CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The concept and definition of leadership and style may differ from one situation to the other. The word “leadership” has been used in various aspect of human endeavor such as politics, businesses, academics, social works e.t.c. previous view about leadership show it as personal ability. Messick and Kramer[2004] argued that the degree of which the individual exhibit leadership traits depends not only on his characteristics and personal abilities, but also on the characteristics of the situation and environment in which he finds himself . Since human beings could become members of an organization in other to achieve certain personal objective the extent to which they are active members depends on how they are convinced that their membership will enable them to achieve their predetermined objectives. Therefore, an individual will support an organization if he believes that through it his personal objectives and goal could be met, if not the persons interest will decline. Leadership style in an organization is one of the factors that play significant role in enhancing the interest and commitment of an employee in the organization.
The extents to which members of an organization contribute in harnessing the resources of the organization equally depends on how well the leader or the organization understands and adopt appropriate leadership style in performing their role as managers and leaders. Thus, efficiency in resources mobilization, allocation, utilization and enhancement of organizational performance depends to a large extent, on leadership style, among other factors.

The workforce of the organization is more aware, educated, knowledgeable and expecting better values for themselves on the other hand, the organization also want to better utilize them to get maximum benefit. Employees commitment with the organization reduces their intention to leave the organization and remains part of the organization to work more effectively and with loyalty. If the workforce is not committed in the organization then job insecurity, low trust, high stress and uncertainty will increase in the organization, which have ultimately negative effect on the performance of the organization. Employees commitment can also increase creativity in the organization. Societal culture has also impact on the leadership style of the management so that the leadership style in the organization may vary from society to society. The leadership style that characterizes the interaction between leaders and their subordinates is most important in terms of employees commitment and performance. Leadership style can either motivate or discourage employee, which in return can cause employee increase or decrease in their level of performance. Leadership and it effectiveness is primary focus for organization to achieve their organizational goals and to create organization commitment in their employees, for their organizations. Many researchers and scholars presented different theories regarding the leadership effectiveness and its relationship with employees performance in early days.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
In any organization there must be problems inhibiting effective performance of employee such as uncooperative attitude of subordinates, poor leadership style and techniques.
From the problem enumerated above one would discover that there is much to write about. To reduce these problems to the minimum, an organization should coordinate all the people and event that contribute towards the attainment of the firms objective.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
As organization face increasing challenges in a highly competitive environment, researchers are focusing more on the important of leadership style. Since the 1980s both transformational and transactional leadership behaviors have been studied, and recently have become part of “the new leadership” paradigm.
Previous research has found that transactional leadership augment laissez – faire leadership in enhancing employees commitment and performance.
In an effort to clarify some of the consequences of this leadership style and their impact on employees commitment, the purpose of this study will be threefold
To examine the relationship between transformational leadership style and employees commitment and performance.
To examine the relationship between transactional leadership style and employees commitment and performance.
To compare the relationship among transformational leadership style and transactional leadership style.