Leadership is one of the most investigative and cogitating variables at an organization in that; employee performances highly depend on the leadership style. Leadership is the process by which an individual will have an influence over subordinates and inspire, motivate and direct their undertakings to assist them in attaining the set objectives and goals. There are various forms of leadership, and every leader has the ability to use any style that suits him/her. Nonetheless, the leadership style employed by a leader has a tremendous impact on employee performance and the employees in general. In most cases, a leader might use style directed towards attaining the organizational goals and objective at the expense of employees. In such a case, the employee performance is bound to be very low. On the other hand, a leader might employ a leadership style that will have a positive impact on employees and their performance, and this will have a fruitful effect on their performance. Therefore, it is crucial for leaders to ensure that any leadership style used does not only focus on organizational goals and objectives but also aims at meeting the employees’ needs and performance.
The first cause of leadership style on employee performance results from work conflict and stress. Kurniawan et al. (2018) conducted a study at Jatiroto Sugar factory located in Lumajang Regency, East Java. According to the researchers, Jatiroto Sugar factory has faced a reduced profit margin over the past three years because of a reduced employee performance resulting from conflicting interests between the employees. Rizky et al. (2018) state that conflict brings about stress between the parties involved in disputes. An increased burden from the organization’s management to attain a specific target brings about the stress. It is very crucial for the management of any organization to ascertain the various advantages and weaknesses of its employees so that it can improve their performance in the event of a conflict.
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Nonetheless, the management has to make sure that employee commitment is very high within an organization to ensure there is no emergence of conflict. Employee commitment is because it boots the loyalty, identification, and involvement of employees within an organization. Such employees will display a higher level of faithfulness, working relationship, and participation towards attaining the set objectives. The study found out that work conflict and job stress hurt organizational commitment. Therefore, it is up to a leader to ensure that the style employed will not bring about stress or conflict between employees which might impact their organizational commitment hence a low employee performance.,
The second cause of reduced employee performance as a result of having a leadership style that does not recognize their need to grow and develop. Al-Harthy & Yusof (2015) conducted a study to determine the impact of transformational leadership the performance of employees. According to the researcher, leadership is a crucial factor that determines the success and failures including the performance of employees. It is vital that organizations have skilled leaders who will help them in attaining any set goals. Organizational employee performance affects the ability to accomplish goals and objectives. Employees who perform better will assist organizations in achieving any set of objectives. In transformational leadership, the leaders will not just develop and inspire the employees; however, they will provide support and recognition to employees that boost their performance in the end. Transformational leaders will ensure that they have in place training programs that will increase employee performance. Training programs help in boosting employee skills and knowledge thus improving their performance and productivity. By not supporting employee training, the performance and productivity levels are bound to decline, and this affects the entire organization.
The first effect of poor employee performance because of poor leadership style is a reduced profitability margin. Sougui, Bon & Hasan (2016), they conducted a study to ascertain the relationship between employee performance and leadership styles. The study was based on telecom engineering companies by focusing on the numerous styles of leadership. Leadership is very crucial towards enhancing the performance of employees. Very few leaders have a compression of just how the style they employ will have an impact on the overall employee performance. The researchers found out that no single style of leadership is regarded as being the best. However, leaders should make sure that whatever style they decide to employ, it will have an improvement on overall employee performance leadership style that is not focused on boosting employee performance is bound to bring about the negative impact to an organization such as loss in profits due to reduced employee productivity, morale and motivation.
The second effect of poor employee leadership styles is higher rates of employee turnover and reduced counter productivity. Puni (2016) examined the impact of leadership styles on employee turnover and counterproductive work intents in Ghanaian banks. According to the researcher, leadership styles have an effect on the subordinates motivational levels that allow them to attain specific targets set by an organization. There are various styles of leadership and one of them being autocratic is based on using coercion and dictatorship. This style of leadership is associated with higher rates of employee turnover and reduced counter productivity. However, in the case of democratic leadership, it is based on employee engagement whereby the employees are part of the decision-making process. This style of leadership is based on believing in employees. The autocratic style of leadership has negative impacts on employee turnover and counter productivity whereas democratic leadership has positive implications. Employee turnover is a costly undertaking for any company, as it will be forced to train new employees and engage in a new selection and hiring process. This is an indication that a leadership style employed by the leader will ascertain whether their company will increase its profits or use its finances in employee selection and hiring due to high employee turnover rates.
References
Al-Harthy, F. N., & Yusof, N. A., Prof. (2016). The Impact of Transformational Leadership
Style on Employee Job Performance: The Mediating Effect of Training.
International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), 5 (6), 499-503.
doi:10.21275/v5i6.10616021
Ali Orozi, Abdul Talib, and Husein Mohamed. (2015). The Impact of Leadership Style on Employees Performance in Telcom Engineering Companies. International Conference on Tourism and Hospitality .
Kurniawan, R. B., Sularso, R. A., & Titisari, P. (2018). The Effect of Work Conflict and Job Stress on Employees Performance with Organizational Commitment as an Intervening Variable. Jurnal Manajemen Dan Kewirausahaan , 6 (1), 1.
Sougui, A. O., Bon, A. T., & Hassan, H. M. H. (2016). The Impact of Leadership Styles on Employees’ performance in Telecom Engineering companies. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences , 7 (13), 1-13.
