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Leadership is one of those qualities that you know when you see it, but is difficult to describe. There are almost as many definitions as there are commentators. Many associate leadership with one person leading. Four things stand out in this respect. First, to lead involves influencing others. Second, where there are leaders there are followers. Third, leaders seem to come to the fore when there is a crisis or special problem. In other words, they often become visible when an innovative response is needed.
Fourth, leaders are people who have a clear idea of what they want to achieve and why. Thus, leaders are people who are able to think and act creatively in non-routine situations – and who set out to influence the actions, beliefs and feelings of others. In this sense being a ‘leader is personal. It flows from an individual’s qualities and actions. However, it is also often linked to some other role such as manager or expert. Here there can be a lot of confusion. Not all managers, for example, are leaders; and not all leaders are managers.
Leaders need a new mix of competencies to properly shape their board and develop their subordinates to meet 21 SST-century challenges. Shifting cultures, vapidly changing technology and other factors will require new patterns of leadership. The 21st-century leaders will need greater awareness of diverse factors and new sets of competencies – characteristics that lead to success on the job – to help them make relevant, correct and timely decisions in the leadership of change and leadership of people. An important factor in the leadership process is the relationship that a leader has with individual followers.
Previous researches have shown that successful interaction between leaders and their followers are central to the overall functioning of a company (Green and Lull-Been, 1995). High-quality leader-follower relationships have been found to have impact on employee performance, organizational commitment, delegation, empowerment, and job satisfaction (Serener and Day 1997, Green and Lull Been, 1995). One rationale for this study is that good leader-follower relationships are vital to ensure the effective functional of any company.
The interest in the influence of leadership on workers performance represents an alternative to the traditional focus on the leader as the center of attention and power, as with the sun in the “solar system. ” Although the qualities of leaders are obviously important, especially in teamwork in particular, leaders need the skills to engage followers in productive and satisfying mutual pursuits. However, this is a departure from the usual way of seeing leader qualities as possessions, rather than interpersonal links to others involved in shared activities.
Because not all leaders wish to be participative, understanding and overcoming such reluctance to involve followers becomes important. Not least as a source of resistance is the problem of shared responsibility and who will be accountable. It is on this background that this research work aims to assess the extent to which leadership impacts on the productivity of the workers. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The objective of this study can be stated as follows: 1 . To investigate the impact of leadership style on workers’ performance in the Nigerian business environment. 2.
To evaluate the importance of leader- employee/follower relations in organizational building. 3. To identify the problems associated with leader-employees relationship in the business environment. 4. To make suggestions on leadership patterns with the view of improving employees’ performance RESEARCH QUESTIONS The study would examine the following questions: . To what extent does leadership style influence employees’ performance? 2. How do leader-employee relations affect organizational growth? 3. What are the factors that hinder cordial leader-employees relationship? . What leadership style could be adopted to improve employees’ performance? RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS HO: That leadership style or pattern does not impact on the performance of workers in an organization. HI: That leadership style or pattern impacts on the performance of workers in an organization. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES OF DATA Primary data shall be used in the course of this research work. It shall be sourced via the survey method i. E. The questionnaire designed by the researcher and distributed to the respondents.
The researcher would then collect the filled questionnaire from the respondents in order to analyze the data collected with the appropriate statistical instruments(s). The data, which will be collected from the questionnaire, will be analyzed using the simple percentage method and chi-square, goodness of fit. The simple percentages will be calculated by dividing the total number of questions answered by the total number of questions and then multiply by 100. SCOPE OF THE STUDY The scope of this study will be limited to the influence of leadership and leadership styles on the performance of employees in the banking industry in Nigeria.
The research work will focus mainly on leader-follower relations and how it affects the performance of the workers. The study also aims at using Woman Bank Pl for the sampling of opinions. The field survey shall be conducted in Lagos because it is the commercial nerve of the country. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The significance of this research work is that it would explore the impact of leadership on the performance of employees in organizations with special preferences to Nigerian context.
This particular industry was chosen because of the rigor employees are made to go through in the industry in the course of meeting the targets of the management. This has affected the economic, social and private lives of the employees. It is intended to investigate whether employees’ performance is related to the leadership style adopted by the management. It is hoped that this study would contribute to the promotion of the existing frontier or boundary between human knowledge and strengthen the relationship between the management/employer and the employee in the Nanking industry of Nigeria.