Research Study Plan
Proposed Title: Leadership, Globalization and the New Social Media
Overview
Ours is a digital world where information is easily accessed through the internet, through highly connected information technology networks that has changed the way we live our lives. The 'New Social Media' - online community systems that allow for people to share, connect and live their digital lives has made people interact much faster, more often and more intrinsically without the barriers of culture, geography and time differences. Such social changes as can be expected impact the way leadership is practiced and how social order and development is achieved by governments according to the purposes and design of their politics and constitutions.
Globalization - the increasingly intrinsic and interdependent nature of international cooperation between nations has been furthered on by the New Social Media so that conflicts of the international nature come to the forefront sooner and the notion of 'glocal' - Global concerns, Local events - is not practiced. This study will explore these phenomena and its impact on society and public administration. There are limitations, of course but given the resources available - the study will attempt to lay out a picture of how these elements intertwine construct the kind of government, leadership and society we experience and live as today. The hope is that the information mined can be used for good purpose in coming to understand how leadership and globalization are impacted by social media and to use said information in the practice of public administration and leadership.
Problem State & Research Questions
The main problem statement of this study is as follows - How has the New Social Media Impacted Leadership and Globalization? This becomes the basis for the hypothesis that for me goes like this - 'The New Social Media has changed the way leadership is practiced and has positively impacted globalization in that it hastened interdependence and cross-cultural interactions further.' The study will attempt to prove this position. Of course a number of support questions follow. For instance - meanings of globalization, new social media, republican administration and leadership will be in question. How has leadership changed in politics and in the private sector due to this? What examples serve to validate these changes? What kind of social media had the most impact? How has social media been impacted by globalization? Can we see globalization and 'new leadership' played out in the new social media? What examples are available? These are just among the many questions that can be used to explore this research topic. I have 'distilled all these ideas below:
Main Question - How does globalization and the new social media fuelled by the internet and related technologies impact leadership and public administration?
1. Corollary 1 - What is globalization and how does it impact leadership?
2. Corollary 2 - How is leadership in public administration practiced? What are the most applicable theories?
3. Corollary 3 - What is the new social media and what is its impact to the present? How is social media utilized by society? How is the new social media indicative of globalization and what is this social media's role in expanding global leadership and public administration trends?
4. Corollary 4 - What are the most utilized technologies in today's public administration and by leaders and managers of organizations? How are they most utilized?
5. Corollary 5 - What are the ethical concerns of impact in the new globalized, social-media driven leadership practices?
Literature Review
There were a number of materials that I checked out due to their relation and input on my topic. Two of the most impactful were the work of Margetts, John, Hale and Reissfelder (2013) who studied the impact of the new social media in the manner by which it can move people to collective action. The rise of internet documentarians and 'You Tube' eyewitness videos from the Arab Spring for example has wizened us to thru true power of the internet in collective action and moving for social change. The authors have also observed this so that their study purposed to determine the impact of online collective action whereby a good number of advocacies, campaigns and critical activities have been spearheaded by a variety of organizations and individuals in the hope of engaging discourse for the purpose of social change. Margetts, John, Hale and Reissfelder (2013) utilized experimental data and designed an experimental analysis of the numeric data sourced. Their study although quantitative measured the impact of 'starters' - people who start collective action and online and 'followers' - those who follow them.
Another work of relevance to my study was the qualitative work by Deng and Gibson (2008). It is unique in that it studied the impact of cultural skills and knowledge in relation to leading and doing business in a nation that does not share your own. Interviewing expatriates in China ranging from the fairly new ones to the entrenched who have served there for decades showcased the importance of knowing how to lead, even people coming from different realities and perspectives.
Relevance of Study
Why study the topic? It is already a proven concern in public administration with regards to the impact of globalization. The interconnectedness of politics and economy, of nation-states and cultures has given rise to the question of power shift from the non-influential to the influential, from the powerless to the powerful. I believe however that much research has been undertaken with regards to the impact of globalization on public administration and leadership so that we can easily take the position that our nation is a globalized society raking in the benefits of being a globalized economy and power player in the world's stage. What I think we have taken into account less is the impact of new technologies.
While the internet is now a standard communication technology globally, new technologies like smartphones and social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have made social connections between people and companies truly 'on-demand' with connectedness and delivery of message faster, more savvy and instant. With just about majority of internet users now with smartphones, there is a need to reevaluate how this new way of connecting impacts how globalization is operationalized and how this impacts the practice of leadership. The ethics of leadership and the demands of leadership remain the same but innovations in technology create challenges that must be met so as to establish leadership practices that are in context and in tune to the social situatedness of a 'Smartphones' world. A review of published materials has not turned up research that undertakes this topic in earnest which to me justifies the relevance of the study as it fills a gap in the Public Administration research.
Methodology
Unlike Margetts, John, Hale and Reissfelder (2013) - I do not have the time or the luxury of resources to further devote to the topic from a quantitative study. That would require the interview and observation of a good number of subjects to present a valid and reliable measurement study. I am much more inclined to a descriptive study of the phenomenon, utilizing published materials that highlight the topic or any related concepts in it - leadership, globalization and the social media. The idea is to create a detailed knowledge of the subject that it becomes 'new knowledge'. I will follow the principle behind 'critical' theory for this study. The purpose is to attain new knowledge and information so as to arrive at new thinking that can have positive implications.
As a qualitative study - I will compile information from well documented resources to describe each so as to arrive at patterns. Data gathering therefore will be simple enough - gathering related studies through online databases as well as published printed materials from journals and printed books. Data gathered will be text-data, each idea and description gathered will be used to create a pattern of causality - how each element affects each other. Using ethnographic skills - these patterns can be related and opined to show relations. Data analysis will be done off site and will largely rely on the ethnographic analytical and discourse analysis skills of the author. The idea is to detail the quality of the social phenomenon and describe it so thoroughly it can be fully understood.
Feasibility of the Study
The study - which is a qualitative review of the subject as evidenced in already published material which serves as the data source is easy enough to undertake. It is therefore feasible in terms of data collection. As for data analysis - I am trained at descriptive studies so that I can easily undertake such an analytical task. Spotting patterns in the text and uncovering causality relations will not be an issue. With such study reliant on authorial skills, time and access to such necessary data, the likelihood of such a study being completed is quite high. The only challenge will be completing the material in a particular amount of time if time allocated to it and its completion is not generous enough o account for the complexity of the method chosen.
Annotated Bibliography:
1. Chui, M., Manyika, J., Bughin, J., Dobbs, R., Roxburgh, C., Sarrazin, H., Sands, G. & Westergreen, M. (2012). The Social Economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies. Mckinsey Global Institute.
-This is a groundbreaking study undertaken by Mckinsey & Company to look at the economic impact of social technologies like smartphones, and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter on the global online community of over 1.5 billion people. This study is of relevance to me as it provides details on the practice of social media usage from a cross-cultural platform providing a globalized discussion of the impact of said technologies.
2. Deng, L. & Gibson, P. (2008). " A Qualitative Evaluation on the Role of Cultural Intelligence in Cross-Cultural Leadership Effectiveness," in International Journal of Leadership Studies, Vol. 3 Iss. 2, 2008, pp. 181-197, 2008 School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship, Regent University. URL: https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/ijls/new/vol3iss2/IJLS_V3Is2_Deng_Gibson.pdf
- This particular study is qualitative - it is aimed at exploring the role of cultural intelligence in relation to cross-cultural leadership effectiveness. This century is the era of globalization of the world economy. The authors presented in their findings that the most successful expatriates are those aware of the cross-cultural differences between Chinese and Australian business practices.
3. Division for Public Economics and Public Administration (1998). RETHINKING PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: AN OVERVIEW. Department of
Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Public Administration Network. URL: https://www.unpan.org/Portals/0/60yrhistory/documents/Publications/Rethinking%20public%20administration.PDF
- It is important to have a global perspective of what leadership in public administration is as I undertake this research. Fortunately, this material by the UN's PAN provides that perspective which is not rooted from that of a singular nation but one that is relative to a global view. This is a very extensive 220-page material but covers a wide range of topics from governance systems to information resource management.
4. Gergen, K. (2001). "Chapter 9: Ethical Challenge of Global Organization," in Social Construction in Context. Sage. URL:
https://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/faculty/gergen/The_Ethical_Challenge_of_Global_Organization.PDF
- This particular chapter of Gergen's book is of relevance to me as it talks about the many ethical challenges global organizations face. Ethics in a globalized organization is one of my concerns in the study.
5. Margets, H. Z., John, P., Hale, S. & Reissfelder, S. (2013). "Leadership Without Leaders? Starters and Followers in Online Collective Action," in SSRN. URL:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2224187
- A SSRN directly published research; the material is useful for me because it talks about how social media is used to mobilize people.
Essentially it details why social media is powerful and impactful so that it inspires people to action. It also talks about why in certain instances it fails to inspire which are points to consider when formulating leadership practices.
6. Petrie, N. (2011). Future Trends in Leadership Development (A White Paper). Center for Creative Leadership. URL: https://www.ccl.org/leadership/PDF/research/futureTrends.PDF
- This is one of the most recent white papers on leadership development trends. The author develops methods that are adapted and utilized in both public and private sectors in the US and around the world. The white paper asks the question - "what will the future of leadership development look like?" and proceeds to answer that by presenting likely trends.
7. McBain, L. Smith, J. (2010). Strategic Management In the Public Sector. E-Leader. Retrieved from https://www.g-casa.com/conferences/singapore/papers_in_pdf/mon/McBain.pdf
- McBain and Smith in this article analyze how a public manager can use strategic management tools to create value and shape their organization. They use the strategic triangle to describe what public service organizations must be able to accomplish in terms of stakeholder interests and performance. This article is important in this topic as it shows how strategic management is used to scrutinize public administration.
The major barrier or limitation to my research project is the unchartered waters regarding effective leadership roles and qualifications. Saner (2011) states that, "increased globalization and the integration of information technology have brought about a fundamental rethinking of how to conduct business and how to lead a complex organization for continuous improvement and reinventing of the organization."
The amplification of globalization has brought about a multitude of principles that oversee commercial and public behavior. Sager (2001) acknowledges that, "It is no longer sufficient to know the business and legal conditions of a global company's headquarter country and those of some of the countries where it might operate its foreign subsidiaries. The leadership skills of civil servants will yet again mark another definitive departure from the past."
Reference:
Saner, Raymond (2001). Globalization and its impact on leadership qualification in public administration, International Review of Administrative Sciences. Volume 67, no. 4 pg. 655. Doi:10.1177/0020852301674004.