Impact of Laissez-faire Leadership Style on Employee Productivity in Private Organizations in Nigeria

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

One idea that has evolved in effective relationships between organizations and society at large is leadership. Leadership is defined as the method through which an individual inspires a group of people to reach a common purpose or the key to trust that comes from others’ esteem (Northouse, 2004). It is frequently related with the employment of a leading approach to provide motivating motivation and to maximize the potential for growth and development of employees. Effective leadership is seen as a valuable source of managerial growth and a long-term competitive advantage for improving organizational performance (Rowe, 2001). The heart and soul of organizational management is leadership. The importance of a manager discovering his or her own leadership style is underlined by (Glantz, 2002).

In today’s dynamic global workplace, there is mounting evidence that organizations are increasingly understanding the influence leadership styles have on employee well-being and organizational outcomes. Leadership is a crucial aspect that has a significant impact on the overall health of organizations and nations (Odumeru and Ifeanyi, 2013). Employees are motivated by their leaders’ encouragement to offer ideas and innovations, resulting in a satisfying and rewarding work environment (Khaliq, 2001). According to Buelens, Broeck, Vanderheyden, Kreitner, and Kinicki (2006), effective leadership behavior is built on both the manager’s desire to help subordinates and the subordinates’ need for support. Building a positive relationship between a leader and his or her followers necessitates the leader’s recognition of the personal values of individuals who are prepared to contribute their time and skills to achieve common goals. Leadership is important in organizational performance because organizations need motivated individuals to be successful.

In an organization, leadership style is one of the variables that influences whether or not employees are interested in and committed to the organization (Timothy et al., 2011). Leadership styles, according to Belonio (2010), may either encourage or discourage people, resulting in an increase or reduction in employee performance. Leadership style, among other things, influences the efficiency of resource mobilization, allocation, usage, and advancement of organizational performance (Timothy et al., 2011). Some of the elements that have a detrimental impact on organizational performance in Nigeria include a lack of proper leadership style and motivation.

Clearly, an organization’s capacity to achieve its goals is determined by the direct induced of the organization. People required to be hired in the organization to be guided towards the accomplishment of the organizational goals are leaders, and organizations exist to provide services in society for the benefit of mankind. To coordinate the activities of the people and the organization, he must be communicative. In reality, the leaders make certain that the subordinate’s actions are focused toward achieving the organization’s aim. This can only be accomplished by creating an environment that allows the subordinate to meet their needs. A good leader can energise and encourage his subordinates to achieve better.

Leaders have developed numerous approaches when leading people in the organization, according to Chiang and Wang (2012) and Clark, Hartline, and Jones (2009). It’s crucial to remember that different leadership styles are appropriate for different situations, people, cultures, jobs, and organizational objectives. Transformational, transactional, laissez-faire, and authoritarian leadership styles have all been used in private organizations. None of these leadership styles are incorrect or inappropriate for a leader to use, but how he or she uses them depends on the environment he or she is in, which can affect employee productivity and organizational success.

  Statement of the problem

Employees’ job performance, attitudes, and behaviors toward the company may be influenced by different leadership styles. According to Mullins (2005), a manager’s leadership style is the way he or she interacts with employees. Employee attitudes and behaviors, as well as organizational performance, are heavily influenced by leadership style. Employee unhappiness with a company’s leadership style is frequently expressed in high labor turnover, frequent complaints, strikes, and decline in work performance (Khan et al. 2010). In support of this, Timothy, C., Andy, T., Victoria, O.& Idowu, A.(2011) opined that inefficiency, poor achievement of results, shoddy handling of activities and programs, poor rendering of services, abuse of office, lack of initiative and maintenance culture, delays, corruption, unsatisfactoriness, irregularities, poor quality of work output, poor commitment, low morale, truancy, lateness to duty, idleness, laxity, indiscipline are some of the effects of poor leadership in Nigerian organizations.

Although many research on leadership styles have been conducted to explain the principles and impacts of leadership styles, particularly transactional and transformational leadership styles, but few have concentrated on laissez-faire leadership styles. This is because laissez-faire executives have a trusting and relying attitude on their staff. They don’t micromanage or become overly engaged, and they don’t provide excessive instruction or direction. They provide direction and accept responsibility when necessary, but their leadership style allows subordinates and team members to take the lead (Frischer, J. 2006). Therefore, more research into the influence of laissez-faire leadership style on employee productivity in private firms in Nigeria will aid in gaining a better understanding and increasing the validity of the findings. It is  upon this premise that the researcher  delved into the study on how laissez-faire leadership style affects employee performance.

Objective of the study

The broad objective of this study is to examine impact of laissez-faire leadership style on employee productivity in private organizations in Nigeria. Specifically the study sought to:

1. Investigate the benefit of adopting a specified leadership style in Organization.

2.  Determine if  Laissez faire  leadership style affect worker’s productivity.

3. Ascertain the impact of  Laissez faire leadership style on firm’s economic growth and performance.

  Research hypothesis

HO1: there are no percieved benefit attached to adoption of a leadership style in organization

HO2: Laissez faire  leadership style does not affect employee productivity in private organizations.

 Significance of the study

The study would have both practical and empirical relevance to organization and academia. Practically, to organization, the management board  can use the finding and recommendation of the study to improve the qualities of it organization leadership for the purpose of the subordinate performance. Other organization not included in this study can also draws vital lessons from the findings and recommendation of the study in improving the leader subordinate relationship in the organization. Empirically, findings from the study will add to the body of existing  literature and serve as a reference material to both student and scholars who wishes to conduct further studies in related field.

 Scope of the study

The broad objective of this study is to examine impact of laissez-faire leadership style on employee productivity in private organizations in Nigeria. The study will investigate the benefit of adopting a specified leadership style in Organization. It will determine if  Laissez faire  leadership style affect worker’s productivity. It will ascertain the impact of  Laissez faire leadership style on firm’s economic growth and performance. The study is however delimited DataPlus Interactive Limited, FCT Abuja.

   Limitation of the study

Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scanty literature on the subject owing to the nature of the discourse thus the researcher incurred more financial expenses and much time was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited choice of sample size. Additionally, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. More so, the choice of the sample size was limited to banking industry as few respondent were selected to answer the research instrument hence cannot be generalize to other corporate organizations. However, despite the constraint  encountered during the  research, all factors were downplayed in other to give the best and make the research successful.

Definition of terms

Leader: One who directs the behaviour of other group members and gives instruction on how a task is to be done.

Leadership:  A process whereby a person in directing and influencing people towards realization to the organizations goals.

Subordinate: A person who is working under someone else or inferior in the official hierarchy

The organization: This is the structured process in which people have interest for objectives

Leadership Style: A leadership style refers to a leader’s characteristic behaviors when directing, motivating, guiding, and managing groups of people.

Employee Productivity: Employee productivity can be defined as the amount of work (or output) produced by an employee in a specific period of time.

Organizational Performance: Organizational performance comprises the actual output or results of an organization as measured against its intended outputs (or goals and objectives).

REFERENCE

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Frischer, J. (2006). Laissez-Faire Leadership Versus Empowering Leadership In New Product Developing. Danish Centre for Philosophy and Science Studies Aalborg University Fibigerstraede Nr. 10 Denmark.

Glantz, J. (2002). Finding Your Leadership Style. A Guide for Educators; Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Vol 7, No5

Mullins L. J., (2000). Management and Organisational Behaviour, Pitman Publishers, London

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