locus of control & leadership

BUSS1001 UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS

SEMESTER 1, 2014

ESSAY QUESTION

Review the academic literature on the “Locus of Control” psychological construct and answer the following questions:

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1. What is the essential nature of the “Locus of Control” construct and why is it important? (750 words – 7.5 marks)
2. What is the relationship between “Locus of Control” and effective leadership? (750 words – 7.5 marks)
3. What are the implications of your personal “Locus of Control” scores (completed earlier in the semester on Blackboard) for leadership and your career. (500 words – 5 marks)

Three research papers have been uploaded onto Blackboard to assist you in this task.

Please note:

i.            Even though the ‘Locus of Control’ construct has been around for almost 50 years, there are a number of ways suggested on how it can be measured. One of the research papers (Levenson, 1981)[i]details 24 questions, specifies its three dimensions, identifies the questions that relate to those three dimensions, and suggests a ‘scoring’ mechanism for those questions. These are the ones you have answered on Blackboard. But there are other ways and other questionnaires that have been suggested to measure the construct. This paper by Levenson has been uploaded onto Blackboard and will help you ‘start’ your searches on the ‘Locus of Control’ construct. The exact questions used by Levenson and the scoring system for those questions are contained in the Appendix to the Levenson article. You should use the Levenson scoring system in your analysis of your personal scores.

ii.            To answer the second question on the link between the Locus of Control construct and leadership, two other papers have been also uploaded onto Blackboard – one by Barbuto, Weltmer and Pennisi (2010) and another by Bruttel and Fischbacher (2013). These have been included to help you get started on this second part.

iii.            Instructions on how to print your answers to the 24 questions from Levenson has also been included as an attachment. You need to do this to be able to answer the third part of the essay.

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[i] The paper is taken from a book entitled “Research with the Locus of Control Construct: volume 1 Assessment Methods” which was edited by H.M. Lefcourt. It was published in 1981 by Academic Press from New York.

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