Leadership style and employee commitment: a case study of the KZN Office of the Premier.

Abstract

The researcher examined the relationship between the three leadership styles, namely, the transformational, transactional and laissez-faire styles as well as employee commitment and the perceived leadership style displayed by managers in the Office of the Premier in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Radical social and economic transformation is a topical issue on the political agenda of the South African political leaders. The South African political leaders are slowly transforming the government sector and this can be linked to leadership styles and employee commitment. A quantitative methodology was used for this study and self-administered questionnaires, consisting of a Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and an Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCG) were used to gather data from 150 respondents, 87 of whom responded. The Statistical Package of the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 24.0 was used for the statistical analysis. A convenient sampling method was used because the researcher only focused on employees based in Pietermaritzburg. The reliability of the overall questionnaire was tested using Cronbach's Alpha method. The Cronbach's Alpha test showed a strong internal consistency amongst the questionnaire items. This shows that the questionnaire's leadership and organisational skills items were indeed a measure of the same constructs as would be expected from a well-designed questionnaire. It was found that the transformational and transactional leadership styles are the most adopted styles while the laissez-faire style, although it is adopted, is not as preferred as the other two leadership styles. The leadership style and employee commitment were found to be positively related. This implies that leadership styles play a vital role in employee commitment at the Office of the Premier. It is important for the leadership of the departments at the Office of the Premier to consider the findings to meet the organisational goals. It is further recommended that leadership in the Office of the Premier should embrace the transformational leadership style to transform the organisation and the workers, as well as to motivate the employees to work together to change the organisation and create sustainable productivity.