Leadership Behaviors,Employee Involvement,Knowledge Management Practices,and Organizational Performance

Knowledge workers and organizational knowledge are considered to be one of the most valuable assets for any organization.At same time,the management of knowledge is also an important area of concern for these organizations.Literature review reveals that although many attempts have been made to manage knowledge but failed to deliver the expected results.The reason for failure might be that these attempts are restricted only to the adoption of generally accepted methods or tools for transferring the information and ignoring the other aspects.Appropriate leadership behavior is an area of concern for the researchers and managers and the debate still continues regarding the impact of leadership on organizational performance.Effective leadership plays a significant role in motivating employees,increasing their morale and always trying to make a positive impact on individual and organizational performance.Human resource is probably the most valuable asset of any organization.They are responsible for work as per organizational plans and objectives.Their behavior plays a vital role in effective knowledge management practices,and organizational performance.This study is based on the notion that why employees hide and reluctant to share their knowledge which will badly affect knowledge management practices and organizational performance.Since 2000,the telecom sector is facing a different type of challenges as it moved from analog technology to digital technology,which makes it possible to provide services in the large area and also better and reliable services for its customer.These technological changes demand sophisticated strategical decisions.The strategic decisions are made to get more market share and position in a particular industry.Particularly,in the telecom sector to get market leadership is possible through the better use of organizational resources and capabilities.Large market share makes it possible to get competitive advantages and it can be transformed into better organizational performances(financial and non-financial)over the rivalry firms.This study used two of the prominent behaviors of leadership(transformational leadership and leader-member exchange)for examining their influence on employee involvement,organizational performance and knowledge management practices in organizations.This study also examined the impact of employee involvement on knowledge management,and organizational performance.Another objective of this study is to check whether employee involvement mediates the relationship of leadership,knowledge management practices and organizational performance.For answering research questions of this study different hypotheses have been formulated on the basis of existing literature.The data collected through questionnaires from the telecom sector of Pakistan.For this study,900 questionnaires were distributed among the employees.510 survey forms were retrieved and out of this,495 found complete and suitable for further analysis.For data analysis,different statistical techniques were adopted such as descriptive statistics,correlation,and regression,etc.while using SPSS and AMOS statistical Softwares.Hypotheses were tested with bootstrapped analyses using PROCESS macro's(an extension in SPSS)and SEM(through AMOS).Before testing the hypothesized model,several statistical techniques are used to confirm the fitness of the model.The statistical results supported all the hypotheses of the current study.Through empirical analyses,the following conclusions have been reached:(1)Leadership plays a significant role in shaping the attitudes and behaviors of followers.Human resource is an integral part of any organization.So,they need guidance and encouragement from their supervisors or managers.Besides this,they are human and every human is different in terms of attitudes,behaviors,and skills.Therefore,every individual needs attention from his or her boss or manager.(2)To identify and nurture the skills of subordinated these styles of leadership(transformational leadership and LMX)is really helpful.As a result,follower works more energetically and it became easy to use their knowledge for the betterment of the organization.Both of these behaviors also play an important role in increasing organizational performance and fostering knowledge management practices.But the results of this study depict that transformational leadership acts more favorably as compared to leader-member exchange,as a transformational leader is more visionary and can foresee or predict the future.(3)Another important aspect of this study is that although both leadership style is supportive which helps in increasing organizational performance and managing of knowledge but in reality,their roles are influential,supportive and directive.As per the outcomes of the statistical result,this study revealed that the most important role to increase organizational performance and knowledge management practices will be played by the involvement of employees.This study recommends that:(1)A good working relationship should be kept between management and subordinates.Employees feel proud and comfortable when their supervisor or manager shows trust in their ability and encourages them because it is not only good for the organization but also for themselves as well.This will occur when employees are comfortable with their supervisors and managers and also when the supervisors and managers are comfortable with their subordinates.(2)Both approaches used in this study(transformational and LMX)is based on the premise of the good relationship between leaders and followers.Therefore,as per the results,this study recommends management to use these leadership behaviors for getting better results during the process of change.(3)A transformational leader is more visionary and it can shape the behaviors of the employees.Transformational leadership can make a difference in any organization as the reason is the involvement of a leader with every individual which is based on the ethical and authentic nature of influence.(4)This study recommends that all types of management in the organization should consider employee involvement in decision making,as the results of this study clearly revealed that they have more impact on organizational performance and knowledge management practices as compared to transformational leadership and LMX.At the end,discussion,limitations and future directions for further research are also discussed.