Malaysian generation Y employees' leadership preference in the private sector: an exploratory qualitative study / Sharizan Sharkawi

The current workforce in Malaysia is experiencing changing employee demographics. Generation Y, those age 34 years and below (born in 1980 - 1999), makes up nearly half of the labour force today. They are playing a vital role in the Malaysian labour market by helping to spearhead the country's...

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Main Author: Sharkawi, Sharizan
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/27103/1/27103.pdf
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author Sharkawi, Sharizan
author_facet Sharkawi, Sharizan
author_sort Sharkawi, Sharizan
collection UITM
description The current workforce in Malaysia is experiencing changing employee demographics. Generation Y, those age 34 years and below (born in 1980 - 1999), makes up nearly half of the labour force today. They are playing a vital role in the Malaysian labour market by helping to spearhead the country's future economic growth. However, a dilemma confronting leaders today is the limited understanding when leading the Gen Y and ironically the organisation's future vitality is dependent on its ability to work effectively with Gen Ys. There have been numerous feedbacks on Gen Y not staying long in organisations making job retention a challenge. Although the study of leadership has been well established over the centuries, the generational preferences of leadership particularly of the Gen Ys' have been overlooked in the research and literature of leadership studies. Thus, the main aim of this study was to explore the leadership preference of Malaysian Gen Y employees in the private sector. A qualitative approach was employed as an attempt to understand the phenomena from the Malaysian Gen Y employees' perspective. Data were gathered from ten (10) participants who were purposely selected using a criterion-based selection. In-depth semi structured interviews were conducted with the intention to obtain real life experiences of the participants. Data analysis was conducted using the grounded theory analytical procedure in which an inductive analysis strategy was employed to generate the patterns, themes, and categories derived from the data itself. Findings from this research suggest that the Malaysian Gen Y employees interviewed preferred leaders who demonstrate both transformational and servant leadership at the same time - a hybridisation of leadership theory, TransServe Model. They desire leaders with the following qualities: (i) competent and knowledgeable; (ii) give guidance and develop employees; (iii) personable and caring; (iv) trust and respectful of others; (v) provide direction; and (vi) lead by example. Contributions of this study include recommendations for leaders and HR practitioners on guidelines to managing the Gen Y employees more effectively and to the body of leadership knowledge specifically on the Generation Y Malaysian employees in the private sector workplaces.
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spelling uitm.eprints-71032021-12-23T04:55:59Z https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/27103/ Malaysian generation Y employees' leadership preference in the private sector: an exploratory qualitative study / Sharizan Sharkawi Sharkawi, Sharizan Leadership. Transformational leadership Organizational behavior. Corporate culture The current workforce in Malaysia is experiencing changing employee demographics. Generation Y, those age 34 years and below (born in 1980 - 1999), makes up nearly half of the labour force today. They are playing a vital role in the Malaysian labour market by helping to spearhead the country's future economic growth. However, a dilemma confronting leaders today is the limited understanding when leading the Gen Y and ironically the organisation's future vitality is dependent on its ability to work effectively with Gen Ys. There have been numerous feedbacks on Gen Y not staying long in organisations making job retention a challenge. Although the study of leadership has been well established over the centuries, the generational preferences of leadership particularly of the Gen Ys' have been overlooked in the research and literature of leadership studies. Thus, the main aim of this study was to explore the leadership preference of Malaysian Gen Y employees in the private sector. A qualitative approach was employed as an attempt to understand the phenomena from the Malaysian Gen Y employees' perspective. Data were gathered from ten (10) participants who were purposely selected using a criterion-based selection. In-depth semi structured interviews were conducted with the intention to obtain real life experiences of the participants. Data analysis was conducted using the grounded theory analytical procedure in which an inductive analysis strategy was employed to generate the patterns, themes, and categories derived from the data itself. Findings from this research suggest that the Malaysian Gen Y employees interviewed preferred leaders who demonstrate both transformational and servant leadership at the same time - a hybridisation of leadership theory, TransServe Model. They desire leaders with the following qualities: (i) competent and knowledgeable; (ii) give guidance and develop employees; (iii) personable and caring; (iv) trust and respectful of others; (v) provide direction; and (vi) lead by example. Contributions of this study include recommendations for leaders and HR practitioners on guidelines to managing the Gen Y employees more effectively and to the body of leadership knowledge specifically on the Generation Y Malaysian employees in the private sector workplaces. 2018 Thesis NonPeerReviewed text en https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/27103/1/27103.pdf Malaysian generation Y employees' leadership preference in the private sector: an exploratory qualitative study / Sharizan Sharkawi. (2018) PhD thesis, thesis, Universiti Teknologi MARA. <http://terminalib.uitm.edu.my/27103.pdf>
spellingShingle Leadership. Transformational leadership
Organizational behavior. Corporate culture
Sharkawi, Sharizan
Malaysian generation Y employees' leadership preference in the private sector: an exploratory qualitative study / Sharizan Sharkawi
title Malaysian generation Y employees' leadership preference in the private sector: an exploratory qualitative study / Sharizan Sharkawi
title_full Malaysian generation Y employees' leadership preference in the private sector: an exploratory qualitative study / Sharizan Sharkawi
title_fullStr Malaysian generation Y employees' leadership preference in the private sector: an exploratory qualitative study / Sharizan Sharkawi
title_full_unstemmed Malaysian generation Y employees' leadership preference in the private sector: an exploratory qualitative study / Sharizan Sharkawi
title_short Malaysian generation Y employees' leadership preference in the private sector: an exploratory qualitative study / Sharizan Sharkawi
title_sort malaysian generation y employees leadership preference in the private sector an exploratory qualitative study sharizan sharkawi
topic Leadership. Transformational leadership
Organizational behavior. Corporate culture
url https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/27103/1/27103.pdf
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