ABSTRACT

The study evaluated the impact of leadership styles on organizational productivity in religious institutions with special emphasis made on Ahiara Diocese of Mbaise. The major objectives of the study were to determine the impact of transformational leadership on the easy execution of religious programmes. To determine the impact of democratic leadership on organizational growth. To ascertain the influence of authoritative and autocratic leadership style on organizational effectiveness. To determine the relationship between leadership styles to organizational productivity. To achieve the objectives of the study, survey research design was adopted. The researcher adopted primary source of data in getting the required information were questionnaire was constructed and distributed to 134 the clergy respondents from the Diocese of which only 120 were completely filled and returned. In testing the hypotheses, simple regression used as a statistical technique in analyzing the data collected. The findings revealed that Transformational leadership have a significant impact on the easy execution of religious problems. Democratic leadership does not have significant impact on the organizational growth. Authoritative and autocratic leadership style dimensions have no significant impact on organizational effectiveness. Finally, it was also seen that Leadership styles have a significant relationship to organizational productivity. The researcher recommends that the leaders should be aware of what is important for the subordinates and the organizations as a whole and encourage the employees to see the opportunities and challenges around them creatively. The leaders should also have their own visions and development plans for followers, working in groups and champion team work spirit. Also leaders should have sense of innovation and also encourage followers to seek more opportunities and possibilities, not just achieve performance within expectations. Leaders should understand the values of the followers and try to build their departmental/ unit’s business strategies, plans, processes and practices that will likely help to improve the wellbeing of staff. Finally, Respect for individual is also very key in building a positive relationship between leaders and employees. Employees prefer to idealized attributes leadership behaviors from their leader because it can increase their level of performance. Employees would like to see more of idealized attributes in their leaders; therefore, the leaders should act to promote faith from their subordinates. They should connect with the working groups and the individuals beyond self-interest. A sense of confidence and power for the workloads should be displayed. Based on the results of the current study, leadership development programs could help leaders understand the relationships between effective leadership styles and employee performance.