THE ROLE OF MANAGERIAL LEADERSHIP IN CORPORATE GOAL ATTAINMENT (A CASE STUDY OF DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC.)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE………………………………………………………………………………… i

APPROVAL …………………………………………………………………….. ii

CERTIFICATION  ……………………………………………………………. iii

DEDICATION …………………………………………………………………. iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ………………………………………………….. v

TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………….. vii

ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………… xiv

          CHAPTER ONE

          INTRODUCTION

1.1    Background of the Study …………………………………………. 1

1.2    Statement of the Problem ……………………………………….. 4

1.3    Objective of the Study …………………………………………….. 5

1.4    Research Question …………………………………………………. 6

1.5    Operational Hypotheses …………………………………………. 8

1.6    Significance of the Study………………………………………… 9

1.7    Scope and De-limitation of the Study…………………….. 10

1.8    Organization of the Study ……………………………………… 10

1.9    Definition of Terms ……………………………………………….. 11

          CHAPTER TWO

          REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1Approaches to the Study of and

          Understanding Leadership Theories……………………… .18

2.1.1           The Trait Approach ………………………………………. 18

2.1.2           The Behavioural Approach …………………………… 21

2.1.3           The Contingency (Or Situational) Approach ….. 24

2.2    Forces that Influence the Choice of Leadership …….. 42

2.3    The Role of Vision in Effective Leadership …………….. 45

2.4    Distinction between Leadership and Management …. 46

2.5    Contemporary Perspectives on Leadership …………… 49

2.5.1           Substitute for Leadership ……………………………… 50

2.5.2           Empowerment ……………………………………………… 51

2.5.3           Transformational Leadership ………………………… 52

2.6    Leadership as a Communication Process ……………… 53

2.7    Leadership as a Problem-Solving Process …………….. 55

2.8    Leadership as a Multinational Process ………………….. 56

2.9    Women in Leadership Positions ……………………………. 58

          CHAPTER THREE

          RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

3.1    Research Design ………………………………………………….. 61

3.2    Scope of the Research Area …………………………………. 62

3.3    Sources of Method of Data Collection…………………….. 62

3.4Population of the Study …………………………………………….. 64

3.5    Sample Size …………………………………………………………. 66

3.6    Mode of Specification ……………………………………………. 68

          CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

4.1    General Description of Data ………………………………….. 70

4.2    Analysis of Personal Characteristics

          of Respondents ……………………………………………………. 71

4.3    Analysis of Hypotheses ………………………………………… 77

4.3.1           Test of Hypothesis One ………………………………… 81

4.3.2           Test of Hypothesis Two ………………………………… 87

4.3.3           Test of Hypothesis Three ……………………………… 93

4.4    Discussion of Findings ………………………………………….. 98

          CHAPTER FIVE

          SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1    Summary of Major Findings…………………………………. 102

5.2    Conclusion …………………………………………………………. 103

5.3    Recommendations ……………………………………………… 105

          BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………. 107

          APPENDIX …………………………………………………………. 101

                                     LIST OF TABLES

Table

1.Number of Questionnaire Administered and

          Returned ………………………………………………………………. 72

2.Respondents’ Literacy Level ………………………………………. 73

3.Age Distribution of Respondents …………………………………. 75

4.Sex Distribution of Respondents …………………………………. 76

5.Responses as per Attainment of Goals

          between 2011 and 2012 ……………………………………….. 76

6.Responses as per whether there were jobs

          that could be performed with little or no

          Supervision by Managers ……………………………………… 78

7.Responses as to whether the Management of the Company should be blamed in the event of non Attainment of Goals. …………………………. 79

8.Responses per the Relationship between

          Managerial Leadership and Corproate

          Goal Attainment ……………………………………………………. 82

9.Computation of the Correlation

          Coefficient between Managerial

          Leadership and Goal Attainment …………………………… 83

10.Responses as per the Relationship between

          Leadership Styles of Managers and the

          Productivity of Employees …………………………………….. 88

11.Computation of Correlation Coefficient

          between Leadership Styles of Managers

          and the Productivity of Employees ………………………… 89

12.Responses as per the Relationship

          between Employee Motivation and

          Attainment of Corporate Goal ………………………………… 93

13.Computation of Correlation of Coefficient

          between Employee Motivation and

          Attainment of Corproate Goal ………………………………… 94

                                    LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1:The Managerial Grid…………………………………………. 26

                                          ABSTRACT

This study investigates the role of managerial leadership in corproate goal attainment, using Dangote Flour Mills Plc. Calabar as the case study. A sample size of 106 staff of the Company was used for the study.  The data for this study was generated from well structured questionnaires, which were administered on the respondents.  Three hypotheses were tested using the Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient Technique. The result of the analysis revealed that there was a strong relationship between role of managerial leadership and company goal attainment; there was a significant between the leadership styles of managers and the productivity of employees; there was a strong relationship between motivation and the company’s goal attainment.  In view of the above findings, it was recommended that management should periodically interact with technical and professional job holders to ensure that they perform their task as in line with the common goal of the company. There should be a general education on the concept of “Collective responsibility’ so that every staff knows that he equally has responsibility for the attainment of organizational goal as well as for failure to achieve such goals.

                                      CHAPTER ONE

                                      INTRODUCTION

1.1    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

          Leadership in any form and at any level is vital to the survival of any establishment.  “An organization without leadership is like a car moving without a driver”. Leadership is very crucial to the smooth running of the family, private or public organizations, religious organizations, it is often said can not grow above or below its leadership. That is to say that the success or failure of any organization hinges on the quality of the organization’s leadership, since all institutions or organizations need able and dynamic leadership for effective performance. It was in recognition of this fact that Bennis and Nanus as quoted by Higgins (1991) observed that “a business short of capital can borrow money, they one with poor location can move, but a business short of leadership has little chance of survival”.

Omolayole (1993) argued that in any given society or community, leadership is always present at any point in time, either formal or informal, conferred or assumed, because as he puts it, “nature abhors vacuum”. Therefore, he observed, “if

there is a formal leader and he refuses to lead, somehow a person will emerge unofficially to fill the role”.  The formal or the unofficial leader may be ineffective, but a vacuum most not be allowed to exist.

          When one ponders over the subject of leadership, many ideas come to mind. One might relate leadership to power, authority or influence.  In fact, the concept of leadership always evolves a multitude of thoughts, which make the subject of leadership an exciting one.

          Higgins (1991) agreed with popular opinion that leadership is essential and a pivotal force for organizational success. He supported the position that leadership involves influencing others and that a leader is a person who has followers. People, he believed follow their leaders because they (leaders) take certain actions and behave in certain ways. Arising from his understanding of what leadership entails and who a leader is, Higgins (1991) defined leadership as “the process making choices about how to treat people in order to influence them and then translating those choices into actions”.  He submits that those choices and actions are design to influence others to follow the leader.

          But is leader necessary, or even desired in all situations?  Must there always be someone who shows the way for others to follow in all work situations?  The answers to these questions and more are not always in affirmative because of the nature of some jobs and the calibre of people performing them as well as the condition(s) under which they work.

          Supporting this line of argument, Certo (1992), Bateman and Zeithaml (1993) maintained that “leadership is not always necessary in all situations” they argued that sometimes leaders do not have to lead, or they simply cannot lead. They posits that the situation may be on which makes leadership have very little or no impact at all.  “Situational substitute” they argued, sometimes have as much influence on employees just as any leader would. Situational substitute, according to them can arise due to a number of reasons, including factors that are beyond the leaders control.  Because so many factors affects a situation, they observed, some people argues that “leadership is actually irrelevant in many organizational settings”.

          These opposing views on the relevance or otherwise of leadership to organizational success have actually aroused the

interest of management schools and practitioners.  This study attempts to investigate whether or not managerial leadership contributed to the attainment of corproate goals in Dangote Flour Mills Plc., Calabar.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM