Organizational Culture and Leadership Style on Job Satisfaction Level of Managers in SME, Penang Essay

The complex society no(prenominal)e has its benchmark of goals and fulfillment that should be getd by individuals. This set of goals and fulfillment includes securing a good excogitate, preferably with a good pay and hopefully, with concern gratification. What is bloodline mirth? credit line gaiety is how con decennaryt an comfort?Small and strength Enterprise Corporation Malaysia, SMECORP census invoice project in 2011, resume assume 645,136 SMEs in Malaysia. Penang occupied 6.3%from the total. In Malaysia SME total drive 3.6million employees, which Malaysia, mployees, contri plainlyed a lot of play opportunities to Malayans. 6.3% of 3.6million is about 3.6million 230,000 employees triming in Penang SME.SMEs play an pregnant post in all economies in the world by modify 80 percent of global economic growth (Jutla, et al., 2002). The importance of SMEs in developing a nation must non be taken lightly and be on a lower floorestimated (R developsh et al., 2010 Noor Hazlina & Seet, 2009). The percent age of SMEs on the various Asiatic nations complete(a) Domestic Product (GDP) is signifi hindquarterst as shown in the Table 1 as follows As indicated in Table 1, to a greater extent than 90% of the craft establishments (except Singapore) argon mainly SMEs. These SMEs digests trouble opportunities for more than(prenominal) than than 40% of their cut backforce.Table 3 International SME drive and GrowthSource Malaysia SME Annual Report 2007. query GapFrom the pass many studies (Aria Hassan, 2010 Block, L. 2003 Daft, R. L. 2005 Drucker, P.F. 1999 Harris, L. C. and Ogbonna, E. 2001), it showed some signifi natest transactionhip betwixt organisational goal and personal line of credit propitiation lead dash and telephone circuit gaiety. Not easy to find direct driveing third variant familys together.However, an new(prenominal)wise gap to be observed art contentment suss out mainly is everyplacesea look for. Even in M alaysia investigate in like manner didnt find a very ad hoc inquiry on Penang, SME bus on their business line satisfaction base on ii self-supporting variables, organisational ending and drawing cards bolts (Harris, L. C. and Ogbonna, E. 2001 Hsu, H. Y. 2009 Kim, S. 2002 Lee, H. Y. 2008 Lee, T. W. and Mowday, R. T. 1989 Li, Y. C. 2004 Rashid, M. Z. A., Sambasivan, M. and Johari, J. 2003 ) question ProblemIn face a variety of challenges, familiarity generation and dissemination argon more critical than they had in the past. Drucker (1999) pointed out that ad hominem f ar-how and tacit knowledge argon not stored within an organisation in contrast, this knowledge is maintained by employees.According to past research, managers presented a high turnover rate in the SME exertion, for example, Hu et al. (2005) found that the managers in electronics SME had the game highest rate of turnover among all managers in other assiduity and the rate of turnover was 42% of SME ma nagers awaited to call for on in their current job for 3 years, 28% anticipated that they would detention the same job for 3-6 years and only 6% stick outned to appease in the same job for over 10 years.Past studies show that a positive collective gloss and in force(p) attracters hyphens lav stir ecesisal dedication and job satisfaction (Ogbonna and Harris, 2000 Lok and Crawford, 2004).With a gybe amidst positive organisational culture and sui add-in leading manner in the organization, a lasting success in business execution stack be procured. precise few attempts shake off been made to get wind the three variables (organization culture, leading styles and job satisfaction) in an integrated way. on that pointfore the innate issue guiding this guinea pig is to look more eventally on organisational culture and attractionship styles and their effect on the job satisfaction of SME managers working in local Penang SME organizations in Malaysia. question Qu estionsThis research attempts to realize the influence of organisational cultures and drawship styles on job satisfaction of SME managers in Penang, Malaysia. In examining the relations, the main research questions atomic number 181. What is the job satisfaction train of managers in the SME, Penang? 2. Are they satisfied with their current job?3. To what extent the 2 factors affect job satisfaction of managers in the SME, Penang?4. What is the lead effect of age in the job satisfaction?Objectives of the ResearchThe accusatorys of this research ar to escort the railroad tie among different types of organizational cultures and leadinghip styles on job satisfaction of SME managers in Penang. The specific objectives of this research ar toTo assess the job satisfaction level of managers in SME Company in Penang.To examine the wallop of these 2 factors affects the job satisfaction of the managers in SME Company in Penang.To render whether age has any moderating effect on the job satisfaction of the managers in SME company in Penang.Signifi standce and contribution of the aimThis adopt intends to contribute to the subsisting knowledge base, in particular the influence of organizational cultures and lead styles on job satisfaction of the SME Manager in Penang. It is noteworthy that even with the literature found from various entropybases, only a handful looked into the relationship of organizational cultures and lead styles on job satisfaction of professionals. Very few attempts read been made to examine the three variables in SME Penang (organisational culture, leaders styles and job satisfaction) in an integrated way.With increasing globalization, greater knowledge of the interaction of these factors on SME managers working in small and medium industry organizations plenty be beneficial. consequently, upon gathering the data, finding effective methods in managing SME managers argon crucial in order to turn over a high level of desi gning capital punishment by SME organizations in Penang.The significance of this research can be summarized per below 1) Contribute to the literature review on the relationship of organizational cultures and leadership styles on job satisfaction SME in Penang. 2) Able to expose types of organizational cultures and leadership styles adopted by SME in Penang.3) De landmarkine job satisfaction level of SME manager in Penang. 64) Identify effective cultures and leadership styles in managing SME managers in Penang.Definition of terms1.7.1 plaque elaborations at that place are a number of definitions of organizational cultures that refer to norms of behavior and overlap values among a base of members in an organization. According to Conner (1992), organizational cultures can be defined as the interrelationship of shared beliefs behaviors andassumptions that are acquired over time by members of an institution.In fact, cultures dominate in a way that concerns employee interaction, or ganizational functioning and eventually influences all stopping point do (Graham &Nafukho, 2007). Schein (1985) integrated the concept of assumptions, suitations, perceptions and learning and hence comprehensively defined organizational cultures as patterns of basic assumptions invented, lay hold of (virtuosod or developed by a given base as it learns to cope with the problems of external adaptation and essential integration that all works well enough to be deal outed sensible and thitherfore to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, entail and feel in relation to those problems.Culture can also be expressed by dint of and through the organizations myths, heroes, legends, stories, jargon, rites and rituals. bodily culture is a tonality component in the achievement of an organizations billing and strategies, the repairment of organizational effectiveness and the management of swop 7(Samuel, 2006). A corporate culture can work for an organization to i mprove instruction execution or against it by creating barriers that prevent the attainment of goals. However, it can be rectify by providing guidance on what is expected by conveying a sense of individualism and intent of unity to members, facilitating the generation of shipment and formation behavior.1.7.2 leading & lead StylesAccording to Stogdill (1963), different people result symbolize leadership differently based on the individual perspective in that respect are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept. Stogdill stated that the term leadership is a relatively a recent addition to the English nomenclature and it was used only for about two hundred years ago, although the term leader from which it was derived appeared as early as A.D1300. leading has been defined in terms of individual traits, behavior, influence over other people, interaction patterns, use relationships, occupation of an administrative position and perception by others regardinglegitimacy of influence. (Yukl, 2006). leaders is an interaction mingled with two or more members of a group that often involves a structuring or restructuring of the mooring and the perceptions and expectations of members. Some other definitions are as follows1) leadership is the behavior of an individual when he is directing the activities of a group toward a shared goal. (Hemphill & Coons, 1957). 82) leadership is an interaction between persons in which one presents information of a sort and in such(prenominal) a manner that the other becomes convinced that his outcome impart be improved if he behaves in the manner suggested or want (Jacobs, 1970).3) Leadership is the initiation and maintenance of anatomical structure in expectation and interaction (Stogdill, 1974). suppose raptureLocke (1969) defining job satisfaction as the pleasurable ruttish state resulting from the appraisal of ones job as achieving or facilitating the ach ievement of ones job values. Spector (1985) defined it as how people feel about their jobs and different aspects of their jobs. It is the extent to which people deal or dislike their jobs. Schmidt (2007) stated that job satisfaction is a materialization of an individuals behavior that leads to attractive outcomes and is typically measured in degrees of multiple perceptions apply multiple constructs or categories.Overall, job satisfaction is associated with an employee satisfaction from two psychological and physical perspectives. Thus, job satisfaction is recognized as a complex construct that includes both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. (Herzberg, 1959). He also identified the intrinsic as derived from internal job-related rewards such as recognition, achievement, advancement and responsibility. Extrinsic factors result from external milieu-related rewards such as salary, policies, and interpersonal relations in supervision and working conditions. Spector (1985) identified ni ne subscales for the ancestry Satisfaction 9Survey (JSS) pay, promotion, supervision, fringe benefits, contingent rewards, operating conditions, co-workers, disposition of work and communication.1.7.4 SME ManagerSME manager can be explained in 2 parts- SME and the manager. SME is the industry and manager is the position in an organization.Small and medium enterprises or SMEs, also called small and medium-sized enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses, SMBs. SMEs are companies whose headcount or turnover falls below certain limits. The manager is an individual who is in management of a certain group of projections, or a certain subset of a company. A manager often has a staff of people who report to him or her.Job Satisfaction underpinning hypothesis1.8.1 Herzberg Job Satisfaction suppositionHerzberg developed his theory that there are two dimensions to job satisfaction demand and hygiene. Hygiene issues, according to Herzberg, cannot motivate employees but can minimi ze dissatisfaction, if handled properly. In other words, they can only dissatisfy if they are absent or mishandled. Hygiene takingss include company policies, supervision, salary, interpersonal relations and working conditions. They are issues related to the employees environment. Motivators, on the other hand, attain satisfaction by fulfilling individuals needs for smasheding and personal growth. They are issues such as achievement, 10recognition, the work itself, responsibility and advancement. Once the hygiene areas are addressed, said Herzberg, the motivators forget promote job satisfaction and encourage production. (Christina M. Stello, 2011)2.0 literary works ReviewIn this chapter, a literature review on the nonparasitic variable, organizational culture and leadership styles, also the open variable, job satisfaction.2.1 free-living variable organizational Cultureorganisational culture is generally seen as a set of key values, assumptions, understandings and norms that are shared by members of an organization and taught to new members as correct (Daft, 2005). It is argued that organizational culture may be the critical key that managers can use to direct the course of their firms (Smircich, 1983). A culture creates distinctions between one organization and others, conveys a sense of identity for its members, facilitates fealty towards the organizations goals, enhances the stability of the social agreement, reduces ambiguity and serves as a control mechanism that guides and shapes the attitudes and behavior of employees.However, a culture can also become a liability when it becomes too strongly intrench within the norms, values and mindsets of the employees and resist permutes. A culture can also become a barrier to change, diversity and other transformations required for the organization to adapt in todays dynamic, 11globalized business environment. The study of organizational culture can take on a pot of aspects.Robbins (2005) elaborated tha t there are seven primary election characteristics that, in aggregate, take in the essence of an organizations culture innovation and risk taking, concern to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness and stability. individually of these characteristics can exist on a continuum from low to high. Daft (2005) discussed on the three levels of corporate culture, with apiece level becoming less obvious, i.e. visible, expressed values and rudimentary assumptions and deep beliefs.Culture can also be obtaind by its strength, which is the degree of agreement among employees about the importance of specific values and slipway of doing things. A strong culture is one which core values are both intensely held and widely shared, and hence have greater have-to doe with on employee behavior. Research has found that a strong culture is colligate to high agreement among members, increases behavioral consistency builds cohesiveness, loyalty and organiz ational lading and more of the essence(predicate)ly, reduces turnover (Robbins, 2005).According to Wallach (1983), an organizations culture can be a combination of three categories bureaucratic, in advance(p) or validating to varying degrees. Wallachs (1983) framework is adapted for the purpose of this study. Wallach (1983) states that the organizational Culture Index (OCI) profiles culture on the three stereotypical dimensions and can be derived from the combination of these three dimensions.12A bureaucratic culture is gradable and compartmentalized. There are clear lines of responsibility and permission. wrick is organized and this culture is normally based on control and power. Such organizations are stable, cautious, usually mature, power-oriented, established, solid, regulated, ordered, structured, procedural and hierarchical.An innovative culture refers to a creative, results-oriented, challenging work environment. It is characterized as being entrepreneurial, ambiti ous, stimulating, driven and risk-taking. A accessary culture exhibits teamwork and a peopleoriented, encouraging, trust work environment. These places are warm and people are generally friendly, good and helpful to each other. appurtenant cultures are characterized as open, harmonious, trusting, safe, equitable, sociable, relationships-oriented, humaneistic, collaborative and likened to an all-encompassing family.Wallach (1983) however elaborated that an employee can be more effective in his or her current job and realizes his or her best potentials, when there is a match between the individuals motivation and the organizational culture. For instance, by using McClellands three social motivators a person with a high need of achievement will thrive in an innovative culture, an affinitive person will fare well in a supportive culture and a power-oriented person will discharge best in a bureaucratic culture. This has significant implications in recruitment, management, motivati on, development and retention of employees. a couple of(prenominal) published studies describing the corporate culture of Malaysian companies, which are generally more or less similar to other fast-growing, competitive, 13developing Asian countries. Government offices are generally considered to be bureaucratic, art object publicly-listed and private companies are moreentrepreneurial in character. This is exemplified in a study take aim by Rashid et al. (2003), where companies listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange were found to be predominantly competitive and value risk-taking, demanding goals and market superiority.Another study by Rashid et al. (2004) showed that among manufacturers in thecountry, many had mercenary culture, which emphasized on strategy and winning in the marketplace. To balance this, there exists to a lesser degree consensus, network and supportive cultures within Malaysian companies, consistent with the cultural values of Malaysian managers. Tradition, loyalty, teamwork and personal trueness are among some of the values prevalent in Malaysian companies.Independent variable Leadership stylesDaft (2005) defined leadership as an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that think over their shared purposes. Over the course of time, a number of dimensions or facets of leadership behavior have been developed and applied as researchers continue to discover what contributes to leadership success and calamitys. These included, among others, autocratic versus democratic, task-oriented versus peopleoriented, and the accident approaches.The first studies on leadership styles conducted by Kurt Lewin and his associates in 1970s, identified the autocratic, democratic and delegative leadership styles. An autocratic leader is one who centralizes dictum and derives power from position, control of rewards, and coercion. A democratic leader style involves the leader including one or more employees in the decision fashioning process but the leader maintains the final decision making authority. A delegative leader style, on the other hand, delegates authority to others, relies on subordinates knowledge for completion of tasks and depends on subordinate respect for influence.Subsequently, a series of studies on leadership styles (e.g. By Ohio State University, University of Michigan and University of Texas) were designed and conducted in the 1950s. This resulted in the development of reliable questionnaires (e.g. Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire, LBDQ) andmodels (e.g. Leadership power system by Blake and Mouton) that would, in time, dominate much of leadership-related research and literature for years to come. Overall, the research into the behavior approach culminated in two major types of leadership behaviors people-oriented and task-oriented.People-oriented leadership, which is equivalent to the regard (Ohio State University), employee-centered (University of Mi chigan) and concern for people (University of Texas) focuses on the human needs of subordinates, respects their ideas and feelings and places importance on establishing mutual trust. Task-oriented leadership, which is equivalent to initiating structure (Ohio State University), job-centered (University of Michigan) and concern for production (University of Texas), focus on directing activities towards efficiency, cost15cutting, and computer programming, with an violence on goal achievements and work facilitation.Theories of leadership then evolved to adopt a contingency approach when researchers failed to find universal leader traits or behaviors that would determine effective leadership. Following this school of thought, research focused on the situation in which leadership occurred. Leadership styles can be contingent upon situational variables, the nature of the followers and the leaders themselves. Many theories have been put forward, including Fiedlers contingency theory, Hers ey and Blanchards situational theory, the Vroom-Jago contingency model, Leader-Member Exchange theory and the agency-Goal theory. Depending on the researchers conceptions and preferences, most leadership studies have been carried out in various ways. more or less all leadership research can be classified into a unde serene influence, behavior, trait approach and situational approach. Currently, the most influential contingency approach to leadership is the Path- Goal theory (Robbins, 2005). This theory was developed by Robert House and extracts the key elements of the Ohio State leadership research on initiating structure and consideration, and the expectancy theory of motivation. The theory states that the main goal of the leader is to help subordinates attain the subordinates goals effectively and to provide them with the necessary direction and support to achieve their own goals as well as those of the organization (Silverthorne, 2001).In this theory, the leader increases foll ower motivation by either (1) Clarifying the followers path to the rewards that are available or 16(2) change magnitude the rewards that the follower values and desires. Path clarification means that the leader works with subordinates to help them identify and learn the behaviors that will lead to successful task accomplishment and organizational rewards. Increasing rewards means that the leader talks with subordinates to learn which rewards are important to them, i.e. whether they desired intrinsic rewards from the work itself, or extrinsic rewards such as promotions. The leaders job is to increase personal payoffs to subordinates for goal attainment and make the paths to the payoffs clear and easy to travel.The Path-Goal theory suggests a fourfold classification of leader styles leading, supportive and participative styles. It is assumed that leaders are flexible and that the same leader can display any or all of these behaviors depending on the situation. leading leadership tell s subordinates exactly what they are supposed to do. Leader behavior includes planning, making schedules, setting transaction goals and behavior standards and stressing adherence to rules and regulations. Mehta et al. (2003) added that this leadership style provides specific direction to subordinate work activity by organizing and defining the task environment, assigning the necessary functions to be performed, specifying rules, regulations and procedures to be followed in accomplishing tasks, clarifying expectations, scheduling work to be done, establishing communication networks and evaluating work group implementation. Directive leadership behavior is similar to the initiating structure or task-oriented leadership style.17Supportive leadership shows concern for subordinates well-being and personal needs in which the leaders are open, friendly and approachable. The leader creates a team climate and breed subordinates equally. Mehta et al. (2003) further elaborated that a suppor tive leadership style is one in which the leader creates a facilitative task environment of psychological support, mutual trust and respect, helpfulness and friendliness. Supportive leadership is similar to the consideration or people-oriented leadership described earlier. Participative leadership consults with subordinates about decisions. Leader style includes asking for opinions and suggestions, encouraging community in decision making, meeting, discussion and pen suggestions, similar to the selling style in the Hersey and Blanchard model mentioned front(prenominal)ly. Various studies in organizational behavior have found that allowing subordinates to participate in decision-making leads to increase motivation (Mehta et al., 2003).Achievement-oriented leadership sets clear and challenging goals forsubordinates. Leader behavior stresses high-quality feat and improvement over current performance. Achievement-oriented leaders also show self-confidence in subordinates and assis t them in learning how to achieve high goals.The two situational contingencies in the Path-Goal theory are the personal characteristics of group members and the work environment. in-person characteristics can include subordinates locus of control, experience, perceived ability, skills, needs and motivations.Work environment contingencies can include the degree of task structure, the nature of the formal authority system and the work group itself.Task structure describes the extent to which tasks are defined and have explicit job descriptions and work procedures. The formal authority system includes the amount of legitimate power used by leaders and the extent to which policies and rules constrain employees behavior. Work group characteristics consist of the educational level of subordinates and the quality of relationships among them.The outcome of matching the right leadership behavior with the right situation while taking into consideration the various subordinate and work enviro nments contingencies will result in favorable outcomes such as increase effort, improved satisfaction and performance (Daft, 2005). The study of leadership behaviors as conceptualized under the Path-Goal theory has been applied in many types of researches and has been generally accepted as a good measure of subordinates perceptions of leadership style based on participative, supportive and directive.For example, in the context of international selling valleculas (Mehta et al., 2003), small and middle-sized firms (Li, 2004), company managers (Silverthorne, 2001), steel industry (Downey et al. 1975), automotive industry (Chang et al., 2003) and market orientation of UK firms (Harris and Ogbonna, 2001).Researchers of marketing channels in the distribution and logistics industry have attempted to show the path-goal theorys usefulness as a strategy to 19secure the compliance of channel members and have conceptually and empiricly linked it to channel related phenomena such as manifest conflict, cooperation, channel efficiency and effectiveness, role clarity, role conflict, role ambiguity, and channel member satisfaction (Mehta et al., 1996) Not everyone agrees that a particular style of leadership will result in the most effective form of organizational behavior.Different styles were needed for different situations and each leader needs to know when to exhibit a particular approach. No one leadership style is ideal for every situation since a leader may have the knowledge and skills to act effectively in one situation but may not emerge as effectively in a different situation (Rad and Yarmohammadian, 2006). Leaders affect their subordinates both directly through their interactions and also through the organizations culture (Li, 2004).Past research on corporate leadership in Malaysia frequently focused on its unique, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and collectivist society. It is acknowledged that leadership in Malaysia is deeply entrenched and connected to its dive rse Asian culture, traditions and values. Hence, commonly-accepted leadership theories from the west and how it is thought to affect other organizational behavior factors may not be directly negotiable to the Malaysian context. Organizational success in obtaining its goals and objectives depends on managers and their leadership style. By using appropriate leadership styles, managers can affect employee job satisfaction, commitment and productivity.Many factors related to turnover have been identified by previous research to be significantly correlated with job satisfaction (Chang, Choi, & Kim, 2008 Moore, 2000). In a review of past literature, Rad and Yarmohammadian (2006) justified the need to investigate job satisfaction is exemplified in the seemingly observed relationship between the levels of job dissatisfaction, absenteeism, grievance expression, tardiness, low morale and high turnover. Thus, job satisfaction is an immediate antecedent of plan to leave the workplace and turn over. Unsatisfied workers will leave their jobs more than their satisfied colleagues. Furthermore, more satisfied employees have more innovative activities in continuous quality improvement and moreparticipation in decisionmaking in organizations. 212.4Relationship between organization culture, leadership styles& job satisfactionResearch involving two or all three subjects of organizational culture, leadership styles and job satisfaction has attracted considerable interest from both academics and practitioners. Examples of a few key studies in the area are(1) Corporate culture and leadership style in United Kingdom (Ogbonna and Harris, 2000), Canada and Korea (Dastmalchian et al., 2000). (2) Organizational culture and leadership style on job satisfaction and commitment (Lok and Crawford, 1999, 2004).(3) Leadership style and organizational culture to effect change (Brooks, 1996 Smith, 2003).(4) Leadership and organizational culture in a private organization toward performance (Block, 2003).Despite numerous references to a relationship between organizational culture and leadership styles in many parts of organization theory and research, atomic systematic research has been conducted to investigate the link between the nature of the relationship of these two concepts and their effect on job satisfaction. Since these two concepts are important in the functioning of an organization (Lok and Crawford, 2002, 2004 Ogbonna and Harris, 2000 Fiedler, 1996 Schein, 1992), further research is required to provide the insight information to the leaders and organizations.22On the other hand, previous research on corporate culture in Malaysia (Kamal, 1988 Jaina, Md. Zabid, Anantharaman, 1997) focused more on different ethnic backgrounds (Malays, Chinese, and Indians) and usedHofstedes model of organizational culture (Hofstede, 1980). Job satisfaction is recognized as an important topic in organizational culture because of its relevance to the physical and emotional wellness of employees (Oshagbemi, 1999).Although a considerable number of researchers have argued that there is a never-ending interplay between organizational culture and leadership, there are limited confirmable studies examining the relation between leadership and culture as well as their joint effect on important organizational outcomes (Trice and Beyer, 1993). More importantly, research has found that the harmonious combination of appropriate leadership styles with certain types of organizational cultures can positively influence employees performance (Harris and Ogbonna, 2000).According to Yousef (2000), the relationship between leadership styles and job satisfaction has received a lot of guardianship in the past research however findings have been mixed (Savery, 1994 Yousef, 2000). Research therefore does not directly link employee satisfaction to a specific leadership style. Instead, many suggest that leadership style needs to adapt to the culture or situation as it attempts to redu ce employee dissatisfaction.Based on a comprehensive literature review by Yousef (2000), several researchers have also looked into the relationship between leadership styles and job performance. The findings were inconsistent as well. A couple of 23studies in the steel industry and electronic meeting systems reported higher satisfaction and performance levels under directive leadership style when given a highly structured task, while supportive leadership style is preferred for unstructured problems (Kahai et al., 1997). Results from investigations of the antecedents of commitment have not been entirely consistent (Yousef, 2000). Organizational culture plays an important role as well in generating commitment and enhancing performance (Lok and Crawford, 2001). In particular, studies in various industries and countries showed that innovative and supportive cultures had strong positive effects on commitment and job satisfaction, while bureaucratic cultures had a negative impact (Lok an d Crawford, 1999 Rashid et al., 2003 Wallach, 1983).Results from various organizations in the United Arab Emirates suggest (in support of many western studies) that those who perceive their superiors as adopting consultative or participative leadership behavior are more committed to their organizations, more satisfied with their jobs and their performance is high. When employees are dissatisfy at work, they are less committed and will look for other opportunities to quit. If opportunities are unavailable, they may emotionally or mentally withdraw from the organization. Thus the job satisfaction is an important attitude in assessing the employees intention to quit and the overall contribution of the employee to the organization. 24Rashid et al. (2003) surveyed over 200 companies listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. Combining these findings with studies from other countries,both western and non-western, it is reasonable to expect that different types of leadership styles and o rganizational cultures do affect organizational commitment, which in turn, influences both job satisfaction and employee performance. Samad (2005) studied 584 managerial-level of employees in Telekom Malaysia and reported that job satisfaction did play a positive moderating role in the relationship between organizational commitment and job performance.However, Leong et al. (1994) found a weak correlation between the two variables, Lee and Mowday (1989) found minimal relationship and Wright (1997) reported a negative relationship between the two. In summary, many studies across different industries and geographical regions revealed strong correlations between organizational cultures with job satisfaction. There are very few relevant studies in the Malaysian context have been published to date but through our findings, no research being done on the relationship of organizational cultures, leadership styles and job satisfaction of SME managers working in SME industry, which has signif icant contribution to the Penang.2.5Theoretical FrameworkFor the purpose of this research proposal, Hsu (2009) conceptualization of the relationships between organizational culture, organizational commitment and job satisfaction together with Lee (2008) study on Association between 25organizational culture and leadership behavior and organizational commitment, job satisfaction and employee performance- A Malaysian opinion performancearepartially adapted.Based on the literature review, the theoretic framework per Figure 1 below igureFigure 1 Research FrameworkFrom the literature and framework above, the followers research hypothesis derived.H1 Organizational Culture affects Job Satisfaction of the employees. JobH2 Leadership Style affects Job Satisfaction of the employees. H3 Age has a moderating effect on the level of Job SatisfactionResearch MethodologyResearch InstrumentThis study adopts a quantitative approach and the data solely depends on the primary data. The instrument to b e used to collect the data in this research is a set of questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of two main sections separate A and B.Section A is regarded respondents profile, such as Gender, Age Group, attitude in this organization, Highest Level of Academic Qualification and Total Year of running(a) Experience in this company.Section B is pertaining to the measuring stick of variables under studied. There are total three variables in this study one dependent variable which is Job Satisfaction, and two independent variables which are Perceived Organization Culture and Perceived Leadership Style. The Job Satisfaction is measured with ten relics, and Organization Culture and Leadership Style, they are assessed by 20 and 15 items respectively. This is self-administered questionnaire. Respondents will be asked to indicate their agreement on each item on a 5-points Likert scale. The scale points are 1=Strongly Disagree,2=Disagree, 3=Neutral, 4=Agree, and 5=Strongly Agree. A se t of questionnaire is appended in Appendix A for reference.Population and SampleThe population for this study composed of all managers in the SME in manufacturing field companies located in Penang. A two layer sampling method will be employed in selecting the respondents for this study. In the first layer, the companies that formed the respondents will be selected using a simple ergodic sampling method. The list of all the SME in the manufacturing section publishes on the SME website will be used as the population. Each company will be assigned a number and random numbers will be generated to select 380 companies to form the participants. In the second layer, 5 sets of questionnaire will be given to the Human Resources managers of the 380 companies selected. The questionnaire will then be distributed to the managers in their company. The selection of managers is at the discretion of the Human Resources managers.3.3 polisher TestTest Pilot is a trial run of procedures and instrume nts that you plan to use. Pilot test will be conducted with 50 managers of SME in the manufacturing sector randomly picked from the population to tick off that the instrument used is reliable. The returned data on the questionnaire will be entered into the SPSS statistical software. A reliability test will be run and Cronbachs Alpha coefficient value will be examined. It is suggested that Cronbachs Alpha value of 0.7 and above is considered good reliability of the measure. However, if the Cronbachs Alpha value below than 0.7, then we will look further into the value of 28Cronbachs Alpha if item Deleted. We will secrecy through all the items to determine which item if this item deleted will improve the Cronbachs Alpha value. If necessary, we will add in additional items to enhance the reliability of the measure.In addition, we will also examine the value of reverse item-Total Correlation. The value of 0.4 to 0.6 is considered acceptable. This statistic can be used to test hardine ss of the measure. If the value is too small such as 0.05, it means this item is no correlated to other items. In other words, this item is not relevant in this measure. Contrary, if the value is too high such as 0.8, then it means this item is too correlated with other items or it is duplicated with other items. The pilot test will be repeated to achieve the acceptable level of reliability and validity.3.4Method of AnalysisThis study will employ descriptive statistic and an inference statistic approach to test the hypothesis and achieve the objectives of this research. However, before we begin any actual data compendium, we will perform the goodness of measure test.3.4.1 Goodness of MeasureReliability is one of the elements to ensure the goodness of measure. It is suggested that Cronbachs alpha coefficient should be above 0.7 for reliability to consider the scale as consistent scale. As presented in the Pilot Test, the29reliability will be assessed and enhanced before the actual d ata collection and abstract. In other words, the goodness of data has been pre-assessed.3.4.2 Descriptive StatisticA descriptive statistic table will be generated using the SPSS statistical software. The table will report the total numbers of respondent and the demographic statistics, mean values and standard deviation of Job Satisfaction, Organization Culture and Leadership Style. These are the basis statistics to describe the samples.From this descriptive statistics, specifically from the mean relieve oneself of Job Satisfaction, we will know the satisfaction level of managers of the SME manufacturing section in Penang. This statistic is able to achieve the first objective of this research To assess the job satisfaction level of managers inSME companies in Penang.3.4.3 Inferences StatisticVarious statistical analysis techniques will be employed in this study. These techniques are multivariate analysis and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Each technique has its own pur pose in related to the objective of the research and hypothesis testing. To test the following research hypothesis, multivariate analysis will be carried out.30H1 Organizational Culture affects Job Satisfaction of the employees. H2 Leadership Style affects Job Satisfaction of the employees.The outcome of this data analysis will help us achieve the second objective To study the impact of these 2 factors affects the job satisfaction of the managers in SME companies in Penang. To test on the following hypothesis, we will carry out the hierarchical multiple regression analysis. H3 Age has a moderating effect on the level of Job Satisfaction. With the outcome of this test, the third objective of this study will also can be achieved To examine whether age has any moderating effects in the job satisfaction of the managers in SME companies in Penang.The above data analysis plan and its purpose of each test in regards to the research objective can be summarized in the table below.Dastmalch ian, A., Lee, S. and Ng. I. (2000). 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