CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Efficient and effective organization performance and productivity is the core target and interest of any business establishment. The efficiency and achievement of any organizational goal must be anchored on certain persons and responsibilities delegated to persons for the purpose of concentration and division of labour benefit. Attitude and behavior towards any activity is also a core determinant of the success of that act. The behavior of employees in organizational life and their relationship with their jobs are affected by many variables. One of the most important of these variables is leadership behavior of supervisors for leadership is seen as the behavior of impressing people in many studies.
Leadership is the process through which an individual tries to influence another individual or a group of individuals to accomplish a goal. Leadership is valued in our culture, especially when it helps to achieve goals that are beneficial to the population, such as the enactment of effective preventive health policies. An individual with leadership qualities can also improve an organization and the individuals in it, whether it be a teacher who works to get better teaching materials and after school programs or an employee who develops new ideas and products and influences others to invest in them.
The behavior of employees in organizational life and their relationship with their jobs are affected by a lot of variables. One of the most important of these variables is leadership behavior of supervisors for leadership is seen as the behavior of impressing people in many studies. It has also become clear that organizational commitment has important implications for employees and organizations through various studies by researchers. Bennett and Durkin (2000) stated that the negative effects associated with a lack of employee commitment include absenteeism and turnover.
Employees are bent on acting in such manner as they have seen their boss or superior imply. The activities of employee is the major determinant of performance and output because an improved attitude towards work and toward one responsibility and assignment will transform into the person’s ability to either perform effectively or not.
It could be observed that leadership and management envisages deeply into what the organization can achieve if the quality of recognition is accorded to them. Leadership has been propounded to include the sources of influence that are built into a position in an organizational hierarchy. These include organizationally sanctioned rewards, and punishments, authority, as well as referent and expert power katz and kahn 1966, p.32. It could be seen however, that subordinates within the organization, through not all seem to enjoy the influence that exists all over and above the organization. Leadership is very essential organization and greatly influences the whole organization because achievements and results occur corollary to the traits being projected by the leader.
In general terms the acts of controlling other people consists uncertainty reduction ,which entails making the kind of choice that permits the organization to proceed towards its objective despite various kinds of internal and external variables. The effectiveness of leadership has some characteristics, which include forceful threats, a complete assertion of authority to the subordinates, and a derived, and situational responsibility. Note that in the society today, not only the presence of rewards (positive and negative), or the incentive appraisal could induce productivity but the feeling of belongingness. Improper leadership qualities within the organization have a negative impact on the subordinates as well as the achievement of the organizational objective. An 6 organization that has growth and forward looking has a good leadership and vis a vis a bad or deteriorating organization has a bad leadership. Leadership is always related to the situation. There is a growing awareness that is a continuous interaction between the factors presents in any given situation, including for example, the personal characteristics of the leader, the tasks, the environment, the technology, the attitudes, motivation and behaviour of the followers and so on
Hence, in order to be effective, it is critical for managers to influence their subordinates, peers, and superiors to assist and support their proposals, plans, and to motivate them to carry out with their decisions Blickle, (2003). Organization commitment can also increase the creativity in the organizations Sousa & Coelho, (2011). However, organizational commitment is one of strong determinant of success towards employees for the better performance of the organization, which is highlighted various times in the past literature Chew & Chan, (2008) Das, (2002). The behavioral status of the employees in any company is occasioned and influenced by the leadership behavior and life style, this transcends into productivity level and performance.
Another way of defining leadership is to acknowledge what people value in individuals that are recognized as leaders. Most people can think of individuals they consider being leaders. Research conducted in the 1980s by James Kouzes and Barry Posner found that a majority of people admire, and willingly follow, people who are honest, forward looking, inspiring, and competent. An individual who would like to develop leadership skills can profit from the knowledge that leadership is not just a set of exceptional skills and attributes possessed by only a few very special people. Rather, leadership is a process and a set of skills that can be learned.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Over the years, there has been conflicting ideas and conceptions about the effect of leadership style and the behavior of employees towards productivity. Leadership includes the ultimate source of power but has that positive ability in persuading other individuals and to be innovative in decision-making. According to Bennis and Nanus,(2013) many organizations are over managed and under led. The difference is crucial, managed are people who do things right, but leaders are people who do the right things always. Problems are bound to occur within every noted organization and decision-making is bound to generate conflicts while initiating policies. People are expected to coordinate. Whatever they are doing to achieve organizational goals. In this light, the notion of leadership act are those, which help a grouping meeting those stated objectives (Bavelas 1960).
However, the scholarly ideology and dichotomy on the degree of impact exacted on productivity and employee performance by leadership and organizational behavior remain a national and scholarly contest. Several researchers are of the opinion that leadership style is greatly related to performance while others believe that employee behavior is more related to productivity and performance level of an organization at large. Undisputable, different scholars have different ideas and different perception about organizational behavior and leadership style. Thus, the question remains, which leadership style is best for organizational and employee’s performance maximization? What degree of contribution do leadership styles have on the performance level? Are there positive or negative relationships between the leadership and organizational behavior and employees’ performance? To what extent are these claims applicable and feasible in the area of this study? These constitute the major problems that triggered and motivated this study.
1.3 Research Objectives
The main objective of this study is to ascertain the impact of leadership and organizational behavior on employee performance.
The specific objectives of this study include
- To ascertain the relationship between leadership style and employees commitment to work.
- To ascertain the relationship between organizational employees behavior and employees commitment to work.
- To ascertain the relationship between leadership style and organizational behavior.
1.4 Research Questions
- What is the relationship between leadership style and employee’s commitment to work?
- What is the relationship between organizational behavior and employee’s commitment to work?
- To what extent do leadership style relate to organizational behaviors?
1.5 Hypotheses
H01
There is no significant relationship between leadership styles and employee’s commitment to work
H02
There is no significant relationship between organizational behavior and employee’s commitment to work s
H03
There is no significant relationship between leadership style and organizations employees behavior
1.6 Significance of the Study
Every research work is expected to be of relevance to certain persons thus this work ill be relevant to the following ;
- To the academia, this work will be relevant as it will constitute a literature of relevance on the topic organizational behavior and leadership.
- It will serve as a working document for firms and business organizations on the type of leadership style to adopt and the implications of employee’s behavior on their performance.
- To further researchers, this work will be adopted as a research material for further studies and reference material.
- This work will highlight various strategies to manage different organizational behaviors since people behave differently.
1.7 Scope of the study
The area of coverage of this the research work is basically on UNILEVER PLC Aba, Abia. The project is primary concerned with the impact of leadership and organizational behavior on employee performance particularly in Aba.
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Tagged with: Behaviour, Employee, Employee Performance, Goal, Impact, Leadership, Leadership Style, Organization, Organizational Behaviour, Organizational Goal, Organizational Life, Performance, Productivity, Relationship, Style, Supervisor