Disagree – 2; Neither Disagree nor Agree – 3; Somewhat Agree – 4; Strongly Agree – 5
• Creativity:
o Creativity is encouraged here
o Managers here expect us to be resourceful problem solvers
o We are constantly looking to develop and offer new or improved services o Our ability to function creatively is respected by the leadership
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o We are encouraged to use original approaches when dealing with problems in the workplace
• Openness
o This organization is always moving toward the development of new answers o This organization is open and responsive to changes
o Assistance in developing new ideas is readily available
o People here are always searching for fresh, new ways of looking at problems • Future Orientation – This organization…
o Establishes a realistic set of future goals for itself
o Effectively ensures that all managers and employees share the same vision of the future o Conveys a clear sense of future direction to employees
o Has a realistic vision of the future for all departments and employees • Risk-taking – This organization…
o Believes that higher risks are worth taking for high payoffs o Encourages innovative strategies, knowing well that some will fail o Likes to take big risks
o Does not like to ‘‘play it safe’’ • Proactiveness
o We are constantly seeking new opportunities for the organization
o We take the initiative in an effort to shape the environment to our advantage o We are often the first to introduce new services
o We usually take the initiative by introducing new administrative techniques Competition in the Industry
Options: Fast Decline - 1, Slow Decline -2; Not Declining / Not Growing - 3; Slow Growth - 4; Fast Growth - 5
• In your opinion, what is the current direction of growth of your industry About the CEO
• How long has the CEO held the CEO position in your company? • How long has the CEO been employed in this organization? CEO Leadership Style - MLQ Form 5x-Short (Bass & Avolio, 1995)
Options: Not at all – 0; Once in a while – 1; Sometimes – 2; Fairly often – 3; Frequently, if not always - 4 • Our company’s CEO:
o Talks optimistically about the future. o Spends time teaching and coaching. o Avoids making decisions
Type of tech company
What type of technology company do you work in? Please select all that apply. • We buy technology for our use
• We consult in technology deployment and usage
• We sell technology (hardware or software) to customers for their use • We are a technology hosting company
65 • We develop or manufacture technology
• We provide technology-as-a-service to clients (corporates and consumers)
(respondents that did not select any of the last 5 options were considered ineligible as I did not feel that they work in the type of technology company that I was interested in for my study)
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Table A1. Comparing the CEO Leadership Style Scores with US Norms
Construct Scales This Study US Norm
(total)ф US Norm (lower)Ѱ
Transactional Leadership Style Contingent Reward 2.83 2.87 2.84 Management- by-Exception: Active 2.28 1.67 1.67 Transformational Leadership Style Idealized Attributes 2.85 2.94 2.93 Idealized Behaviors 2.89 2.77 2.73 Inspirational Motivation 3.11 2.92 2.97 Intellectual Stimulation 2.73 2.78 2.76 Individualized Consideration 2.64 2.85 2.78
Note. The figures in the table show the mean scores of the respondents
ф all the respondents in the sample, including the leader being evaluated and his/her peers, superiors, and
subordinates
Ѱ respondents were junior to the leader being evaluated
Source: Bernard, Bass, B. & Avolio, B. (2002). Table 10a (US) - Descriptive Statistics for MLQ 5X 2004 Normative Sample. Published by Mind Garden, Inc. www.mindgarden.com
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Figure A1. Location of the headquarters of the organizations studied
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Northeast Midwest South West
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VITA
Charles Ifedi is a business executive, financial technology consultant, and entrepreneur, with over 20 years of experience. His experience encompasses strategy formulation and execution, product development and management, client and partner relationship management, business development and sales, new market entry, investment due diligence; he also has in-depth expertise in the development and management of fintech initiatives, including switching, processing, integration, transfers (ACH and P2P), bill presentment, eCommerce/POS acquiring, cards (debit, credit, prepaid, charge and multi-purpose), multi-channel platforms, and emerging solutions utilizing QR, digital wallets, and tokenization.
Charles is currently the CEO and co-founder of eBanqo, Inc., an Atlanta-based technology company that helps organizations enhance their customer engagement, using artificial intelligence (AI) and conversational commerce. Prior to founding eBanqo, Charles was the pioneer CEO of Verve International (Africa’s leading payments card brand), and a co-founder of Interswitch Limited. He has payments and consulting experience in Africa, Europe, and the United States, having worked at American Express, PwC, and Accenture.
Charles has a doctorate in Business Administration from Georgia State University, an MBA from Cranfield University, and a B.Sc. Computer Science (summa cum laude) from University of Ilorin.
Charles resides in Alpharetta, Georgia, with his lovely wife Toyin, and their amazing daughters, Osinachi and Dikachi.