Abstract
The study examined the effect of organizational culture on workers’
effectiveness. One hundred workers participated were 30 are males and
70 females. Their ages ranged between 20 -55 years with a mean age of
26 and SD of 3.24 and cuts across both male and female gender. The
instruments used were a self structure questionnaire and the leadership
questionnaire designed by Don Clark (2002). Three hypotheses were
tested in the study. The results revealed that there was a significant
relationship of autocratic managerial leadership behaviour styles and
aggressive-defensive organizational culture on workers’ effectiveness (F
1.314 at P< 0.05) and democratic managerial leadership behaviour styles
and constructive organizational culture on workers’ effectiveness (F
1.199 at P< 0.05). Similarly there was a significant association of
managerial styles and organizational culture on workers’ effectiveness.
The result suggests that managerial leadership behaviour styles and
o
1.1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE PROBLEM
For most of our lives, we are members of one organization or anothercolleges, religions, a branch of business, a professional group etc. Some
organizations are formally structured like the public or government
businesses while some are informally structured like the school clique.
But all are kept together by a group of people who see that benefits arise
from working together towards some common goal or purpose. These
goals depend largely on the ideology that backs the formation of the
organization. For instance, some are formed for profit maximization,
some for spreading knowledge, some for defense, some for social
satisfaction others for affection or love etc. Consequently, a basic element
of any organization is goal.
Today, organizations have become more diffuse and less hierarchical and
less formally structured in place to provide the guidance for standards
and norms of behaviour and as managerial structures have been
replaced or decoupled from organizations and coupled with the fact that
experts from different areas of activity, different levels of society coming
from different backgrounds and culture work together to successfully
achieve the goals and objectives of the organization.
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Workforce in any organization are highly valued by the society because,
they represent the total of the inherent abilities, skills exemplified in the
talents and skills of the employees. Thus, it is obvious why organizations
should place high value on its effectiveness. In order to achieve
satisfaction in these areas, an organization’s strategy needs to be aligned
with the external environment. The mode of workers effectiveness
concerns the internal process approach which focus on minimizing
strain, integrating individuals and the organization and conducting
smooth and efficient operations (Ndukaihe, 2005).
Organizational culture is as a result becoming increasingly more relevant
to providing the necessary guidance for standards and norms of
behaviour and an essential component for building the best possible
managerial development system (Avolio, 1999) and work effectiveness.
Organizational culture as an important supporting framework for
managerial development effort is very critical to understand, this is as a
result of the fact that management sees to the day to day running of the
organization, and thus they are indirectly responsible for the
effectiveness or performance of their workers. Although, managers in
Africa are obliged by their education and training to predicate their
management practices on western models, these managers are still
embedded in cultures that are strikingly different from those in
industrialized west (Abudu,1986; Eze,1995). There is need therefore, for
managers to recognize the various perspectives, values and cultures that
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employees bring with them to the organization and try to integrate these
different cultures with the goals and culture of the organization because
they constitute a significant source of contributions due to the fact that
organizational goals and objectives are derived from organizational values
and norms because they provide the guidelines or expectations that
prescribe appropriate kinds of behaviour of organizational members in
particular situations and control their behaviour towards one
another(Hill and Jones, 2001).
Managers being the basic resource of the business enterprise are also the
most expensive resource in most organizations and the one that
depreciates the fastest and needs the most constant replenishment that
Drucker (1982) noted that it is the duty of the executive to remove
ruthlessly anyone- and especially any manager who consistently fails to
perform with high distinction. Day (1982) supporting this says that when
business is bad; always start weeding out at the top. Thus, how well
managers manage and are managed determines whether organizational
goals will be reached. It equally determines how well the enterprise
manages worker and work. Thus, Knight (1986) argued that to find men
capable of managing business efficiently and secure them, the positions
of responsible control is perhaps the most important single problem of
economic organization on efficiency scale. For the workers’ attitude
reflects, above all the attitude of his management. It directly mirrors
management’s competence and structure. The workers’ effectiveness is
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determined largely by the way he is being managed thus implying that
the effectiveness of workers production process is partly dependent on
proper leadership and managerial ability. As a result managers must
encompass more than devising visions and seeing that policies and
procedures are carried out effectively. Thus, management must focus
their attention on managerial and workers’ effectiveness in order to cope
with current complex, volatile environmental and cultural trends in
modern organizations.
With regards to this present study some questions are necessary to be
asked as they may help in throwing more light on the problems of this
study and they are: Do we feel that Nigerian workers are ignorant of the
type of managerial leadership behaviour styles adopted by their
superiors? What effects do these managerial leadership behaviour styles
have on their work performance? Does organizational culture contribute
to workers effectiveness?
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Every work organization is concerned with being effective upon the
attainment of its aim and objectives rest the success and ultimate
survival of the organization. In many industries or organizations today,
there tend to be a norm, culture, custom and/or managerial behaviour
that is peculiar to them and their environment that causes one to wonder
if these behaviours have any effect on the performance of the workers or
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the organization. The quest for identity and uniqueness also helped to
enforce these behaviours. The problem of motivation, lack of job
satisfaction, creativity, initiative and absenteeism tends to be on the
increase in some companies, while in some it is non-existent. Some
companies are doing well and their workers are proud to identify with
them outside the official working hours while workers in another
company tend to withdraw from being identified as a member of such
companies or organizations. Organizations that operate on supporting
their workers, looking into their workers’ welfare, seeking their workers
opinion before embarking on any venture seem to be doing well while
some other organizations that seem to operate with same method seem
worse off. Likewise, some organizations thrive on competitive culture and
authoritarian management, others on participative management and
supportive culture while some others would prefer the combination of
competitive culture and participative leadership. Management quality is
thus recognized as one of the most important factors in the success of
any organization among other variables. Since these discrepancies are
noticed, the study tries to investigate the influence of managerial
leadership behaviour and organizational culture on workers’
effectiveness. It will try to find out if the combination of a particular
managerial leadership behaviour and organizational culture will have any
effect on workers’ effectiveness and to what extent these variables
influence the efficacy of the work force.
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1.3 PURPOSE OF STUDY
Culture gives birth and defines organizational objectives while
managerial leadership behaviour tends to integrate management function
and organizational culture to achieve desired effect in view of the fact
that if these managerial actions and organizational culture are not
aligned together, the organization is in difficult time (Stoner, Freeman
and Gilbert, 2005). Culture has been accepted as a “fact of organizational
life” by managers and has become an integral aspect of many
organizational development programs (Martin, 1992). Previous work on
organizational cultures has focused on descriptions of culture or a
typology of culture (House, Javidan, Hanges, and Dorfman, 2002).
Certain types of organizational cultures or styles of management have
been associated for both the effectiveness of the organization and for
workers within the organization (Deal and Kennedy, 1982, Schein, 1996).
In contrast, this study attempts to link managerial leadership behaviour
and organizational culture to workers’ effectiveness within the
organization. Specifically, the researcher deemed it necessary to:
i. Identify the managerial leadership behaviour and prevailing
organizational culture in Nigerian organizations.
ii. To determine the extent to which organizational culture and
leadership styles influence workers’ effectiveness.
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iii. To determine the degree of influence between managerial
leadership styles and organizational cultures on workers’
effectiveness.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
The importance of this study is as follows:
i. The findings of this study will be useful to management in
any organizational setting because the type of managerial
leadership behaviour style and organizational culture affects the
level of performance in any given work setting and therefore the
awareness of the limitations, problems and advantages of the
different managerial leadership behaviour styles would enable
managers decide which one to be involved with.
ii. The study will create awareness among organizations of the
managerial leadership behaviour style that can lead to workers’
effectiveness.
iii. It would help psychologists who find themselves in any work
setting to focus their attention on the managerial leadership
behaviour style that will give rise to organizational efficiency and
equally equip them with suitable behavioural method to use when
managing problems arising from industrial disputes, and
organizational cultural conflicts.