IMPACT OF LEADERSHIP STYLES ON PUBLIC SERVANTS

PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF SOME SELECTED EAST AFRICAN

COUNTRIES

SYNOPSIS

Submitted to Bahir Dar University, Faculty of

Business and Economics

For the Degree of Philosophy in

Management

By

Befekadu Belay

Nov., 2020
 Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY

Name:- Befekadu Belay

Telephone:- +251910842978

e-mail: [email protected]

Title: Impact of Leadership Styles on Public Servants Performance: The

case of some selected East African Countries

Major Thematic Area: Research on Leadership and Management

Sub-thematic:

Today, thousands of individuals are appointed or elected to shoulder the role and
responsibilities of leadership. Leadership is practiced in every walk of life. Leadership
and the different associated styles have an immense impact on how employees
perform and grow, to lead positive organizational outcomes. The purpose of this study
will be to investigate the impact of leadership styles on employee motivation, as a
predictor of organizational performance. For so many years, Leadership has been a
subject of much debate and deliberation and how the different styles of leadership
evoke different responses from followers. The dynamics of these two entities ‘the
leader’ and ‘the led’ play a key role in shaping the destiny of the organization. The study
will follow qualitative method, with the goal to discover the pattern of cause and effect,
which can predict phenomenon. As a part of the qualitative methodology, data
collection will be subject to the thinking process in terms of ordered reasoning.

The concept of Leadership

Good leaders are made, not born. Leadership is a complex process by which a person
influences others to accomplish a mission, task, or objective and directs the
organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. A person carries out
this process by applying her leadership attributes (belief, values, ethics, character,
knowledge, and skills). In a situation of turbulence, the one key factor that can make a
difference, through foresight and dexterity, is Leadership. However, as this study will
initiate and probe start, will give conceptual clarity. The search for the right definition
has been age-old. According to Kaiser, McGinnis & Overfield 2012), leadership is the
process utilized by leaders to influences others to contribute to group goals. Some
definitions describe leadership as an act of influence, some as a process and yet others
have looked at a person’s trait qualities.
According to Cole (2005) Leadership is a dynamic process whereby one man influences
other to contribute voluntarily to the realization and attainment of the goals objectives;
aspiration of values of the group that is representing the essence of Leadership is to
help a group or an Organization to attain sustainable development and growth.

There are various styles of leading, such as transformational, transactional and laissez-
faire.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership is a theory of leadership where a leader works with teams

to identify needed change, creating a vision to guide the change through inspiration, and
executing the change in tandem with committed members of a group (Odumeru, J. A., &
Ogbonna, I. G. , 2013). The concept of transformational leadership was initially
introduced by leadership expert and presidential biographer James MacGregor Burns.
According to Burns, transformational leadership can be seen when "leaders and
followers make each other to advance to a higher level of moral and motivation" (Allen
GP, Moore WM, Moser LR, Neill KK, Sambamoorthi U, Bell HS, 2016). A score for
transformational leadership was then determined based on qualities such as providing
intellectual stimulation, giving positive feedback for good performance, leading by
example, and helping employees feel like they were making a contribution toward the
goals of the group. Transformational leaders inspire and motivate their workforce
without micromanaging — they trust trained employees to take authority over decisions
in their assigned jobs. It’s a management style that’s designed to give employees more
room to be creative, look to the future and find new solutions to old problems.
Employees on the leadership track will also be prepared to become transformational
leaders themselves through mentorship and training.

Transactional Leadership

Transactional leadership or transactional management is the part of one style

of leadership that focuses on supervision, organization, or performance; it is an integral
part of the Full Range Leadership Model. Transactional leadership is a style of
leadership in which leaders promote compliance by followers through both rewards and
punishments. The locus of the relationship is on an exchange. Each party to the
exchange recognizes the value of the exchange as well as the value of the relationship,
but these bargainers have no reason to remain together subsequent to the exchange.
There is nothing enduring about their relationship; no actual engagement has occurred.
That is, transactional leaders expect certain work behaviors from their subordinates
who are compensated for these behaviors by both monetary and nonmonetary rewards
(Bass and Bernard , 2008).

Laissezfaire leadership

Laissez-faire leadership, also known as declarative leadership, is a type of leadership

style in which leaders are hands-off and allow group members to make the decisions.
This style of leadership implies that someone in the position of a leader does not fulfill
leadership responsibilities and practically does not engage or involve in any meaningful
transactions whatsoever. This leader does little or nothing to affect either the followers
or the outcomes of their behaviors. Passive or avoidant leadership describes the
leaders who avoid getting involved in the work progress and decision making. Goals and
standards of tasks are not clearly articulated for the followers. This leadership style
consists of passive management-by-exception leadership and is seen as withdrawn and
uninvolved. Passive management-by-exception leadership (MBEP) refers to the leaders
who avoid being involved until the problems become more serious and wait with no
actions until things go wrong before taking actions. Leaders who display passive
management-by-exception will not interfere into problem solving until followers suffer
from certain serious deviations or wrongs (Odumeru, J. A., & Ogbonna, I. G. , 2013).

The concept of Performance

Performance is the accomplishment of a given task measured against preset

known standards of accuracy, completeness, cost, and speed. In a contract,
performance is deemed to be the fulfillment of an obligation, in a manner that
releases the performer from all liabilities under the contract. Performance means
both behaviour and result. Behaviour emanates from the performer and transforms
performance from abstraction to action. Not just the instrument for result,
behaviours is also outcomes in their rights the product of mental and physical
effort applied to task and can be judged apart from the result (Armstrong, 2000).
Bates and Holton (1995) pointed out that performance is a multidimensional
construct, the measurement of which varies depending on a variety of factors like
salary, environment, peer group relations and so on (as cited in Armstrong, 2000).
A more comprehensive view of performance is achieved if it is defined as
embracing both behaviour and outcomes (Armstrong, 2000). Employees’
performance (EP) is an important factor that contributes to improve the outcomes,
behaviour and traits of the employees. It helps to improve the productivity of the
organization. Nickols (2003) and Fort and Voltero (2004) identified similar factor
that are closely related and affect provider performance in the workplace. They
included a clear goals and job expectations, suitable repertoire, immediate
feedback, skills to perform, knowledge of the organizational structure, functional
feedback system, sound metal models, sufficient motivation through self-
satisfaction and incentives, supportive or conducive.

The Gap

Past research, historical data, books in the library, catalogues, databases, Internet, were
widely accessed to arrive at the gaps in literature. The intensive review of literature
reveals that there is no dearth of researches focused on the subject of leadership style
and employee performance. But in East African Public service, there are very limited
studies on the impact of leadership style on employee performance. Within the East
African Public service, it is very rare to come across studies which have been conducted
on the impact of leadership style on performance in the case of East African civil
servants. Therefore the intention of the candidate will be to find out how far the
leadership styles become parameters impacting employee performance in these
selected East African Countries which are of repute world-wide. The results of the study
will equip the organizational leadership to determine which styles to adopt so that the
employees are more committed and motivated and hence have a much better
engagement and connect with the organization. Adoption of the appropriate style will
help induce trust and loyalty for the public service.

Significance

The outcomes of this research work will expect to serve various purposes. Moreover,
the identification of the important potential impacts of leadership style on employee
performance will serve as an input for the East African Public service to re-examine the
public service for possible consideration of improving the performance of the workforce
and to take corrective action for the future. It can help policy makers to develop a policy
that can solve the different challenges and that can enhance the performance of
employees in East African Countries Public service.

Objectives of the Study

Based on the above findings, the objectives of the study were as follows:

1. To assess the impact of Transformational Leadership Styles on Employee

performance of East African public servants

2. To assess the impact of Transactional Leadership Styles on Employee

performance of East African public servants

3. To assess the impact of Laissez Faire Leadership Styles on Employee

 performance of East African public servants

4. To scrutinize the impact of Motivation on the performance East African public

servants

The study will be limited to select three East African countries, those Ethiopia, Eritrea
and Kenya. The study will be use qualitative method by reviewing the documents. The
use of the qualitative method afforded me the opportunity to obtain the rich
descriptions and meanings of events necessary to answer the research question.
Cohanier (2014) used qualitative research method to expand the understanding of the
performance management system of one of the largest retail organization in North
America. Likewise, Rao (2013) found the use of qualitative research method necessary
to obtain rich information for the understanding of human resource management best
practices of three organizations in India. Buick, Blackman, O’Donnell, O’Flynn, and West
(2015) used a qualitative multiple case study design to explore performance
management potential role in enabling the adaptability of employees to change.
Therefore, I used the qualitative method to answer the research question of the impact
of leadership style on employee performance of public servants. With the use of the
qualitative method for this study, I will employ 20 years of documents to collect
appropriate data.

References
There are no sources in the current document.