Investigating transformational leadership practices and the influence on employees' organisational commitment at Camden Power Station.
Abstract
The study was aimed at investigating whether the leadership practices at
Camden Power Station are transformational and employee organisational
commitment centred. Organisations cannot perform successfully if leadership is
not effective and employees are not committed to the organisation. The
objectives of the study were to establish the existence of transformational
leadership practices at Camden Power Station; to investigate if there is a
relationship between these practices and employee organisational
commitment; to establish other transformational leadership factors that affect
employee organisational commitment and to make recommendations to the
organisation about transformational leadership practices and organisational
commitment.
The study approach was quantitative. In this study the sample was identified
from within Camden Power Station, a generation business unit in Eskom. The
sample of 105 employees was scientifically calculated from a population of
employees. A random sample was drawn from a sample frame of employee list
obtained from the Human Resource Department. The study findings revealed
that leaders at Camden Power Station practised transformational leadership
styles and that there is a positive relationship between these practices and
organisational commitment. It is recommended that these practices become a
leadership programme and form part of the organisation’s leadership
performance contract; its implementation must be monitored. The current
leadership practices at Camden Power Station need to be transformational in
order to enhance employee organisational commitment and retain skills while
ensuring adequate generation of electricity for the country. The study also
recommends that other employee behaviours such as job satisfaction,
leadership acceptance and job performance be researched against
transformational leadership, using a larger sample and mixed methods to be
able to obtain richer information from respondents.