Influence of Leadership Style on Employees’ Performance in Government Establishments
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the Study
The main objective of the study is to establish the impact of leadership on employee performance in government establishment. However, to achieve this main objective, the following sub-objectives will be considered;
- To assess the impact of autocratic leadership style on employee work quality
- To investigate the impact of democratic leadership style on employee efficiency
- To explore the impact of laissez-faire leadership style on employee effectiveness
- To evaluate the impact of bureaucratic leadership style on employee motivation
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
A leader’s initiating structure is the degree to which a superior actively defines his or her own role as well as the roles of followers toward the attainment of the group’s or organization’s goals. This leadership style include assigning and defining tasks and schedules, defining procedures, showing followers how things should be done, and outlining detailed measures of performance (Stogdill, 1963).
According to Omolayo (2000) leadership is a social influence process in which the leader seeks the voluntary participation of subordinates in an effort to reach organization goals, a process whereby one person exerts social influence over other members of the group (Bamigboye, 2000), a process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group of individuals in an effort towards goal achievement in given situations (Akanwa, 1997), and Eze (1995), review that leadership is a relational concept involving influencing agent and the person being influenced. Effective leadership is the extent to which a leader continually and progressively leading and directing his/her followers to the agreed destination which is defined by the whole group (Omolayo, 2000).
Leadership style is the pattern of behaviors engaged in by the leader when dealing with employees. Lewin, Lippit and White (1939) identified three leadership styles which are autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire. Autocratic leadership style involve the leader making all the decisions, wielding absolute power, assigning tasks to members of the group and maintaining a master-servant relationship with members of the group. On the other hand, democratic leadership style involves the use of consultative approach, encourages group participation in decision making and maintaining a master-master relationship with group members. The laissez-faire leadership style involves non-interference policy, allows complete freedom to all workers and has no particular way of attaining goals. However, there is no one best style of leadership. The effectiveness of a particular style is dependent on the organizational situation (Omolayo, 2004).
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
According to Argyris (1964), leaders are made not born. As a leader you must have the desire and willpower, before you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience. To inspire the workers into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things the organization must be, know and do. These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. Good leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills; they are not resting on their laurels (www.concepts-of-leadership.pdf.org).
According to Bolarinwa (2005), leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such as beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills.
Although a position as a manager, supervisor, lead, etc. gives the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization, this power does not make a leader, it simply makes the leader the boss. Leadership differs in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals, rather than simply bossing people around (Blake and Mouton, 1964). Bass (1990) stated the theory of leadership that there are three basic ways to explain how people become leaders. The first two explain the leadership development for a small number of people.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
The objective of this chapter is to clearly and concisely describe the manner in which the research effort was carried out. The chapter describes the method employed in collecting and analyzing data collected on the study of the impact of leadership style on worker productivity.
THE POPULATION OF THE STUDY
Population in research comprehensively means the total elements or persons covered by the problem under investigation. It is a collection of all elements with one or more attributes in common.
The population here refers to the employees in selected manufacturing company NNPC in Lagos state which is about five thousand (5,000).
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION OF RESULTS
This chapter is concerned with the analysis of data generated by the research work. The instrument for this study is questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed using simple percentages.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF THE STUDY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
SUMMARY OF THE STUDY
Leadership is a social influence process in which the leader seeks the voluntary participation of subordinates in an effort to reach organization goals, a process whereby one person exerts social influence over other members of the group, a process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group of individuals in an effort towards goal achievement in given situations. Leadership is a relational concept involving influencing agent and the person being influenced. Effective leadership is the extent to which a leader continually and progressively leading and directing his/her followers to the agreed destination which is defined by the whole group.
Leadership style is the pattern of behaviors engaged in by the leader when dealing with employees. There are three leadership styles which are autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire. Autocratic leadership style involve the leader making all the decisions, wielding absolute power, assigning tasks to members of the group and maintaining a master-servant relationship with members of the group. On the other hand, democratic leadership style involves the use of consultative approach, encourages group participation in decision making and maintaining a master-master relationship with group members. The laissez-faire leadership style involves non-interference policy, allows complete freedom to all workers and has no particular way of attaining goals. However, there is no one best style of leadership. The effectiveness of a particular style is dependent on the organizational situation.
CONCLUSION
Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such as beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills. A leader must have the desire and willpower. A leader becomes an effective leader when he/she inspire the workers into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things the organization must be, know, and, do.
Leadership differs in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals, rather than simply bossing people around. Personality traits lead people naturally into leadership roles. A crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which brings out extraordinary leadership qualities in an ordinary person. This is the Great Events Theory. People can choose to become leaders. People learn leadership skills. It is the most widely accepted theory today and the premise on which this guide is based. Authoritarian (autocratic) this leader is used when the leader tells her employees what she wants to be done and how she wants it done, without getting the advice of her team. Some of the appropriate conditions to use are when you have all the information to solve the problem, you are short on time, or your employees are well motivated.
Some people think that this style includes yelling using demeaning language, and leading by threats and abuse of power. This is not the authoritarian style. It is an abusive, unprofessional style of leadership. Participative (Democratic) this style involves the leader including one or more employees in the decision making process to determine what to do and how to do it. However, the leader maintains the final decision making authority.
This is normally used when you have some of the information, and your employees have some of the information. This allows them to become part of the team and allow you to make a better decision. Delegate (free-reign) the leader allows the employees to make the decision. However, the leader is still responsible for the decisions that are made. This is used when employees are able to analyze the situation and determine what needs to be done and how to do it. You cannot do everything! You must set priorities and delegate certain tasks.
Leadership is the exercise of authority and the making of decisions. Leadership is the initiation of acts that result in a consistent pattern of group interaction directed toward the solution of mutual problems. Interpersonal influence exercised in situation and directed through the communication process, toward the attainment of a specified goal or goals.
Leadership then appears to be the capability and actual processes or actions which are attributed to leaders. Leadership style thus refers to the consistency of goals or needs over different situations. The leadership style is the consistent patterns of behavior which you exhibit, as perceived by others, when you are attempting to influence the activities of people. By the term style we generally mean a relatively enduring set of behaviors which is characteristic of the individual regardless of the situation. As is apparent these leadership style definitions have in common a notion of a certain level of continuity in the leadership behaviors of particular leaders.
RECOMMENDATION
- The management should keep the employees informed and communicate with them.
- The selected organization should use the full capabilities of their organization to develop a team spirit.
- The selected organization should hire and select responsibility seekers for leadership and managerial responsibilities because human relations are so important to them.
- There should be training programs for the management for effective leadership in the organization.
For the effect employee’s performance on production the organizations management should experience leadership training which social, military, political-governmental, business, industrial, medical, educational, religious, informal, and family groups attend.
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