TABLE
OF CONTENT
Title
page i
Certification
ii
Dedication
iii
Acknowledgement
iv
List
of tables vi
Table
of content xi
Abstract
x
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
to the study 1
1.2 Statement
of problem 6
1.3 Research
questions 9
1.4 Aims
and objectives 9
1.5 Research
hypothesis
10
1.6 Significance
of the study 11
1.7 Limitations
of the study
12
1.8 Definition
of terms 13
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE
REVIEW
2.1
Introduction 14
Meaning and concept of Leadership 17
Leadership style 17
Other
contemporary form of leadership style 26
Transactional
and transformational leadership 28
Qualities of an effective Leader 33
Importance
of leadership
38
Factors that affect the choice of leadership
style 38
Absenteeism
41 Causes of Absenteeism 45
Job
satisfaction and leadership 46
2.2
Theoretical framework 52
Path- Goal theory 52
CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 62
3.2 Brief history of research area 63
3.3 Research design 64
3.4 Study population 65
3.5 Scope of the study
66
3.6 Sampling techniques 66
3.6.1 Sampling size determination 67
3.6.2 Sampling selection 68
3.7 Method of Data collection/
Instrumentation 68
3.8 Method of data analysis 69
3.9 Ethical Consideration of the
study
69
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction 71
4.2 Demographic data
72
4.3 Distribution of responses 77
4.4 Test of Hypotheses 101
4.5 Findings of the study 105
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY,
RECOMMENDATIONS AND
CONCLUSION
5.1 Introduction 109
5.2 Summary 110
5.3 Conclusion 112
5.4 Recommendations 113
REFERENCES 114
APPENDIX I 122
APPENDIX II 126
APPENDIX III
ABSTRACT
The role of
leadership is very important and it can have effect on the ecology of
organization, business as well as employees. Consequently, effective leadership
can affect the subordinates’ satisfaction and influences the degree to which
they absent from duty. Indeed, to be an effective leader, there is need for a
multi approaches rather than a singular style. From literatures reviewed, the
study explained that the goal of an effective leader is to transform the
available human resource in order to meet organizational short and long term
objectives. In achieving this, the leader has effect on employees’ attitude
(job satisfaction) which consequently reflects in their behaviour (absenteeism).
Path- Goal theory provided the framework that helped explained the view of this
study that there are certain factors that determine the choice of a style by a
leader; nonetheless there are traits that define an effective leader. The study
was a survey design and relied on questionnaire for generation of data. The
findings of the study were that, leaders that adopt transformational style have
effect on the job satisfaction and absenteeism of the employees. Hence, a
manager’s leadership style creates the climate within which employees work and
influences the attitude and performance of his team.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of
the Study
Leadership
has an important bearing on how effectively an organization reaches its
objectives. This is especially true within extensions where individuals have
major responsibilities and are in decision-making roles. In any organized
group, the issue of leadership is crucial. Hence, leadership is an important
resource of all organization that is exhibited by individual(s) through a broad
scope of talent and qualities (Lester, 1975). It involves a process of interaction between leaders and
followers where the leader attempts to influence followers to achieve a common
goal. The term Leadership has long being of existence among people and it has
so many interpretations; it has been defined in terms of traits, behaviours,
influence, interaction, patterns, role, relationships, and occupation of an
administrative position. Generally, leadership could be defined as an
influence, art or process of influencing people so that they will strive
willingly towards the achievement of group goals (Okpara , 2005; Lussier , 2007;
Mester, et al, 2003; Emmanuel, 2002). This implies that leadership is a social
process in which one person or group of persons in an organized group harnesses
the knowledge, skills and motivation of the other members in the attainment of
the group goals. This process involves the consent-willing or grudging- of the
group.
In
organization, there is need to acquire human resources in order to meet its
objectives. Subsequently, when human resources have been acquired, there is
need to maintain and keep them together. It should be noted that every
individual has his personal expectation for working in an organization. To this
effect, the leader must employ the various ways of making sure that the
employee stay at work (thereby reducing absenteeism), feel contented
(satisfied) with their job and thus ready to put on their best. Employees have
shown to be an important tool for achieving organization’s goal towards the
production of quality goods and services. These Employees demonstrate a wide
variety of positive and negative behaviours at work in the cause of carrying
out the task at hand in their respective workplace. This led Linda-Ray (2014)
to posit that the type of relationship a leader forge with his employees plays
a substantial role in how they behave. He stressed that to encourage
productivity and positive work environment, the leader must pay attention to
how his own style. This implies that the
type of leadership style of managers in an organization would have an effect on
the employees’ attitudes and behaviour such as employee turnover, absenteeism,
citizenship behaviours, counterproductive behaviours, job commitment and job
satisfaction.
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. In an ideal world,
leadership styles adapt to the need of an organization. Tifase (2014) averred
that “leadership is imperative to any living human being; man or woman’. She
states further that leadership style is what differentiates between a business
thriving, sinking, or soaring and that there are various leadership styles with
each having its implication of effective implementation on profit, work
culture, organizational and individual goals. This notion implies that there
are certain qualities that defines leadership and must be embraced for
effective leader-subordinate relationship in an organization.
There has
been growing interest for adoption of a spectrum leadership style. Organizations
and managers are increasingly aware that they face a future of rapid and
complex change. This wave of future oriented uncertainty, coupled with
individual demands for increased participation at all levels of the
organisation has dramatically changed perceptions of leadership, specifically
with regard to the respective roles played by the leader and the follower. This
is because the concept of leadership has changed as new information is
discovered, accepted, and used. To Lester (1975), there are many reasons for
this, but an important one is the improved methods in social science research
that have recently emerged. Thus Leadership style affect the overall
operational performance of effectiveness, efficiency, profitability, large
market share and as well as the organization commitment to achieve a stated
goal. Consequently, effective leadership is critical for
meeting employee, customer and the organization needs.
Leaders who are unable to be flexible, trustworthy, open and inspiring may have
a combination of the varying traits of management styles with no clear
definition to guide a team. An effective manager realizes the need for change
in style and adapts the correct style to the team or project goal.
According to Ross & Offermann
(1997); Lok,(2004); Walumbwa, et al (2004), it has been stated that the
organizational performance and effectiveness of employees may rest from the
following three basic pillars: (1) organizational commitment, (2) job
satisfaction, and (3) leadership style. Therefore, leadership is both of
pivotal importance to organizational success as well as entwined in many
internal and external factors. However, the concept of leadership may be
simplified using existing categorizations. One of these is the distinction
between transactional and transformational leaders. Bass (1990) submitted that the transactional leadership style is
characterized by contingent reward. Employing such a style, the leader gives
rewards in exchange for effort and good performance. On the other hand, the
transformational leadership style is a more personal style involving charisma,
inspiration, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, and
extensive delegation. Therefore, the
transformational leader motivates people to participate in the process of
change and encourages the foundation of a collective identity and efficacy.
This eventually leads to stronger feelings of self-worth and self-efficacy
among employees.
In
the past several decades, there has been a significant revolution in how the
leadership is defined by management experts. Their approach has changed from a
classical one to a very innovative, democratic approach. Nonetheless, it was
determined that some old ideas were still good whereas some of the new ones
were not perfect. The key to effective leadership therefore is to use different
styles depending on each situation so leaders have to approach every case in a
different way.
In sum, employees are critical tool in
every organization. Having acquired the human resources, there is need to
maintained and keep them together. since every individual in the organization
has his personal expectation for working in the organization, to this effect,
the leader must employ means of making sure that the employees stay at
work(thereby reducing absenteeism),feel contented(satisfied) with their job and
as a result ready to put in their best in order for the organization to achieve
its goal. It is
against this backdrop that this study quest to investigate the leadership style
effectiveness and how it influences employees’ attitude and behaviour drawing
its research lens to Chi Nigeria Limited, Lagos. In order to study the effectiveness of leadership style,
this study used quantitative approach for measuring the impact of components of
transformational leadership on job satisfaction and absenteeism in
organization.
1.2 Statement of
the Problem
The mystery of why one leader's style
is more effective than another's is unsolved. Leadership style consists of a
leader's general personality, demeanour, and communication patterns in guiding
others toward reaching organizational or personal goals. According to Bennis and Nanus (1985), many organizations
are over managed and under led. The difference is crucial, managers are people
who do things right, but leaders are people who do the right things always. In
other words, the pattern of behaviours (style) employed by a manager goes a
long way in influencing the organization. To this effect, problems
are bound to occur within every noted organisation and decision making is bound to generate conflicts while
initiating policies. In this light, the notions of leadership act are
those which help a grouping meeting those
stated objectives. Thus, there is need to understand various leadership styles
in organisation that produces effectiveness.
Having weak and ineffective managers in the workplace has
many damaging effect on employees and the firm as a whole. It often create
vacuum for employees to absent from duties and obligations. The managerial
style of a leader in an organization reflects his weakness or ineffectiveness
and vice-versa. Company with poor managers almost always perform below
expectations, they lack vision, an adequate understanding of business finance
and good communication skills. By recognizing if these characteristics are
present in managers, companies can make the necessary changes in order to
prevent failure. As can be seen, many organizations undervalue leadership.
A number of factors may influence the
style a leader uses. Leadership itself constantly presents challenges both to
the leader’s abilities and to her as a person. In organizations, some
challenges come in the form of people or problems that present obstacles to
reaching a goal. Being a leader itself is a challenge. Most extension professionals are neither
fully aware of their particular leadership style nor know how they might
develop their leadership patterns to become more effective leader who would
have productive impact on employee behaviours to ensure organizational growth.
Consequently, bad leadership is expensive. Under the watch
of poor leaders and managers, staff morale declines and workers feel less
committed to the organization and its mission that tends to lead to work of
lesser quality and things getting done more slowly. Understanding the effects
of managerial style becomes important because leadership is viewed by some
researchers as one of the key driving forces for improving a firm’s
performance. Effective leadership is seen as a potent source of management
development and sustained competitive advantage for organizational performance
and improvement.
These and
many more has become a challenge to quality and effective leadership in
organizations and were the parameters that suggested a need for this research
with an ultimate focus on Chi Nigeria Limited, Lagos.
