IMPACT OF LEADERSHIP STYLE ON ORGANIZATIONAL

PRODUCTIVITY: A STUDY OF BENUE LINKS NIGERIA LIMITED,

MAKURDI.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page

Declaration

ii

Approval page

iii

Dedication-

iv

Acknowledgement s-

Table of contents -

vii

Abstract -

Background to the Study Statement of the Problem Research Objectives Research Questions Research Hypothesis Significance of the study Scope / Limitations of the study Brief Profile of Benue links limited Definition of key terms - -

1
5
9
9
10
10
10
12
13

References -

15

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0

Introduction - -

2.1

16

Review of literature -

16

2.2

Concept of leadership -

17

2.2.1

Important implication of the definition -

20

2.2.2

Principles of leadership-

21

2.2.3

Theories of leadership style -

23

2.2.4

Leadership factors - -

27

2.3.

Leadership style -

28

2.3.1

Transformational leadership styles -

29

2.3.2

Transformational critics -

32

2.3.3

Transactional leadership style -

33

2.3.4

Maslows context -

2.3.5

34

Qualities of Transactional leadership

37

2.3.6

Laissez-faire leadership style -

38

2.3.7

Transformational versus Transactional leadership style -

39

2.3.8

Determinants of Leadership style -

2.4

Productivity - -

2.4.1

Importance of productivity -

2.4.2

Factors of productivity -

2.4.3

41

43

45

46

Leadership style and organizational productivity -

48

2.4.4

The role of leadership in productivity - -

51

2.4.5

Management and productivity -

53

References -

56

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.0

Introduction - -

59

3.1

Research Design -

59

3.2

Population of the study -

60

3.3

Sample size determination -

60

3.3.1

Determination of each unit sample size - -

61

3.4

Sampling techniques / procedure - -

63

3.5

Method of data collection - -

63

3.6

data analysis techniques -

64

3.7

Test of validity and reliability -

65

Reference

67

CHAPTER FOUR: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND

RECOMMENDATIONS
4.0

Introduction -

4.1

68

Data presentation and analysis -

68

4.2

Test of Hypotheses - -

73

4.3

Discussion of findings -

76

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND

RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1

Summary -

79

5.2

Conclusion -

80

5.3

Recommendations - -

81

Bibliography - -

83

Appendices

86

ABSTRACT

This research work is a finding that examines the impact of leadership style on
organizational productivity in study of Benue links Nigeria limited Makurdi.
The objective of the study is to examine the impact of transformational
leadership style on productivity, impact of transactional leadership style on
productivity and impact of laissez-faire leadership style on productivity. The
research problem among others includes the style of leadership that improve
productivity and ones that hampers productivity. The population of this study
involve 232 staffs of the study organization with the sample size of 147.
Probability sampling techniques was adopted and the questionnaire method
was used in collecting the data. Data were analysed using simple percentage
and SPSS. The findings show that there is a significant relationship between
transformational leadership style and productivity, hypothesis 2 shows a
stronger relationship between transactional and productivity, also hypothesis 3
shows that there is a strong relationship between laissez-faire leadership and
productivity. It is recommended that transformational and transactional
leadership style should be more adhered to since it have strong effect on
organizational productivity and leaders with laissez-faire leadership style
should always be available for group members for consultation and feedback.

CHAPTER ONE
5

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 persons 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, finance,
machinery, raw material and possibility of making their goods and services
available to their customers.
6

The extent to which members of the organization contribute in

harnessing the resources of an organization equally depends on how well the
managers or leaders of the organization understand and adopt appropriate
leadership style in performing their roles as managers and leaders. Thus
efficiency in resource mobilization, allocation, utilization and enhancement
of organizational productivity depends, to a large extent, on leadership
styles among other factors. Chuang (2005), explain that the excellent leader
not only inspires subordinates potential to enhance efficiency, but also
meets their requirements in the process of achieving the common target of
the organization. Fry (2003), state that leadership as a use of leading
strategy to offer inspiring motive and to enhance the staffs potential for
growth and development in the organization. Burns (1975) approach is that
leadership influences subordinates to exert greater effort in the pursuit of
higher-order needs; support a greater vision for their work group or
organization and in the course perform beyond expectations.
Stoner (2000) defines leadership as a process of directing and
influencing the task of related activities of group members. It can also be
seen as the process of influencing other people to achieve organizational
objectives. Bass (1982) define leadership as an interaction between
members of a group. Leaders are agents of change, persons whose act affect
other people more than then other peoples act affect them. Leadership

occurs when one group member modifies the motivation or competence of

others in the group. Also, Nongo (2009) states that leadership entails an
unequal distribution of power between leaders and group members. Group
members have power, but leaders usually have more powers. According to
Rachin (2001) leadership is directly connected to the practice to which
people are dedicated. The most substantial of leaders is their influential
personality that has positive relation with the follower, job satisfaction and
the performance Lian, (2011) Leadership style is the manner and approach
of providing direction, implementing plans and motivating people. Having
acquired the human resources, there is the 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 employees stay at work,
feel contented, ready to put in their best and that their expectations are met
without neglecting the overall corporate objective(s) of the organization.

There are numerous styles of leadership but for this study, the
transformational leadership, transactional leadership and laissez-faire
leadership style is considered. The transformational leadership style is more
effective, productive, innovative, and satisfying to followers as both parties
work towards the good of organization propelled by shared visions and
8

values as well as mutual trust and respect (Avolio & Bass, 1991).
Transactional leadership style as opined by Burns (1978) indicated that
transactional leaders are those who sought to motivate followers by
appealing to their self-interests. They motivate subordinates to achieve
expected levels of performance by helping by helping them to recognize
task responsibilities, identify goals and develop confidence about meeting
desired performance level Bass (1990), While laissez-faire style is an
absolutely passive leadership.
Productivity is the ratio between output and total of factors required
to achieve it. Productivity is efficiency in individual production. It is a
multinational factor in organizations, in which it could be principally
improved by employees efforts. The relationship between leaders
behaviour or the leadership style and subordinate has gained increased
attention from the community. The kind of leadership style influences how
organizations cope with improving productivity, the Transformational
leadership style play a crucial role in improving productivity by way of
improved marketability and creating strategic vision of the organization.
Leadership style effect the overall operational performance of effectiveness,
efficiency, profitability, large market share and as well as the organization
commitment to achieve a stated goal. Behind the wonderment of any
organization productivity today is the leadership style adopt by the

organization. Productivity in every organization is largely centred on labour

productivity, perhaps human-labour is the universal key resources required
of any organization and the assertion that a critical element in all successful
productivity effort to date has been due to good leadership style.
The study is divided into five sections; section one is the introduction,
section two is a review of related literature, section three the methodology
employed in carrying out the study, section four is data presentation and
analysis

while

section

five

concludes

the

study

and

proffer

recommendations to the researched study.

1.2

Statement of the Problem

The findings reveal what seems to be a blind spot among company
planners about their own leadership and management skills. You might look
at this and say that leadership is just about being nice to people, however,
its far more complex, coercive leaders can have a slightly positive impact
on standards and pacesetters on responsibility. As Gole man point out, no
one leadership style is going to be right one in every situation. Leaders in
public service like Benue links Nigeria limited have to balance their concern
for their co-workers with their responsibility to the community they serve. A
lot of people think that one need to pay people more money to motivate
them, wrong there are plenty of low and no-cost strategies you can use to
motivate staff, executives who want to improve performance will bring in
10

tough managers or promote the most productive staff member as a

pacesetter. Leadership is the art and craft of influencing the thinking and
behaviour of audiences to achieve mutual goals, leadership is not about
what leaders do, but the relationship between leaders and audiences.
Having weak, ineffective managers in the workplace has many
damaging effect on employees and the firm as a whole. Company with poor
managers almost always perform below expectations, they lack vision, an
adequate understanding of business finance and good communication skills.
By recognising if these characteristics are present in the manager of their
firms, companys can make the necessary changes in order to prevent
failure. Many planners undervalue leadership because, I believe, the hold on
to old, the incorrect assumptions about the subject but as professionals
whose work greatly affect the public, there is need to have a responsibility
to be effective and efficient. An effective leadership makes decisions with
the information available, provide clear guidance, flexible enough to change
direction, delegate and build team spirit. A leader that involves employees in
the companys operation builds morale and improves productivity, when
staff feels alienated, morale and productivity suffer. If you search for project
on leadership style, almost every expert agrees that no management style is
able to fit all projects. Unfortunately, leaders who are unable to be flexible,

11

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 realises the need for change in style and adapts
the correct style to the team or project goal. Managers that fall claim to
many complaints to upper management from team members should reevaluate their manager goals and project management certifications to help
improve their careers. While no project management leadership style may
be the best style, each should be considered when tackling projects. As
Daniel Goleman pointed out, a manager should consider the project and
then select an effective style, or choose the correct club for the shot, To
bring projects to successful completions. You may have the title of manager
but what is your project management leadership style? Are you forceful,
determined, opinionated, or feared? Surprisingly, there are many projects
management leadership styles and no style fits all projects. What makes you
a leader is what you do when problem comes along. Because a project
managers leadership directly affects how team responds to that problem,
leadership style is critical during all phases of the projects life cycle. Here
is a quick review of leadership style that will help different leaders respond
to the elements;
Transformational leaders want to change the world or at least the
world of their organization. A transformational leader is visionary leader
12

who thinks in possibilities but believes that those possibilities comes

realities. A transactional leader offers incentives and rewards to employees
for commitment and efforts in fulfilling the organization goal. Laissez-faire
leadership, also known as delegation leadership is a type of leadership style
in which leaders are hands-off and allow group members to make decisions.
It generally leads to low productivity. 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. Poor leadership can
stop planners from producing new ideas and solution to problems.

1.3

Objectives of the Study

The overall objective of this study is to look generally on the impact
of leadership style on organizational productivity with a particular reference
to the organization of study. The objectives among others include the
following:
1 To examine the impact of Transformational leadership style on productivity.
2 To examine the effect of Transactional leadership style on productivity.
3 To examine the effect of laissez-faire style of leadership on productivity.

13

1.4

Research Questions
This study shall address the following research question:
1. Is there a significant relationship between Transformational leadership
style and productivity?
2. Is there a significant relationship between Transactional leadership styles
and productivity?
3. Is there a significant relationship between laissez-faire leadership style
and productivity?

1.5

Research Hypotheses
Ho1: There is no significant relationship between transformational
leadership style and productivity.
Ho2: There is no significant relationship between Transactional
leadership style and productivity.
Ho3: There is no significant relationship between laissez-faire leadership
style and productivity.

1.6

Significance of the Study

This research study is significant in many aspects:
It is hoped that, when the study is successfully completed will serve as a
14

source of policy guidance to the study organization and provide necessary

incentive for increasing productivity. It will help to enlighten the
management of the organization on the need and importance of having
effective leaders in the organization. It will enlighten the employee on their
roles and obligations to the leadership in the organization and other related
matters. It will identify the reason why employees react positively to a
particular leadership style of a manager and also aim at discovering what
makes workers to be dedicated and committed to their duties.
The research will help to challenge both the management and workers in the
organization on both the importance attached to increase productivity. The
study serves as a partial fulfilment for the award of Bachelor of Science
Degree in Business Management to the researcher. Finally, this work will be
of immense benefit as aid and guide to future researcher on leadership style
and productivity.
1.7

Scope / Limitations of the Study

The scope of study is exclusively restricted to Benue Links Nigeria Limited,
Makurdi. However, it should not be misconceived that the study has no
relevance to other organizations in Nigeria they are bound to face such
problem considering the globalized nature of organizational environment.
The theoretical issues to be discuss are leadership style and productivity

15

Some of the constraints encountered in carrying out this research

work are;
Finance; the study is one that requires money to enable the researcher to
browse more information and also to carry out the research work effectively
but due to this financial constraint, the researcher could not get everything
required for this project thereby hampering the best work on the study.
Time; this study is one that required longer time to enable the researcher get
the necessary and quality data for effective work but since it is a project
research of student which takes only three months that is a semester work as
required by the school, the researcher is less of valid information to use.
Attitude of respondents; To make this study a very viable one, some vital
information is requested from Benue Links Nigeria Limited, which the
management are not willing to release, workers inability to identify their
leadership style of the organization.
1.8

Brief Profile of Benue Links Nigeria Limited Makurdi

The decision by the Benue State government to float a transport
company was inferred on the need for the need for the government to
provide efficient, safe, reliable, comfortable and affordable means of
transport to the people of the state and beyond. This is more so, as road
transport is the most common means of transport used in conveying people

16

and goods in the country. The company took off in February, 1988 with an
initial fleet of only 10 burem flat buses. Main bus terminus of the Benue
Links Transport Nigeria Limited is located in the Wurukum area of
Makurdi, the Benue State capital. It is situated on Gboko road, near the
Food Basket roundabout, Makurdi. The terminus also doubled as the
corporate headquarters of this reputable and viable transport company. It has
about 232 staffs in total.
Mission: To provide safe, reliable, comfortable and affordable transport
service.
Vision: To be the most customers respected transport organization in
Nigeria
Administrative structure: Benue Links is headed by a General Manger
who is the overall Chief Executive Officer of the company. As a limited
liability company owned 100% by the state Government, its activities are
supervised by the Ministry of Works and Transport. The company covered
the following routes Makurdi to Abeokuta,Makurdi to Abuja,Makurdi to
Bauchi, Calabar, Enugu, Gombe, Illorin, Jalingo, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos,
Maiduguri, Minna, Onitsha, Owerri, Port-harcourt, Uyo, Warri, Yenogoa,
Yola Zaria. And intra-state route covers are Makurdi to Gboko, Katsina
Ala, Naka, Otukpa, Otukpo,vandeikya, Zaki-Biam. The company recently

17

an average total of passenger amounted to 817 for internal route and about
1,144 passenger route for external.
1.9

Definition of Key Terms

Leader: is an appointed individual with the ability to organize other
subordinate.
Leadership: is the act of getting things done through people.
Leadership style: refer to a kind of relationship that someone uses his
rights and method s to make many people work together for a common task.
Productivity: the rate at which a company produces goods and the amount
produced, compared with how much time, work and money is needed to
produce them.

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