leadership styles and its impacts on organizational productivity

ABSTRACT

Leadership is at the very heart of human and organizational progress. This work, attempts to meet up with the broad coverage of the work, the work was thus broken down into specific objectives which were; to identify the extent to which autocratic leadership style affect organisational productivity, to examine how the laissez-faire leadership style affects organisational productivity and finally to access if there exist a significant relationship between democratic leadership style and organisational productivity. The study used descriptive survey design with population of the study consisting employees of businesses in Buea municipality. Data were collected from 50 respondents using questionnaires. The data were analysed by SPSS. The demographics questionnaires were analysed by simple descriptive statistic presented in frequency tables. The objectives, one, two and three, with the role of leadership styles on organisational productivity were tested using chi-square. The study found out that there was a significant positive relationship between autocratic leadership style affect organisational productivity. The study findings also revealed a strong relationship between laissez-faire leadership style and organisational productivity. And finally, on democratic leadership style, there also exist a significant relationship between it and organisational productivity. Conclusively, the study findings revealed that organisational productivity is dependent on the leadership style that is use by the organisation, thus rejection of all the null hypothesis.

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Leadership is a very important management function that involves harnessing of human and material resources for the attainment of organizational goals. Leadership has been viewed by many authors as a process whereby an individual exerts influence upon others in an organizational context.
Bowler and Seashore (1996) enumerated the basic functions of leadership to include: Enhancing others feeling of self-esteem and support, facilitating an interaction such that group members develop a close and mutually satisfying relationship, Goal emphasis for high performance and achievements, and Work facilitation such that targets are achieved through such activities as scheduling, coordinating, planning and the effective application of knowledge.
It is expected therefore that in every organization, there should be a leader who will in addition to planning, organize and coordinate work, mobilize, inspire and utilize available human and material resources optimally for effective organizational growth and development. Leadership often emerges in a social context, in that it does not exist in a vacuum, but a phenomenon for people and by the people. The objectives of leadership are products of clear vision and its actions are dictated by great focus and a sense of mission. The way and manner leadership is conducted in any given situation, depends on the interplay of such factors as individual personality, work demand and the exigencies of the environment.
The extent to which any of these factors dominates one’s behavior determines to a large extent the person’s accumulation of natural or situational leadership traits.
Several arguments have been raised over time about the relationship between leadership and employee’s attitude. However, most scholars caution against tendencies to propose a cause-effective relationship because of the confounding effects of the interviewing variables. For example, a leadership characteristic determines leadership behavior, and consequently, the attitude of subordinates towards him and the work situation, Katz (1994).
However, Petz (1952) theorized that what matters in the leader-subordinate relationship is not just the imposing attitudes of the leader, but also the enduring characteristics of the subordinates. He also advocated the principle of reciprocal influence and integration, according to him, subordinates expect their supervisors to exercise upward influence when dealing with problems which affects workers themselves, but when this is perceived as being limited, they develop unfavorable reactions. Consequently, this will thwart the attainment of organizational objectives and effectiveness. However, organizational effectiveness depends to a great extent on the ways the various group in the organizational hierarchy are structured and integrated. Effective management should therefore develop effective group membership to which they owe loyalty. That is why effective leadership is necessary in any organization, as all activities that will promote organizational effectiveness are to a large extent measured by their productivity.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Leadership is considered as the bone of development in most organizations in Cameroon. In political circle for instance, the problem of leadership is described with despicable terms as corruption, ineptitude, red-tapism and nepotism.
There is no gain saying the fact that most of the socio-economic maladies which the nation faced currently are product of poor management and bad or ineffective leadership. For over a decade now, the world bank has reported consistently in her annual bulletin and publications that Cameroon ranks amongst the first 10 poorest nations of the world despite her abundant human and natural resources. A good leadership in place, can help curb this. At the end of this research finding, the best leadership style that could fit or reduce these socio-economic maladies would be identified.
Again, there is an apparent failure on the part of those leadership positions which the organizations operate and design practical and effective response strategies to cope with the prevailing situations, the obvious conclusion is that they have serious leadership problems. So therefore, it is one of the purpose of this findings to find out if actually some organizations in Cameroon need to maintain their current leadership styles or there is a need for change.
Many organizations which could have been economically viable are folding up even now, and some which are surviving could hardly meet their targeted maximum production level even when such organization have financial backing, enough raw material and human resources. This has all been attributed to leadership and that it remains the problem militating against the growth and development of such organization. As such s, there is need for an effective leader to effectively put these resources to proper use for maximum result.
Government organizations never really get extinct by virtue of their ownership structure. This is not the case with private organizations which may be devastated to the point of folding up due to numerous problems amongst which is leadership. Their survival capacity is much easier than the former.
It should be noted that when leadership creates a turbulent work environment, moral drops, production decreases and the prospects for survival as well diminish. Most of the studies conducted have focused on the relationship between motivation and productivity (e.g. Egwu, 992) but have rarely contemplates on the relations between leadership and organizational effectiveness.
Meanwhile, in most organizations, the quality of management is often measured by the quality of work output and the margin of profit. However, different leadership styles are required for different work situations and sometimes they vary in the nature of ownership. Leadership entails harnessing the potentials of available manpower and material resources in such a way that organizational objectives are achieved and sustained. Thus, this research work is therefore focused on ascertaining the extent to which these leadership styles affect organizational productivity.
1.3 Research Questions
1.3.1 Main question
– what is the impact of leadership styles on the achievement of organizational productivity in Buea council?
1.3.2 specific research questions
– what is the relationship that exist between autocratic leadership style and organizational productivity?
– How does laissez-faire leadership style affect organizational productivity?
– is there any relationship between democratic leadership style and organizational productivity?

1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1.4.1 Main objective
To find out the impact of leadership styles on the achievement of organizational productivity in Buea council
1.4.2 Specific objectives
– To ascertain the relationship that exist between autocratic leadership style and organizational productivity.
– To examine how the laissez-faire leadership style affects organizational productivity.
– To assess if there exist a significant relationship between democratic leadership style and organizational productivity.

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