Relationship Between Styles Of Leadership And Quality Of Employee Work Life

This article is a review of the thesis "The Relationship Between Styles Of Leadership And Quality Of Employee Work Life, Empirical Evidence From MTN Ghana."

Researcher: J. A.

Ad: We offer a range of writing and research services. Find out more!

Abstract

Available evidence suggests that there exists a relationship between leadership styles and quality of employee work life. The concept of quality of employee work life is rooted in the need to treat employees as human resources “that are to be developed rather than simply used”. This indicates that quality work life can be considered as a process or mechanism by which organizational goals and target performance can be reached through the satisfaction of employee personal needs. This study therefore sought to establish the relationship between styles of leadership and quality of employee work life, using MTN GH as case study. The study was essentially quantitative in nature and employed the empirical research design. Primary data was collected by questionnaire administration and was analysed using statistical software packages.The leadership style with the highest mean Likert score was the transformational leadership style (4.06), and this was followed by transactional leadership styles(3.45). This means that the most dominant leadership style was the transformational leadership style because it registered the highest Likert mean score, with Laissez faire leadership style being the least dominant. There seems to be a lack of a clear-cut intent by management of MTN GH in improving quality of employee work life, although the company was doing well with respect to certain QWL attributes such as security and health. All the leadership styles, except Laissez faire, were significantly positively associated with quality of employee work life (p< 0.05). The correlation between transformational leadership style and QWL was found to be positive (r = 0.61), implying that as leadership style become more transformational, quality of employee work life rises., it is recommended that management of MTN GH continue adopting this particular type of leadership style, as it is already the dominant leadership style prevailing within the organization.

Background

In an era of globalization, stiff competitions and high demand by customers for custom made products and services, organizations, be it Telecommunication companies or otherwise, require and continue to require the best employees available in their industry in order to stay competitive. Essential to attracting and retaining these employees is a high quality employee work life(Nanjundeswaraswamy & Swamy, 2012). Quality of employee work life or quality of work life (QWL) for short has been defined in diverse ways. 

According to Saraji and Darghi (2006), QWL is a comprehensive, department wide programme designated to improve employee satisfaction, strengthening workplace learning and helping employees better manage change and transition.  

Quality of work life (QWL) is the quality of the content of relationship between employees and their total working environment with human dimensions added to the usual technical and economic ones (Rathamani & Ramchandra, 2013).

Key Findings

The most dominant leadership style found to be at play in MTN Ghana was Transformational leadership style.

There seems to be a lack of a clear-cut intent by management of MTN GH in improving quality of employee work life, although the company was doing well with respect to certain QWL attributes such as security and health. Quality of employee work life in MTN GH is slightly better than average, though more can be done.

The major attributes that significantly influenced quality of employee work life at MTN GH were Job Recognition and significance, Skills Development and Career Growth and Work Family balance.

Only transformational and transactional leadership styles were found to be significantly associated with quality of employee work life. However, transformational leadership style recorded a higher degree of association between it and employee quality work life than that for transactional leadership style.

Ad: We offer a range of writing and research services. Find out more!

Recommendation

It is strongly advised that management of MTN GH focus attention on attributes of quality of employee work life, such as Job Recognition and significance and Work-family balance that significantly influences quality of employee work life for maximum impact. Since these two attributes of QWL highly and significantly accounts for variance in the quality of employee work life, it therefore stands to reason that addressing them will make a significant impact on their perception of the quality of their work life, thus altering their productivity for the better  

You Might Also Like:
The Impact Of Leadership Styles On Information Systems Implementation Success In The Ghanaian Public Sector
Organization and Environment | The Primary Ingredients for Strategic Thinking
The Impact of Culture on Employee Motivation in Public Sector Organization

References

Al-Dmour. H. and Awamleh. R. (2002). Effects of transactional and transformational styles of sales managers on Job-satisfaction and self-perceived performance of sales people: A Study of Jordanian manufacturing Public Shareholding Companies. Diraszgt: Administrative Sciences, 29(1): 247-26.

Avolio, B. J., Walderman, D. A., & Yanimarina, F. J. (1991). Leading in the 1990s: The four is of transformational leadership. Journal of European Industrial Training, 15, 9-16.

Baidoo, C.(2015). The impact of culture on employee motivation in state owned enterprises (SOES) in Ghana. Unpublished Master’s Degree thesis in Human Resource Management. The Institute of Distance Education, University of Cape Coast. Ghana.

Bambio, J. (2015). The impact of leadership styles on information systems implementation success in the Ghanaian public sector. Unpublished Master of Science Degree thesis in Management Information Systems. The School of Technology, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).

Barzegar, M., Afzal, E., Tabibi, S. J., & Delgoshaei, B. (2012). Relationship between Leadership Behavior , Quality of Work Life and Human Resources Productivity : Data from Iran, 1(1), 1–14.

Basadur, M. (2004). Leading others to think innovatively together: Creative leadership, Leadership Quarterly, 15(1), 103-121.