AN ASSESSMENT OF LEADERSHIP STYLES OF OFFICE MANAGERS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF OFFICE EMPLOYEES IN SELECTED ESTABLISHMENTS IN JOS METROPOLIS

AN ASSESSMENT OF LEADERSHIP STYLES OF OFFICE MANAGERS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF OFFICE EMPLOYEES IN SELECTED ESTABLISHMENTS IN JOS METROPOLIS

Abstract

This research work was conducted to assess the leadership style of office managers and their effects on the productivity of office employees in selected establishments in Jos Metropolis. Four research questions were formulated to guide the study, comprising of senior and junior staff from the selected establishments. Instrument used in collection of data was questionnaire. A sample size of sixty was used and questionnaires were administrated to them. Based on the analyzed data, it was revealed that: supervisors at the four selected establishment were democratically oriented. It was also discovered that their employees were adequately motivated. Based on these findings, it was recommended that leaders who are democratically oriented should be supervisors in organizations. One thing that is sure is that, for one to be an effective and efficient manager, he must learn and apply the act of leadership.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

An effective leadership style has been widely acknowledged as a potent instrument for achieving organisation goals and objectives. Leadership is an important aspect of managing, the ability to lead effectively is one of the keys to being an effective office manager; the essence of leadership is fellowship. In other words, it is the willingness of people to follow that makes a person a leader.

Moreover, people tend to follow those whom they perceive as providing a means of achieving their own desires, wants and needs. That is why any organization that desires to achieve her objectives, must have an effective and efficient leadership who knows how to apply all the management principles in achieving her organizational objectives, therefore it is importance to embark on this research work to assess leadership styles of office managers and their effect on the productivity of office employee in selected establishments in Jos Metropolics.

1.1 Background of the study

Personnel administration is vertically concerned with the management of human performance in organisations. This performance is significantly affected by the quality of the relationship between the people who do the job and the people who supervise and coordinate it. The supervisor is the manager in the office and he does manage through inspections overseeing and controlling while the top management managers these offices from a distance. The supervisor oversees the work of other employees in order to achieve the desired result of the organization.

He has the responsibility of getting all those workers to produce the desired result of the unit or department he is described as the man in the middle. He has to face both ways to represent the management and at the same time to represent the staff in the offices. The supervisor is seen as somebody who is able to motivate and influence people to move towards a common goal willingly. To be a leader he must have special qualities that put him high above others.

As a supervisor, he should be more interested not in making his subordinates perform but also more importantly in helping them achieve as well as satisfy their relevant needs and aspiration while meeting the requirement of the organization. Is said to be goal directed accept or react as individuals but as members of a group. An organization requires a good

leadership among other factors to be able to survive in an environment of scarce resources. Efficient leadership constitutes an attractive device for good followership, and index of success. It often judge relative performance, which will result in good productivity.

A supervisor must be a good leader and leadership is made of a number of characteristics. He must be productive, he is able to control in order to gain maximum cooperation from his followers one cannot become a supervisor unless one is willing to exercise leadership which is necessary because a supervisor directs activities and operations, assigns various jobs, determine proprieties and make decision about a variety of problems. The researcher having seen the important part played by employees in an organization discovers that leadership style of a office manager has great effect on the productivity of office employees. And therefore embarked on these researcher work in order to come up with the best leadership style that should be practise by managers. In order to promote or increase productivity of employees in office at a particular time leadership style is such that does not permit managers, supervisor or a leader to appreciate his employees by way of motivating them, there is bound to be human beings desired to be motivated to perform a task, and to do it better.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Leadership has for age concerned researchers and office managers’ talk about the factors that make an effective leader and extensive research has been conducted on the same issue. Etuk (2002). Various researchers’ Knootz (2004) and Lucy (2007) hold the view that many factors determine the style of leadership adopted by a office manager. In some situations, the leaders make the difference between success and failure. Some leaders are effective in one organization but not in other. Other leader are successful no matter where they go despite various studies of leadership; researchers Fielder (2005), Miklo (2008) and Steer (2002) cannot fully explain their contractions and inconsistencies. The question now therefore arises, which of the leadership style be practise by the managers and what are the effect on productivity.

This research work looks into the relevance of the leadership style of office managers and their effect on the productivity of employees. The main problems this research set out to solve are to know the best leadership styles to be practise.

1.3 The purpose of the study

1. To assess leadership styles of office managers and their effects on the productivity of office employees.

2. To examine the extent to which the leadership styles adopted by office manager have affected productivity in the organization.

3. To examine the various leadership styles of office managers in some establishments in Jos.

4. To examine the various managerial leadership styles and how effective they are in the organization.

1.4 Significance of study

The result if this study will be of benefit in the following ways:

i. Managers will now appreciate which leadership style is preferable and most useful in different situations in the working environment.

ii. Managers will now know how to enhance the workers performance to achieve the set goals for the organization.

iii. Organization will also be able to organize training programmes for their managers to help in development of better leadership traits in the offices.

iv. Researchers will also know what makes workers react favourably or unfavourably to organization.

v. It will also enable institutions of higher learning to enrich their programmes in management.

1.5 Research Questions

In order to give focus to the study, the following questions were drawn up for investigation:-
1. What are the leadership styles adopted by office managers in Jos Metropolis?

2. To what extent has the leadership styles adopted by the manager contributed to the achievement of the organizations’ goals and objectives?

3. What are the managerial leadership styles adopted by managers and how effective are they in the organization under investigation.

4. What leadership styles or modification do you recommend for better result by the organization under investigation?

1.6 Scope of the study

The study was limited to the following establishments: Nasco Group of Companies Jos D=South secretariat (LGA), power holding Company of Nigeria Jos and Union Bank Nig. PLC, Jos Branch were used for data collection.

1.7 Definition of Terms

Leadership: Influencing people to achieve organizations set goals and objectives.

Organization: The coming together of a group of people for a common purpose and for the achievement of common objectives.

Manager: He is someone who supervises, oversees in order to achieve the desired results.

Effectiveness: The degree of goals attainment in an organization.

Efficiency: A measure of how we human and material resources are used to produce output.

Motivation: The driving force that makes employees to exhibit best in work situations.