Abstract
This study seeks to add to the knowledge gap on leadership styles in organizations under harsh economic environments by assessing the leadership styles of senior managers and chief executive officers in the private and public sectors and to correlate the organizational performance to the styles. A survey research design using self-administered questionnaires was used in this study. Questionnaires (150) were sent out to the major companies throughout Zimbabwe targeting senior managers and chief executive officers. Convenient sampling and snowball sampling were used to identify the organizations used in the study. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 and MINITAB statistical package were used for analyzing data. Transactional leadership style was the dominant style in both the private and public sectors in the time of economic uncertainty. Contrary to widely held views, the private sector managers excelled on transactional leadership style compared to their counter parts in the public sector. The results suggest that during hard times or in economic crisis, leadership styles may change to suit the environment. In particular, transactional leadership style becomes a dominant style if organizations are to succeed in the maintenance of high standards of performance and retention of skills. In times of crisis, both transformational and transactional leadership styles are important for the survival of organizations. Although leadership styles have been studied in different organizations, information on studies in the public sector has lagged behind. The study described in the study is the first to consider leadership styles in the two sectors under harsh economic conditions (highest recorded inflation). As such, this study gives insight to managers and chief executive officers on how to keep performance high. Key words: Transformational leadership, transactional leadership, public sector, harsh economic conditions
Highlights
“The theory of the Ecology of organisations proposes that the management team does not influence the organisation’s outcomes” (Pedraja et al, 2006a)
Three leadership styles namely transactional, transformational and laissez faire were assessed in public and private sector organizations in Zimbabwe using the constructs for each leadership style; transactional leadership style, transformational leadership style and laissez faire leadership style
The questions 13 to 16 which measure “inspirational motivation” which is one characteristic of transformational leadership was practiced more by public sector organizations compared to private sector organizations
Summary
“The theory of the Ecology of organisations proposes that the management team does not influence the organisation’s outcomes” (Pedraja et al, 2006a). Argue stressing the importance of executives for the performance of large organizations (Yukl 2002). This theory argues that leaders have a major influence on organizational performance and that top management team does influence certain strategic decision making and as a result influence the performance of companies. This alternative to the Ecology of organizations is called the Upper Echelons theory (Pedraja et al, 2006a). This alternative to the Ecology of organizations is called the Upper Echelons theory (Pedraja et al, 2006a). Waldman et al (2001) proposed to include the issue of leadership style in the Upper Echelons theory because of its perceived impact on the performance of organizations
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