Management Assignment: An Annotated Bibliography on Business Case Scenarios
Question
Task: Your task is to select four articles based on business and management and prepare a management assignment presenting an annotated bibliography.
Answer
Article 1
1. Citation of the paper selected herein management assignment in APA (6th ed.) format:
Luthans, F. (1988).Successful vs. effective real managers. Academy of Management Perspectives, 2(2), 127-132.
2. Does the paper convincingly highlight the purpose and justification of the study? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the introduction as an evidence of your answer.
The paper is a good work in the field of business and management. It clearly highlights the comparative study between successful and effective real managers, the area they differ and those they are similar in. There are few common things between successful and effective managers. The article tries to identify if the managers who are successful and have achieved fast promotions, are effective as real managers. The effective real managers have committed team members, who are usually satisfied working under their manager and are high performers. However, the successful managers do not indulge in daily activities in their real organisations (Luthans, 1988). The difference between successful and effective real managers is more prominent in the service industry.
3. Does the paper persuasively develop the theoretical basis of the study? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the manuscript as an evidence of your answer.
The basis of the study in this paper is investigating the difference between the successful and effective real managers. The paper lays a strong foundation for this study. The four year observational study lays the basis for the research. The study shows after analysing the trend of many passed over and cynic managers, that there is a difference between the successful and effective managers. The study infers that the successful managers might have been astute politicians and have managed easy and fast promotions at work, however, they are not necessarily effective (Luthans, 1988). These managers who are successful might be performing well themselves but they may not manage to get high performance from their units or take care of their team members. This is where they differ from the effective managers.
4. Does the paper clearly explain the research design and other methodological issues? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the manuscript as an evidence of your answer.
The paper is mainly based on literature review and free observations. The study shows descriptive categories extracted from free observations. These observations highlight the work of the real effective managers. The theories of Kotter and Mintzberg have been referred to for deriving in depth knowledge of management and a greater insight into the area of study. The real effective managers work on communication, traditional management, human resource management and networking (Luthans, 1988). These are the areas where successful managers lag. Through the review of scholarly articles mentioned in the reference section of the paper, the study has been able to find the reason behind managerial issues America is facing today. The managers who are being promoted to important positions are successful but not effective in bringing up a team.
5. Does the paper discuss the results credibly with theoretical lens and empirical evidence? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the manuscript as an evidence of your answer.
The paper does not carry out any statistical study to find the difference between the successful and effective managers. However, the paper has strongly made its inference from the research. The study exposes that what seemed equivalent, i.e., similarity between the successful and effective managers is not true. The article concludes that the organizations today are facing performance problems as their managers might be successful but are ineffective in boosting the quality or quantity of their team’s performance (Luthans, 1988).
6. What did you learn from this paper? It may be in terms of theory, methodology, findings etc. Please specify.
The entire research of this article has been enriching. The paper has helped me to realise the difference between effective real managers and successful real managers. While the former is team oriented and uplifts organizational performance, the latter is more self-growth centric. The article has highlighted that the American organizations are facing low performance today because their managers are not effective. They are unable to maintain a committed workforce under their leadership, generating high team performance. The paper infers that the answer to the low performance lies in the managers. The office managers, departmental heads, general managers, marketing managers, store managers and others can give the answer to these questions raised on performance issues. However, the paper emphasizes that the successful managers are lacking the effectiveness required in daily activities due to which they are unable to ensure high organizational performance.
Article 2
1. Citation of the paper in APA (6th ed.) format:
Wegman, L. A., Hoffman, B. J., Carter, N. T., Twenge, J. M., &Guenole, N. (2018).Placing job characteristics in context: Cross-temporal meta-analysis of changes in job characteristics since 1975. Journal of Management, 44(1), 352-386.
2. Does the paper convincingly highlight the purpose and justification of the study? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the introduction as an evidence of your answer.
Today the management scholars and big business organizations are giving due importance to the job characteristics and changing nature of work. There are many who are of the opinion that the thin line of distinction between non-work and work has been blurred, while others suggest that digitalisation has altered the job world. The job world has changed and what it was previously is not the same (Wegman et al, 2018). Thus, the characteristics defining the job and its satisfaction have also changed over time. This paper convincingly highlights this changing ‘job’ nature.
3. Does the paper persuasively develop the theoretical basis of the study? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the manuscript as an evidence of your answer.
The paper has strongly established the basis of study of the job characteristics and the nature of work which has been changing with time. However, there are very few empirical research works that have been carried out in this field. The authors have tried to understand the perceptions in context to work. They have also proposed some changes in the work. The authors of this paper have implemented cross-temporal meta-analysis (Wegman et al, 2018). This would facilitate examining changes in the prime job characteristics. The paper lays a strong theoretical base for understanding the job characteristics which includes task significance, task identity, skill variety, feedback from the job and autonomy. The paper stresses on the alterations in the relationship between job satisfaction and job characteristics.
4. Does the paper clearly explain the research design and other methodological issues? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the manuscript as an evidence of your answer.
The research design and methodology is appropriate for this research. It takes into account the primary data which analyses the interdependence between the job characteristics and the job satisfaction. The results of the analysis infers that the workforce have been showing higher levels of autonomy and skill variety since 1975, while they have been exhibiting higher levels of interdependence since 1985(Wegman et al, 2018). The research paper is a effective work in the field of job world.
5. Does the paper discuss the results credibly with theoretical lens and empirical evidence? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the manuscript as an evidence of your answer.
The paper looks at the changing nature of job through the theoretical lens. The outcome of the research shows that there is hardly any change in the job satisfaction and job characteristics over the time period considered for study. The job satisfaction does not seem to be much affected by the five core characteristics of job that have been considered in this study (Wegman et al, 2018). Therefore, the research suggests that although there is some impact and alteration in the job characteristics over the years, there is no scope for giving it huge weightage. This paper could prove to be highly beneficial and useful for the organizations today trying to navigate through the work environment of the modern world.
6. What did you learn from this paper? It may be in terms of theory, methodology, findings etc. Please specify.
From this paper, I have learnt that there are certain aspects of the job which determine the job satisfaction. These core or prime characteristics of job include the autonomy at work, the feedback from the work, the task identity, task significance and the variety of skill involved. These characteristics of job have been changing over the years which have been altering the job satisfaction parameters (Wegman et al, 2018). However, there is no reason to put huge weightage or importance on this interdependence.
Article 3
1. Citation of the paper in APA (6th ed.) format:
Colquitt, J. A., Conlon, D. E., Wesson, M. J., Porter, C. O., & Ng, K. Y. (2001). Justice at the millennium: a meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of applied psychology, 86(3), 425.
2. Does the paper convincingly highlight the purpose and justification of the study? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the introduction as an evidence of your answer.
This paper is based on the field of study pertaining to organizational justice. This field of study involves several crucial research questions. These include relative significance of various justice criteria, the size of various relationships within the dimension of organizational justice, the unique impact of dimensions of justice on the key results, etc. (Colquitt et al, 2001). The author has carried out a meta-analytic review in this paper to answer such research questions.
3. Does the paper persuasively develop the theoretical basis of the study? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the manuscript as an evidence of your answer.
The paper has laid a very strong foundation for theoretical analysis of organizational justice. There are total 183 justice cases which have been studied. The meta-analysis has been carried out on these studies of justice. The results of this meta-analytic review also suggest that various aspects of a job like organizational commitment, job satisfaction, organizational citizenship behaviour, evaluation of authority, withdrawal performance, etc. are related to each other (Colquitt et al, 2001). The theory makes its application in the real life organizational setting clear. Thus, the paper has good prospects and its results would find better implications in organizational justice for further study in future.
4. Does the paper clearly explain the research design and other methodological issues? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the manuscript as an evidence of your answer.
The paper has selected a well-suited research design and methodology. The research is based on a meta-analytical review of a specific number of justice studies. The various dimensions of justice are related highly or moderately. These varying justice dimensions actually contribute to the variance which is incremental and has been explained in perception which is fair (Colquitt et al, 2001).
5. Does the paper discuss the results credibly with theoretical lens and empirical evidence? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the manuscript as an evidence of your answer.
If one was to view the organizational justice through the theoretical lens, it would suggest that there exists a unique and overall relationship between the different dimensions of justice. There are various dimensions of justice as learnt from this paper. These dimensions include the procedural justice, distributive justice, informational justice and interpersonal justice (Colquitt et al, 2001). These dimensions of justice are related to the various organizational results.
6. What did you learn from this paper? It may be in terms of theory, methodology, findings etc. Please specify.
This paper has been educative. From this paper, I have learnt that the different dimensions of justice like the procedural justice, informational justice, interpersonal justice and distributive justice are related to the organizational outcomes like the organizational commitment, organizational authority evaluation, organizational citizenship behaviour, job satisfaction, performance and withdrawal.
Article 4
1. Citation of the paper in APA (6th ed.) format:
Fischer, C., Malycha, C. P., &Schafmann, E. (2019).The influence of intrinsic motivation and synergistic extrinsic motivators on creativity and innovation. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 137.
2. Does the paper convincingly highlight the purpose and justification of the study? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the introduction as an evidence of your answer.
In today’s fast changing world, the work is growing more dynamic. The work is also becoming more knowledge-based. The workplaces seek to employ individuals who are creative and innovative. The organizational performance is highly dependent on the innovation and creativity of the employees of the organization. The paper convincingly highlights and analyses the job characteristics which prevail in the competitive job world today. The creativity in a job determines the competitive advantage of the organization. They help in improving the product quality, the performance of the firm, the power of innovation, etc. (Fischer, Malycha&Schafmann, 2019). The organizations stress on creativity as through creativity the novel and useful ideas are generated. Innovation facilitates the implementation of these creative ideas.
3. Does the paper persuasively develop the theoretical basis of the study? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the manuscript as an evidence of your answer.
The paper lays a very strong theoretical base for future research. The paper has tried to investigate and analyse the impact which the extrinsic motivators have on the innovation and creativity. These extrinsic factors of motivation can be considered as the synergistic extrinsic motivators. These factors of motivation have a strong positive impact on the work or organizational outcome. The organizations as the research paper suggests can utilise the extrinsic synergistic factors of motivation for enhancing the creativity and productivity of the workforce at work. The morale and innovative spirit of the intrinsically motivated workforce can be improved through these extrinsic factors (Fischer, Malycha&Schafmann, 2019).
4. Does the paper clearly explain the research design and other methodological issues? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the manuscript as an evidence of your answer.
The paper has chosen the dynamic componential model of innovation and creativity by Amabile and Pratt foranalysis. TheelementsofDeci and Ryan’s theory of self-determination have also been combined. The quantitative data has been taken from 90 knowledge employees or workers at a multinational consulting company. These workers had participated in a self-assessment test conducted online. The two most important factors consolidated in extrinsic motivation are transactional rewards and relational rewards. The innovation and creativity trickle down from one of the factor solutions known as innovation performance or creativity performance. The hierarchical regression conducted in this paper suggests that intrinsic factors of motivation have a positive impact on innovation and creative performance (Fischer, Malycha&Schafmann, 2019).
5. Does the paper discuss the results credibly with theoretical lens and empirical evidence? Justify your answer. It is better that you cite from the manuscript as an evidence of your answer.
The results derived from this paper suggest that the relational rewards, extrinsic motivators moderate the relationship between innovation or creative performance and intrinsic motivators, positively and significantly. The results show that the higher the chances of being rewarded with the relational awards, the greater will be the intrinsic motivation. This will eventually have a higher level of positive impact on the innovation or creative performance (Fischer, Malycha&Schafmann, 2019).
6. What did you learn from this paper? It may be in terms of theory, methodology, findings etc. Please specify.
From this paper, I have learnt that various motivating factors, like rewards, etc. have a significant impact on overall productivity and performance. The transactional awards are like the moderator which has a statistically crucial impact on the relationship between innovation or creative performance and intrinsic factors or motivation. The results of this research could be used for practical application, for boosting motivation, creativity and innovation in performance. The performance of the employees improves when they are rewarded and appreciated. The motivation level enhances. This motivated state of mind positively impacts the work that the workers deliver. The productivity increases, the efficiency enhances and the workers are motivated to think differently, creatively. Thus, the motivators boost innovation, which enhances the competitive advantage of an organization.
