By Onuegbulem Ngozi .i.
The study aimed at evaluating the impact of leadership styles on organizational performance in Nigeria using three selected manufacturing organizations in Cross River State. The evaluation was done through the use of structured questionnaire and interview with questions tailored towards: determining the impact of three types of leadership styles, autocratic, democratic and laissez faire on organizational performance; assessing the effect of positive response of the leadership style to high performance variables in promoting maximization of the objectives of the organization; examining factors that influence choice of leadership style in the organizations; finding out the effect of subordinates’ perceptions of their managers’ leadership behaviour on their relationship with management and finally, to ascertain if there is any appropriate leadership style for the organizations under study. The study employed survey research design. The questionnaire was structured in five point Linkert Scale in line with the objectives of the study. Content validity approach was used to ensure that the variables measured were all covered. The instrument was checked for reliability coefficient of 0.95 showing high degree of item consistency. Stratified random sampling technique was used in selecting the manufacturing organizations in Cement Company of Nigeria Limited and Niger Mills Company Plc. A sample size of 282 respondents was determined from the population of 960 drawn from senior and junior staff of the selected organizations using Taro Yamane sample size determination method. The data generated from the field survey were presented and analyzed using quantitative method like frequency distribution tables and simple percent (%). The test of hypothesis was performed using Correlation, t-test and Chi-square statistical test. The result arising from the primary data test at 95% confidence interval and 3 degree of freedom revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between leadership styles and organizational performance among Nigerian organizations. However, there were variations in the results obtained. For autocratic style of leadership the correlation result showed positive value of 0.92 and significant t-value of 4.06 against a tabulated t-value of 3.18. similarly, the correlation result of democratic style of leadership showed a positive value of 0.95 and significant t-value of 5.27 against a tabulated t-value of 3.182. Furthermore, under laissez faire style of leadership the correlation coefficient result showed a positive value 0.43 and significant t-value of 0.85 against a tabulated t-value of 3.20. these correlation coefficient results confirmed that both autocratic and democratic styles of leadership have positive and significant impact on organizational performance while laissez faire leadership style impacts negatively on organizational performance. The findings further showed that subordinates perceptions of their manager’s leadership behaviour had direct impact on their leadership with management. It was also revealed that certain characteristics in the environment such as; organizational type, the work group, the nature of problem and time factor significantly affect leadership styles(s). Above all, the study revealed that there is no appropriate leadership style for the organizations under study that managers/leaders are at liberty to fashion out leadership style that is most suitable for their organizations to enhance effective performance. To this end, the study recommended that leadership styles(s) in the selected organizations must be such that can enhance the productivity of the employees and by extension, profitability of the organization.