EFFECT OF LEADERSHIP STYLES ON WORKERS PERFORMANCE

CHAPTER ONE

1.0       BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Leadership strategy is the collection of behaviour that a manager uses to influence his or her employees to accomplish organizational goals.

Going by the sayings of Glassman, (1968) the style of a leader is determined to a greater extent by what the subordinate perceive it to be.

It can be seen in this present day that some leaders embark on a leading style without working at it from the perspective of the subordinates which always causes disagreement between the leader and the subordinate and to a greater extent have negative impact on the growth and development of the organization since organizational goal is dependent on worker’s performance. Therefore in managing human resource leaders must carry people along with them in a host of directions, they will transcend the uncertainties and insecurities of the modern business environment and followers must be prepared to fend for themselves.

Schein’s (1980) definition of formal organization as ―the planned co-ordination of the activities of a number of people for the achievement of same common explicit purpose or goal.

Leadership therefore is not mystical or mysterious, rather effective leadership is complimentary and necessary for the achievement of management goals and objectives in an increasingly complex and volatile business environment.

Leadership is the process through which an individual tries to influence another individual or a group of individuals to accomplish a goal. Leadership is valued in our culture, especially when it helps to achieve goals that are beneficial to the population, such as the enactment of effective preventive health policies. An individual with leadership qualities can also improve an organization and the individuals in it, whether it be a teacher who works to get better teaching materials and after school programs or an employee who develops new ideas and products and influences others to invest in them.

Leadership can be exhibited in a variety of ways and circumstances. Mothers and fathers show leadership in raising their children with good values and encouraging them to develop to their potential. Teachers show it in inspiring students to learn and to develop their intellectual capacity. Health care workers can be leaders and develop services that meet the needs of the communities they serve, or work in collaboration with other organizations to create cost effective, prevention oriented programs and services.

1. Banjoko S. (1995)

Many studies have been done and many books and articles have been published on this subject. Through this work a consistent set of leadership attributes has emerged. An effective leader does most, if not all, of the following:

Challenge the Process: search out challenging opportunities, take risks, and learn from mistakes.

Inspire others to come together and agree on a future direction or goal— create a shared vision by thinking about the future, having a strong positive vision, and encouraging others to participate.

Help others to act: Help others to work together, to cooperate and collaborate by developing shared goals and building trust, and help to make others stronger by encouraging them to develop their skills and talents.

Set an example: Behave in ways that are consistent with professed values and help others to achieve small gains that keep them motivated, especially when a goal will not be achieved quickly.

Encourage others: Recognize each individual’s contributions to the success of a project.

Another way of defining leadership is to acknowledge what people value in individuals that are recognized as leaders. Most people can think of individuals they consider being leaders. Research conducted in the 1980s by James Kouzes and Barry Posner found that a majority of people admire, and willingly follow, people who are honest, forward looking, inspiring, and competent

An individual who would like to develop leadership skills can profit from the knowledge that leadership is not just a set of exceptional skills and attributes possessed by only a few very special people. Rather, leadership is a process and a set of skills that can be learned.

The word leadership can refer to: the process of leading. Those entities that perform one or more acts of leading.

Hersey P, Blanchard KH (1988) states that “Leadership is not a place, it‘s not a position, and it‘s not a secret code that can‘t be deciphered by ordinary people. Leadership is an observable set of skills and abilities. Of course some people are better at it than others.”

In general terms, leadership can be defined as the ability to influence the behaviour of others.

This definition can be expanded when considering leadership in organizations to include the fact that the leader exerts influence within a working group in order that the group may achieve group tasks or objectives. . Carter M (2008) leadership is an everyday art involving the skill of leading and dealing with people. The success in ruling new dominions is contingent upon both his ability to wield power effectively, and the existence of an opportunistic situation. Problems, which result within organizational members, disagree on both the natures of the goals of which people disagree on both the natures of the goals of which people aspire, and the act of leadership. Leadership, as we use the term refers to behaviour, undertaken within the context of an organizational members behave.  It could be observed that leadership and management envisages deeply into what the organization can achieve if the quality of recognition is accorded to them. Leadership has been propounded to include the sources of influence that are built into a position in an organizational hierarchy. . Fisher S (1995)

Leadership is very essential organization and greatly influences the whole organization because achievements and results occur corollary to the traits being projected by the leader. Leadership includes the ultimate source of power but has that positive ability in persuading other individuals and to be innovative in decision making. According to Bennis and Nanus (2010), many organizations are over managed and under led. The difference is crucial, managed are people who do things right, but leaders are people who do the right things always.  Problems are bound to occur within every noted organisation and decision making is bound to generate conflicts while initiating policies. Adair J (2002)

People are expected to coordinate whatever they are doing to achieve organizational goals. In this light, the notion of leadership act are those which help a grouping meeting those stated objectives (Bavelas 1960). In general terms the acts of controlling other people consists uncertainty reduction ,which entails making the kind of choice that permits the organization to proceed towards its objective despite various kinds of internal and external variables. Kourdi J (1999)

1.1       STATEMENTOF PROBLEM

There are so many problems that hinder the organizations for the achievement of the organizational aims and objectives. These problems are curled from the principles of management, which includes include planning, which is regarded as one of the crucial element/aspect of the administrative functions of the chief executives.

With the presence of effective leadership, there are efficient and effective management of government enterprises to perform up to expectations. Like most other tools for achieving organizational goals effective leadership is faced with some constraints which prevent some enterprises from achieving their normal goals and objectives. Also, most management is not even aware of the exact constraints to the effective leadership. The exigency of the situation created by effective leadership encourages research on the issue of “effect of leadership styles on worker’s performance”. The dream of any organization is to minimize cost and maximize profit, this can  only be achieved through effective and efficient leadership and it is an account of this that this work is embarked upon. Katz And Kahn (1989).

Many organizations has failed due to ineffective leadership style of the management team of such organization and institution on such situation, the workers are not well organized, controlled or co-ordinated, the effect of this attitude arises from ineffective leadership style, low productivity, high operating cost, unco-operative attitude of employees- e.t.c. all these at the long run leads to the closure of the organisation. Some organizations are faced with the problem of sourcing for competent leaders who have personality, knowledge, intelligence and experience to lead its subordinates to achieving the desired objectives of the organization. Kootz O.N (1986)

1.2       PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of the study is to:

1. Identify leadership styles commonly used in Aquafina waters
2. To examine how these leadership style affects employee’s productivity in Aquafina Waters
3. To determine the impact of leadership styles on organizational objectives in Aquafina Waters.
4. To identify the effect of environmental factors on leadership styles applied in Aquafina Waters.

1.3       RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research question focus on the effect of leadership styles on worker’s productivity.

The question includes:

1. What are the leadership styles used in Aquafina Waters?
2. To what extent does leadership styles affect employee’s productivity in Aquafina waters
3. What impact does leadership styles have in the achievement of organizational objectives in Aquafina Waters.
4. To what extent does leadership style factors affect the employee’s job performance?

1.4       TEST OF HYPOTHESIS

The following hypothesis are assumed in the course of the research.

HYPOTHESIS I

H₁:       There is no significant relationship between leadership styles and worker’s productivity

            HYPOTHESIS II

H₀:       There is no significant relationship between leadership styles and worker’s performance

1.5       SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

This research work is to serve as an effective and efficient tool for leaders/managers in the industries and the public so as to identify appropriate leadership styles that promotes cordial relationship between workers and management and also between leaders subordinates such that high productivity and efficiency is guaranteed. Also, this research work will be of great benefits to managers on how to be a good leader in increasing the performance of workers, which would yield productivity to the organization concerned. Employees or workers would also benefit from this research work as a preparation towards achieving their dreams when they establish a firm of their own thereby making them a successful entrepreneur in future. Organizations as well would not be left out in achieving greater productivity from this research work by coordinating the heads and subheads of all departments of the organization, which in return would yield positive result.

Finally, this research work would be useful scholars and researchers by extracting the materials and developing it even into a more standardized way for the usefulness of organizations and individuals. Also, researchers can use this research work as a reference in making further and deeper research in gaining more knowledge thereby making their research better than this.

1.6       SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study covers the effect of leadership style on worker’s performance

This research work covers all the aspect of the leadership style in Aquafina Waters. This means that the questionnaires designed will be distributed to the Managers that occupy leadership roles within the organization hierarchy.

1.7       LIMITATION OF STUDY

This is limited to only senior manager in leadership roles within the organization hierarchy. Other limitations of the study may include non response due to ignorance of some of the respondents who respect to the importance of the subject under review.

1.8       DEFINITION OF TERMS

Some terms used in the study are defined to avoid misinterpretation of the objectives of the study. These terms includes the following:

LEADERSHIP: Leadership is the process through which an individual tries to influence another individual or a group of individuals to accomplish a goal.

PRODUCTIVITY: This is the ability to yield positive result in relation to the amount of materials and employees needed.

AUTOCRATIC LEADERSHIP: This type of leadership is obtained where there is absolute centralization of decision making authority in the leader.

DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP: This leadership style thrives on paver sharing relationship between the leader and the subordinate. Democratic leadership in essence seek to obtain the voluntary compliance of subordinates towards organizational goal attainment through the persuasive overture of the leader who gives orders why after consulting the group and sees to it that policies are worked out in group discussion and with the acceptance of the group.

LAISSEZ FAIRE STYLE: This type of leadership style boils down to a situation of leadership where subordinates are left entirely to their whims and caprices in the pursuit of the groups goals.

ORGANIZATION: an organized group of people with a particular purpose, such as a business or government department

SITUATIONAL: The definition of situational is a person or thing in regards to surroundings or circumstances. An example of situational is how a person reacts in different environments; called situational reactions.

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP: Transformational leadership is a style of leadership where a leader works with subordinates to identify needed change, creating a vision to guide the change through inspiration, and executing the change in tandem with committed members of a group

STYLE: Style is a manner or way of doing or presenting things.

BUREAUCRATIC LEADERSHIP: Bureaucratic leadership is leadership based upon fixed official duties under a hierarchy of authority, applying a system of rules for management and decision-making.

PERFORMANCE: The accomplishment of a given task measured against preset known standards of accuracy, completeness, cost, and speed. In a contract, performance is deemed to be the fulfillment of an obligation, in a manner that releases the performer from all liabilities under the contract.

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