The impact of leadership style in organizational performance:

Abstract

This study investigated on the impact of leadership styles on the organizational performance at the National Social Security Funds Regional Headquarters in Arusha City, Tanzania. Specific Objectives were three, to identify leadership styles employed in managing organizational performance of NSSF in Arusha headquarter, to establish the employees’ perceptions on the organizational performance of the NSSF in Arusha headquarter and to establish the effect of leadership styles on the organizational performance of the NSSF in Arusha headquarter. The study employed the correlational descriptive research design through which the leadership styles and the organizational performance were described through descriptive statistics and then a hypothesis was tested through the regression analysis to establish the impact of leadership styles on the organizational performance. Data was obtained through a questionnaire to which employees were given to fill. Due to the fact that the total population constituted a small number, all the 60 employees were involved in the study by filling the questionnaire. The study established that three leadership styles namely transformational, transactional and Laissez Faire existed in the organization. The organizational performance was found to be excellent as the organization accomplished institutional objectives as planned. Duties were easily accomplished because of laid down procedures, customers’ needs were met on time, tasks were achieved on time and the organization functioned smoothly with minimum internal conflicts. There was an existing positive relationship between the organizational performance and the following leadership styles: Transformational and Laissez Faire. While transformational leadership accounts for 13.7%, laissez faire leadership accounts for 11.8%. The model explained 25.5% and therefore it was a significant predictor of the organizational performance. Based on the conclusions of the study, the researcher recommends that since transformational and laissez faire leadership are significant predictors for organizational performance, leaders in the organization under investigation should be encouraged to increase the use of transformational and laissez faire leadership styles for effective organizational performance to be realized. Since the model explained for only 25.5% on the role of leadership towards the organizational performance, there is a need to conduct another study so as to determine other factors that may contribute toward the organizational performance.