South African employees’ perceptions
Date
2011-05-10
Authors
Knowles, Tanya
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The aim of this study was to look at the topic of leadership from an employee’s
perspective by establishing the extent to which employees’ have a common
perception of an effective leader in business. The study aimed to uncovered
whether employees’ perceptions of an effective leader varied in relation to their
level of seniority in an organisation. This was undertaken within the context of a
transactional and transformational leadership framework.
A questionnaire administered to employees across industries in South Africa was
used as a basis for the study. The sample consisted of 142 respondents and each
respondent was requested to rate their perceptions of effective leadership in
business. The researcher administered an adapted Multifactor Leadership
Questionnaire (MLQ) questionnaire to respondents which was designed and
validated by Avolio and Bass (1995) to measure transactional and transformational
leadership.
The statistical measures used in the study included descriptive statistics and
analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests.
The study showed that overall employee’s perceptions of effective leadership,
when assessed within the transactional and transformational leadership
framework, did not significantly differ based on their level of seniority within an
organisation. The results indicated that while employees overall, perceive an
effective leader to display a higher degree of transformational leadership than
transactional leadership. An exception was identified relating to the transactional
dimension of Contingent Reward. Although Contingent Reward falls within the
dimension of transactional leadership, it was rated by respondents as having equal
weighting to the dimensions of transformational leadership.
v
The research has shown that the application of the theories of transactional and
transformational leadership can be more broadly applied for leaders dealing with
subordinates at various levels of an organisation.
An employee’s level of seniority within an organisation does not impact their
perception of effective transactional leadership, however, the research revealed
that an employee’s level of seniority within an organisation impacts their perception
of effective transactional leadership at a top / senior management level when
compared to professionally qualified / middle management, skilled / junior
management and semi-skilled staff.
Top / senior management are seen to be aware of the importance of
transformational leadership from a strategic level where they set the strategic
direction for the organisations and are responsible for the achievement thereof.
This ultimately should lead to increased employee satisfaction, sustained
organisational performance and a fair return to shareholders
Description
MBA - WBS
Keywords
Leadership, Transformational leadership, Transactional leadership, Employees