ABSTRACT
The study sought to examine the existence of the various
leadership styles and its impact on the job performance at the various units of
the Academic Affairs Directorate of the University of Ghana. Close ended
questionnaires were used for the collection of the data. The close ended
questionnaires were administered to sixty-one (61) staff members who were
selected using the stratified sampling technique from the various Units. Nine
(9) of the Unit Heads of the Directorate were also given questionnaires to
respond to. Chi square and Spearman rank correlation coefficient tests were used
to analyse the effect of leadership styles on job performances at a significant
level of 0.05. It was observed that the charismatic, transformational,
strategic, and transactional styles of leadership are the main leadership
styles that do exist at the Directorate. Though all these leadership styles do
exist, the charismatic and transactional styles seemed to be more predominant.
The charismatic style of leadership was observed to have much positive impact
on job performance in terms of accuracy of work output, and customer service
delivery. The transactional style of leadership was also found to help build
good teams for easy flow of information, ideas and services thus creating an
atmosphere for higher productivity. In view of these findings, it is recommended
that both charismatic and transactional styles of leadership should be
encouraged and strengthened at the Directorate to enhance job performance.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Organizational development and survival in the current global
market depend on efficient organizational management system.
Ineffective and deficient management systems in organizations
result in poor performance. This may be due to the inability of the
organizations to adopt the best leadership style which enhances best
supervision and monitoring of the human resources within the organization.
According to Kotter (1990), management produces predictability, order, and
consistency regarding key results which include planning, budgeting,
organizing, staffing, controlling, and problem solving.
However, effective execution of management functions often
requires leadership. Leadership is said to be a reciprocal relationship between
those who choose to lead and those who decide to follow. Leadership produces
change and includes establishing direction through visioning, and aligning
people with the vision. It also develops strategies, inspires and motivates
staff for effective execution. These help the proper functioning of the
organization for high level of performance. According to Yoon and Woodley
(2010), understanding leadership and the measurement of competency of leaders are
key factors contributing to success in organizational development.
We can therefore ascertain that the kind of leadership style
that exists in an organization has an impact on job performance. Job performance
consists of observable behaviours that people do in their jobs that are
relevant to the goals of the organization (Campbell et al., 1990). Job
performance is of interest to organizations because of the importance of high
productivity in the workplace (Hunter and Hunter, 1984). The study is designed
to investigate the effect of leadership style on Job performance at the
Academic Affairs Directorate, which is the hub of the University of Ghana, a
public tertiary institution in the country.
Statement of the problem
Most institutions especially the public ones more times
experience low level of productivity. One of the key factors associated with
level of productivity is leadership. We are looking at the problems with the
leadership system at the Academic Affairs Directorate. The leadership system of
the Academic Affairs Directorate of the University of Ghana seems a little
cumbersome. The hierarchy is quite tall with Team Leaders (Unit Heads) having
to report to many quarters in the process of discharging their duties. This has
resulted in poor supervision on the part of the Team Leaders because they have
to go through long processes to get one thing done, and thus always busy to
look down. Additionally, coming down the hierarchy to the bottom, there is a relationship
gap between Team Leaders and the supporting staff with most of them feeling
intimated to interact with their Leaders. This does not enhance good working
relationship for increase in productivity.
The leadership system also has been designed in such a way
that it does not enhance the use incentives to motivate supporting staff to do
more. Most of the supporting staff complains of their effort not being
recognized. This is not good enough because not many of the supporting staff
members will be willing to go the extra mile to help increase productivity on
the grounds that it will not be recognized. Finally, the leadership system is
designed in such a way that there is no clarification of what is expected from
every unit at each point in time. The units just work with no expected quotas,
so both the Team Leaders and supporting staff might not stretch to achieve
more.
These issues if they are addressed and corrected will enhance
productivity massively. Unfortunately, not much has been done and documented in
this area for the Directorate, thus the need to look at it to make some
recommendations to help increase job performance.
Purpose of the Study
The tall hierarchal system, the poor supervisory problem,
poor working relationship between Team Leaders/Unit Heads and supporting staff,
low or poor incentive system to motivate supporting staff and no clarification
of expectations/quota system for various units have resulted in low
productivity at the Academic Affairs Directorate.
The job performance of some of the Units have not been
encouraging, thus the need to look at the various leadership styles and their
effect on job performance. The purpose of this study is to examine the various
leadership styles and their effect on job performance at the Academic Affairs
Directorate of the University of Ghana and make recommendations.
Research Objective
In order to address the research problem raised, a general objective
as well as some specific objectives for the study was identified. The general
objective was to examine the effect of leadership style on job performance at
the Academic Affairs Directorate of the University of Ghana. The specific
objectives however were as follows:
To examine the predominant leadership styles that exists in
the various units in the Academic Affairs Directorate of the University of
Ghana.
To assess how these leadership styles affect job performance
in the Academic Affairs Directorate of the University of Ghana
Research Questions
What kind of leadership style exists in the Academic Affairs
Directorate of the University of Ghana?
How does leadership style affect job performance in the
Academic Affairs Directorate?
Which efficient system can the Directorate adopt to improve
the leadership style in the Academic Affairs Directorate of University of
Ghana?
Significance of the Study
The research study will help identify some of the lapses in
the leadership styles at the Academic Affairs Directorate of the University of
Ghana, which has resulted in bad institutional culture and poor management
practices. When they are corrected, they will help enhance the performance of
the Directorate, thus productivity.
Additionally, the research will be useful to future
researchers, students and academicians who wish to look at such a related field
of study. It will serve as added literature to existing ones on leadership and
organizational performance.
Expected Outcomes
The study will allow heads of the various units in the
Academic Affairs Directorate appreciate the dynamism in the approach of
leadership style that should be employed to enhance job performance.
It will also allow team members to express their perceptions
and sentiment on the impact of how leadership styles in the Academic Affairs
Directorate affect their Job performance
The study will serve as a reference to public organization as
well as employees to understand the importance of leadership styles on job
performance so as to enhance high performance in the organization which
includes the University of Ghana specifically the Academic Affairs Directorate
Limitations and Delimitations of the Study
Limitations
One major limitation of the study is that, the knowledge
produced might not be generalized to other people or settings when replicated.
Again, the mode of data collection such as the application of questionnaires
can influence the study. For instance the mood of the respondents as well as
how they understand the items on the questionnaires and circumstances
surrounding the time they fill the questionnaire are likely to affect the responses they will
give. These phenomena in the researcher's view could affect the findings and
validity of the results.
Delimitation
The scope of the study is limited to the University of Ghana,
Academic Affairs Directorate and the various functionary units under it. The
study is limited to the leadership style that exists in the Academic Affairs
Directorate that affect job performance of staff. Generalisation of the result
is limited to the effect of the leadership style on Job performance in the
Academic Affairs Directorate of the University of Ghana.
Definition of Terms
Academic Affairs Directorate: An operational wing of the
University of Ghana that is responsible for keeping student’s records, regulate
student’s admissions, forms boards and committees, handle university college
affiliations, handle student’s examinations and academic facilitations.
Units/Departments: The seven sections of the Academic Affairs
Directorate. They are the Office of the Director, Student’s Records, Admission,
Boards and Committees, Affiliations, Examination Unit, and Academic
Facilitation.
Director: The overall head of all various unit or departments
at the Academic Affairs Directorate of the University of Ghana.
Unit Heads/Team Leaders: The senior members who head any of
the department or unit at the Academic Affairs Directorate of the University of
Ghana.
Supporting Staff: The senior and junior staff members who
work under the unit heads at the various departments at the Academic Affairs
Directorate of the University of Ghana
Organization of the Study
This research work is organized into five chapters. The first
chapter serves as the introduction and it deals with the background to the
study, research problem, purpose of the study and three research questions and
research objective the study is expected to answer. Additionally, the chapter
discusses the significance of the study, limitations and the delimitations of
the study.
The second chapter of the study reviews literature related to
the study. These are the theoretical review of related theories on leadership
and leadership styles, the relationship between leadership style and job
performance, empirical review of related results and gaps identified from
previous work and developing conceptual frame work on how the current study
intends to address the gaps identified.
The third chapter discusses the research methods adopted.
These are; research design, population and study area, sampling procedures and
data collection procedures. The administration and retrieval of the data
collection instruments used are also stated. The chapter finally, explains the
data processing and analysis.
The fourth chapter presents the results and discussions of
data on the study.
The result of the findings of the research is presented and
discussed thoroughly.
Interpretations are also given to the result of the findings.
The fifth chapter, which is the final chapter of the research
work, sums up the results and findings of the study. The chapter states the
recommendations based on the findings. Recommendations for further research are
also included in this chapter
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