CHAPTER ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The theory of leadership is the principle upon
which leadership is based. That is, the general truth which is the
foundation of leadership.
In any organization, planning, organizing, co-ordinating
and controlling are very important. All play important roles in the
achievement of the organization’s goals and objectives.
Planning is seen as the ability to forecast the future.
It will assist the organization to define its goals and guides it in the
achievement of the goals. Organizing means arranging and structuring of
the people, the work to be done and the facilities to do the job so
that goals can be achieved and the separate units of the organization
are brought together in order to achieve the organizational goals.
Controlling ensures that there is no deviation from the set goals and
objectives.
All these are called the functions of management. These
functions of management however need to be performed by individual (s)
who will use them in manipulating the subordinates towards the
achievement of the organization’s goals.
Such individual(s) is/are known as leader(s). Whenever
two or more people direct the efforts of others toward achieving some
desired objectives, one of the actors or participants usually exerts
more influence on the group behaviour than the other and which the group
looks up to for direction and instruction. Such a person is regarded as
the leader of the group.
With this, one can see that the act of leading, that is,
leadership can be termed as what makes up the organization itself
because when leadership is faulty, the employees will be misguided and
this will in turn have negative effects on the attainment of the goals
and objectives of the organization.
Leadership, being the most visible aspect of management,
operates within and binds group together. Its role in human society is
highly demanding, it requires leaders not only to be dynamic but
efficient and resourceful.
Leading is the process of influencing and motivating
people to work effectively. A leader motivates people in the advancement
of goals and objectives in such a way to get obedience of the
subordinates willingly and enthusiastically. He must be able to inspire
members to be dedicated and to contribute meaningfully to the
development of the organization. A leader can thus motivate his
followers by being considerate and exhibiting good leadership behaviour.
A leader must not only be honest, he must be seen to be transparently
honest. A dishonest leader has no moral justification preaching honesty
to his followers.
A leader is the pivot around which all other activities in an organization revolve.
Implicit in understanding leadership are the concepts of power, people and influence.
A leader possesses power to lead people and has influence (whether negative or positive) on the people under him.
However, there are certain concepts of leadership which
thus have effects on the performance of the employees. These concepts
are styles of leadership to be adopted in a given situation, the
qualities to be possessed by the leader, the ability of the leader to
lead effectively, the ability of the leader to instil discipline
and sense of responsibility in the followers through implementing or
changing their behaviour by guiding them to obey the rules ad to
maintain acceptable performance.
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1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Leadership plays important roles in an organization
because it influences the behaviour of others in the organisation. How
best the leader does this has effect on the job performance of the
others in the organisation.
Some of the problems of this study is this seeking solutions to include the following.
a. What is the need for leadership in an organisation?
b. Does leadership have any impact on employees’ performance?
c. What are the contributions and responsibilities of a leader towards the achievement of organizational goals?
d. Are leaders born or made?
e. What determines the leadership style to adopt?
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This study has as part of its objectives the followings;
i. To find out how leadership has contributed to employees job performance.
ii. To examine the concept, practice and principles of leadership, how it operates in an organization.
iii. To ascertain employees perceptions of leadership influence on their performance.
iv. To analyze various leadership theories in relation to employees reaction on their jobs.