Effects of Leadership Styles on Employee Job Performance Rating in Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the effects of leadership styles on employee job performance in the institute of agricultural research and training, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from eighty six (86) employees of the institute using simple random sampling technique. The results show that majority (67.5%) of the respondents were male and 66.3% fell within the age range of 30-50 years, while 68.6% of them had first degree with a mean household size of four (4) members. Findings revealed that the most preferred types of leadership by the employees were transformational (86.7%) and democratic (84.3%) leadership styles. Result on the degree of importance which respondents placed on each possible performance indicator shows that, leadership styles with a mean score of (?? ? = 4.08), salary/wages with mean score of (?? environment with a mean score of (?? ? = 4.04), and work ? = 3.97), were the dominant factors affecting employees performance in the organization. Of the 12 performance rating status of the employees, the most dominant level of employees performance rating in the organization are, how well employees do their job with a mean score of (?? 4.34),and punctuality/devotion to the work with a mean score of (?? ? = ? = 4.26).The results of the chi square and correlation analysis revealed that, there was significant relationship between marital status (x2=15.5161, p<0.05), educational status (x2= 23.614, p><0.05), rank (x2= 17.339, p><0.05),age (r= -0.319, p>< 0.05), work experience (r=0.677, p< 0.05) and employee job performance. Also the Pearson’s product moment correlation analysis showed that there was significant relationship between democratic leadership style (r=0.343, p< 0.05), transformational leadership style (r=0.328, p< 0.05), autocratic leadership style (r=0.234, p< 0.05), lassez-faire leadership style (r=0.237, p< 0.05), bureaucratic leadership style (r=0.227, p< 0.05), and employee job performance. The study concluded that leadership style is a critical variable on employee job performance and that the leadership style adopted by leaders has a great influence or relationship with the employee job performance. It is recommended that employees should be rewarded more on the basis of job performance, since this research work has shown that performance-related pay spurs employees to greater performance.