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THE EFFECT OF LEADERSHIP STYLE ON SUBORDINATES’ PRODUCTIVITY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Leadership is conceived as a process where one or more persons influence a group of person to move in a certain direction. The word leadership has been used in various aspects of human endeavour such as politics, business, academics and social works. Messick and Krammer (2004) argued that the degree to which the individual exhibits leadership traits depends not only on his characteristics and personal abilities, but also on the characteristics of the situation and environment in which he finds himself. Therefore, an individual will support the organization if he believes that through it his personal objective and goals could be met if not, the person’s interest will decline.

Among the objectives of any organization are profit making and attainment of maturity and liquidity status. In the pursuit of these objectives, organizations allocate scarce resources to competing ends. In the process they provide employment, provide goods and services, purchase goods and services and, thus contribute to the growth of the society and economy at large. Imamaka (1995) observes that, the effectiveness of this process is greatly determined by the availability of and access to personnel, financemachinery, raw material and possibility of making their goods and services available to their customers. An organization is a social set up, which has a boundary that separates it from its environment, pursues its own collective goals, and controls its own performance (Kick and Gullet, 1995)., in a formal organization, interactions are rationally  coordinated and directed through  time on a common basis.

The person at the helm of affairs is usually the leaders. Kraines (2011) stressed that the word leadership has been used by most discipline: political science, business executives, social workers and educationist. However, there is large disagreement as regards the exact meaning.This view was also supported by Tafffinder (2006), who gave different definitions to leadership: “a simple meaning leadership is getting people to do things they are never thought of doing, do not believe are possible or that they do not want to do. With reference to an organization, he defined leadership as “the action of commitment employees to contribute their best to the purpose of the organization”. While on a complex and more accurate view, he explains that you only know leadership by it consequences – from the fact that individuals or a group of people start to behave in a particular ways as a result of the actions of someone else”.

Thus in many situations, “leadership ability” may only become apparent when a person has a formal role and hence has a power over reward and punishments or when  at least such power is relatively weak among other group members. The failure to make this distinction has caused some confusion in  the discussion of leadership.

Effective management is described as a means of getting things done by other people. It can further be described as a social process entailing responsibility  for the effective and economic planning and regulation of the operators of an organization in fulfillment of a given purpose or task. Employees performance is been described as the work rate of individual that make upon the department, unit and ministries that actually carry out the goals and objectives of the  organization and it is through their performance each and every unit determines vis-à-vis the set goals of the unit.                                    

Employees have to be rewarded / motivated in terms of their effective performance and thus having to do with performance appraisal, which is defined as a systematic evaluation of employee’s past and present behaviour on the job based on standard format for use of the employee and employers. Messick and Kramer (2008) further explained since human beings could become members of an organization in order to achieve certain personal objectives, the extent to which they are active members depends on how they are convinced that their predetermine objectives. Therefore, an individual will support an organization if he believes that though it, his personal objectives and goals could be met. If not the person’s interest in the organization will decline.

The extent (degree) to which all members of an organization user their abilities and influences in the effective utilization of resources  depends upon how well the managers (leaders) of the organization understood and perform their jobs. Maddock and Fulton (2008) explained that leadership and other processes of the organization must be such that can ensure maximum probability within all interactions and relationships with the organizations, each member will be in the light of his background, values and expectations, view the expenses as supportive and one which can build and maintain his sense of personal worth and importance.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM                           

Leadership management in the organization is moving towards the trend transformational leadership. The question is whether transformation leaders do make a difference in leadership development as well as subordinate job satisfaction and individual development. Bass, Bennis and Nanies, Conger and Kanungo; Rouche, Baker and Rose; Tichy and Devanna (as cited in Pawar and Eastman, (2007) studied transformational leadership’s behavioural aspects and their effects on subordinates productivity / performance and organization.       

According to Hater and Bass (2008), considerable research has been done in the exchange relationship between leaders and subordinate. However, the concept of effective leadership is based on strong personal identification and going beyond a self-interested exchange of rewards between leader and subordinate. By considering the present study; the effectiveness and ineffectiveness lies on the leadership and organization of the study. According to Akpala (2008) some common problems were mentioned to affect organizational performance in Nigeria business and institutions. Among these problems faced by economic and government institutions in Nigeria are bad attitude to work among Nigerian workforce, poor organizational performance, inefficiency and ineffectiveness in most places. The author further stated that most organizations in Nigeria are managed by management systems that are strange to the typical Nigerian culture. However, it was suggested that the right type of leadership and motivation were not applied in managing Nigerian workers.

1.3   OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY                    

The major objective of this study is to examine the effect of leadership style on subordinate productivity in Nigeria with respect to United Bank for Africa. The specific objective of the study include:

i.  To determine the pattern of leadership and the extent it has affected organizational performance in the United Bank for Africa (UBA)

ii. To identify the factors that is responsible for worker’s low performance in the United Bank for African (UBA).

iii. To find out how leadership style affected labour management relations and productivity in the United Bank for Africa (UBA).

iv.  To examine the roles a leader plays in an organization.

1.4   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY                      

Nigeria as a nation is currently faced with a sharp increase on number of entrepreneurs who form business in common areas relating to maintenance, wholesales and production to industries. The running of theses business units necessitates frequently interactions and expectations between the entrepreneur and the employees.

Based on this, this study will be of immense significance in a number of ways:

i. It will help to reveals the relationship between leadership and organizational performance and how leadership style could be applied to.

ii.  It will be of importance for students of business administration who might become future managers leaders and entrepreneurs.                    

iii. This study will also help management and leaders of organizations to become aware of the factors that actually motivate their employees to low and high productivity in their work.  

1.5   RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The followings hypotheses were posited to guide the study in achieving the research objectives. 

HYPOTHESIS ONE  

HO: Leadership function and pattern in United Bank of Africa (UBA) does not significantly affect the overall performance of the business outfit (organization).      

HI: Leadership function and pattern in United Bank of Africa (UBA) significantly affect the overall performance of the business outfit (organization).      

HYPOTHESIS TWO 

HO: Positive responses of the leader to higher performance variables does not promote maximization of the objectives o f the organization in the United Bank for Africa (UBA)  

HI: Positive responses of the leader to higher performance variables promotes maximization of the objectives of the organization in the United Bank for Africa (UBA)  

1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF STUDY       

This study covers the relationship between leadership style and organizational performance in Nigeria with a view of highlighting the consequences of effective leadership quality in subordinate productivity.        The major limitation is time and financial constraints. This type of research requires adequate time and financial resources to visiting the case study frequently. However, the scope of the study will be limited to United Bank for Africa, Lagos.

1.7 ORGANIZATION OF STUDY   

This research will be organized into five chapters as follows: Chapter one will focus on the background of the study, statement of problems, objectives of the study, statement of hypothesis, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study organization of the study and definition of terms. Chapter two will contain literature review and theoretical framework. Chapter three will focus on the research methodology and method of data analysis. Chapter four includes the presentation and analysis of data and discussion of results. Chapter five will focus on the summary, recommendation and conclusion.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Leadership: Getting people to do things they have never thought of doing, do not believe are possible or that they do not want to do.

Employer: An employer can be defined as a person or institution that hires people.

Employee: This refers to the person being hired (supplier of labour).

Management: The act of controlling a directing people so as to coordinate and harmonize the group thereby accomplishing goal(s) within and beyond the capacity of people being directed.

Corporate Image: This depicts the attributes people give to an organization.

Organizational Performance: This is the performance of the product of all interactions taking place in the organization.                 

Motivation: A conscious act aimed at spurring better results from individuals who may ordinary not ready to go beyond their capacity.

REFERNECES

Akpala, N (2008). “The human Organization: it management and value:, NY McGraw-Hill  2004, vol. 38 issue 2, pp 291-310 20p (AN 12862708)                        

Hater and Bass (2008) “Leadership Development; Paths to Self-Insight and Professional Growth, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Incorporated.

Kraines, R.T (2011). Developing Non-Hieratical on Campus”. Case Studies of Best Practices in Higher Education. Greenwood Publishing Group Incorporated.

Messick and Kramer (2008), “Handbook on Leadership”, A Survey of Theory and Research, Free Press.                        

Maddock and Fulton (2008). Supervisory Methods and Group  Performance Norms” Administrative Quarterly.  

Outcalt et al (2010). “Path-Goal Theory of Leadership Contemporary Business, 3 (2000), Fall, 81-98.

Paley, W.O (2008). Managing and Demand Supply Chain; Value Innovations for Customer’s Satisfaction. John Wiley  & Sons

Taffinder, B.M (2012). “Successful Business Planning: Energizing your Company’s Potential”. Torogood.

Unamaka and Ewurum (2010). “Business Environment and Entrepreneurial Activity in Nigeria; Implication for Industrial Development” The Journal of Modern African Studies (1995), 44; 1-30 Cambridge University Press.

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