Impact of leadership styles on employee performance among Makerere University employees

Abstract

The study aimed at investigating the impact of leadership style on the job performance of Makerere University employees. The study adopted a quantitative study design which was correlation in nature with a population of 35 employees. Simple random sampling technique was used to draw a sample of 32 respondents from the population. Data was collected from respondents using self-administered standard questionnaire and entered in the computer for analysis through Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software version 23. Descriptive statistics showed that 88.0 % of the respondents were male and 12.0% were female, majority were between 18-25 years (57.6%). Results from Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (r) further indicated laissez faire leadership style positively impacts on employee performance, (r=.617**, p=.000), as well as democratic leadership style on employee performance (r=.468**, p=.000), however, autocratic leadership style negatively impacts on employee performance (r= -.529**, p=.000). Therefore, the present study provides a basis and implications for further investigation on the impact of leadership styles on employee performance at Makerere University. It was recommended that the management of Makerere University needs to do more by designing policies that promote democratic leadership style than other leadership styles in order to improve on employee performance.