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LEADERSHIP THEORY AND ITS EFFECTS ON EMPLOYEES’ JOB PERFORMANCE IN AN ORGANISATION

CHAPTER ONE

1.1     INTRODUCTION

The theory of leadership is the principle upon which leadership is based. That is, the general truth which is the foundation of leadership. In any organization, planning, organizing, co-ordinating and controlling are very important. All play important roles in the achievement of the organization’s goals and objectives. Planning is seen as the ability to forecast the future. It will assist the organization to define its goals and guides it in the achievement of the goals. Organizing means arranging and structuring of the people, the work to be done and the facilities to do the job so that goals can be achieved and the separate units of the organization are brought together in order to achieve the organizational goals. Controlling ensures that there is no deviation from the set goals and objectives. All these are called the functions of management. These functions of management however need to be performed by individual (s) who will use them in manipulating the subordinates towards the achievement of the organization’s goals.

Such individual(s) is/are known as leader(s). Whenever two or more people direct the efforts of others toward achieving some desired objectives, one of the actors or participants usually exerts more influence on the group behaviour than the other and which the group looks up to for direction and instruction. Such a person is regarded as the leader of the group. With this, one can see that the act of leading, that is, leadership can be termed as what makes up the organization itself because when leadership is faulty, the employees will be misguided and this will in turn have negative effects on the attainment of the goals and objectives of the organization.

Leadership, being the most visible aspect of management, operates within and binds group together. Its role in human society is highly demanding, it requires leaders not only to be dynamic but efficient and resourceful. Leading is the process of influencing and motivating people to work effectively. A leader motivates people in the advancement of goals and objectives in such a way to get obedience of the subordinates willingly and enthusiastically. He must be able to inspire members to be dedicated and to contribute meaningfully to the development of the organization. A leader can thus motivate his followers by being considerate and exhibiting good leadership behaviour. A leader must not only be honest, he must be seen to be transparently honest. A dishonest leader has no moral justification preaching honesty to his followers. A leader is the pivot around which all other activities in an organization revolve. Implicit in understanding leadership are the concepts of power, people and influence. A leader possesses power to lead people and has influence (whether negative or positive) on the people under him.

However, there are certain concepts of leadership which thus have effects on the performance of the employees. These concepts are styles of leadership to be adopted in a given situation, the qualities to be possessed by the leader, the ability of the leader to lead effectively, the ability of the leader to instil discipline and sense of responsibility in the followers through implementing or changing their behaviour by guiding them to obey the rules ad to maintain acceptable performance.

1.2     STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Leadership plays important roles in an organization because it influences the behaviour of others in the organisation. How best the leader does this has effect on the job performance of the others in the organisation. Some of the problems of this study is this seeking solutions to include the following.

a.  What is the need for leadership in an organisation?

b. Does leadership have any impact on employees’ performance?

c. What are the contributions and responsibilities of a leader towards the achievement of organizational goals?

d. Are leaders born or made?

e. What determines the leadership style to adopt?

1.3     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This study has as part of its objectives the followings;

i. To find out how leadership has contributed to employees job performance.

ii. To examine the concept, practice and principles of leadership, how it operates in an organization.

iii. To ascertain employees perceptions of leadership influence on their performance.

iv. To analyze various leadership theories in relation to employees reaction on their jobs.

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