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Robert Voskoyan
Liberty University
Applied Article Analysis 2
Summary
Law Enforcement organizations and businesses across the world are facing issue with
identifying what leadership behaviors are effective in the workplace as the generations shift to
more of the millennial generation. The purpose of the quantitative study was to determine what
leadership behaviors are needed within organizations to better respond to the needs of their
millennial employees. The study also identified leadership behaviors that are most valued within
older generations (Chavez, 2018). The study started with a total of 228 participants whose age
ranged from 18 years old to 76 years old. The participants had to be employed or looking for
employment. Once all participants responded to the first data call the number of participants
were reduced by 5. In total 223 participants were sampled. 106 of the participants were from the
Gen X or baby boomer generations, they ranged in age from 40 to 76 years old. The remaining
117 participants were from the millennial generation and ranged in age from 18 to 39 years old
(Chavez, 2018).
The study used the Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) survey. In order to
administer the survey the researcher used Google forms. The MLQ survey had a 5-point Likert
scale that measured seven leadership behaviors. The behaviors that were measured were:
laissez-faire, and management-by-exception (both active and passive) leadership. ANOVA was
utilized to show what leadership behaviors millennials preferred. Microsoft Excel’s data analysis
tools were used to analyze the composite variables. Finally, a series of t tests were conducted to
identify the differences between older generation leadership behaviors and millennials. The
results show that the older generations do not want their leaders to energize them; they also do
not need to be challenged by engaging goals. Whereas millennials prefer their leaders to be more
energetic and they want engaging/challenging goals. Further the results concluded that as
Applied Article Analysis 3
employees get older they put a higher standard on moral conduct and less on leadership
behaviors. The results confirmed that different generations prefer different leadership behaviors
(Chavez, 2018).
Analysis
Due to the use of convenience sampling and the researcher smaller network validity of
the research is limited. The number of participants who were surveyed was not equally
distributed between the different generations. Further research should evenly balance the
participants and gather a larger sample size. Research should also identify and survey
organizations with higher employee turnover to see if there is a correlation between leadership
behaviors and turnover. The research did not account for the changing of leadership behaviors
over time, meaning does an individual’s leadership behavior change as they get older.
The research suggests that leadership behaviors need to be considered within each generation
(Chavez, 2018). However, there is not a specific leadership behavior that covers multiple
generations, due to this information researchers need to focus on multiple generations at the
same time instead of focusing on just one generation’s leadership needs. Currently, organizations
are meeting the needs of one generation, while ignoring the others.
The findings in the study show millennials are valuing transformational leadership over
consideration. The millennial generation wants their leaders to focus on their personal
development (Chavez, 2018). Another implication in the findings was millennials want a leader
who will elevate their employees and are less worried about their self-interests (Chavez, 2018).
The millennial generation has shown some leadership behavior preferences found in idealized
influence. They want their leaders to hold themselves at such a high standard they the leader may
Applied Article Analysis 4
building, and communicating a vision with their team (Bass & Riggio, 2006, p. 5), this type of
leadership behavior allows millennial employees to garner the respect and trust of their leader.
Finally the research gives suggestions on how millennial manager can adjust their leadership
behaviors to help identify with their older generation employees. Millennial managers believe
transitioning into a leadership position is difficult and they believe the challenges that are most
difficult are: getting employees to listen, change in dynamics with their peers, trying to delegate
References
Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E. (2006). Transformational leadership. New York: Taylor & Francis
Group.