Leadership styles and employees’ performance at Ghana Cocoa Board

Abstract

This study assessed leadership styles and employee performance at Quality Control Company Limited of Ghana Cocoa Board. The specific objectives of this study were to: ascertain the relationship between transactional leadership style and employee performance, examine the effect of transformational leadership style on employee performance, and analyse the nexus between laissez-faire leadership style and employee performance. Research approach was quantitative, research design was explanatory, and study design was cross- sectional. All employees of Quality Control Company Ghana Limited in the Western North Region of Ghana, numbering 250 formed the popuation of this study. A census was used to select all 250 employees to serve as sample size for this study. A semi-structured questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection and it was self-administered. Of the 250 questionnaires distributed, 188 completed questionnaires were utilised, hence, a response rate of 75.20% was attained. IBM SPSS Statistics for windows, version 23 was the software used to analyse the data. Mean, standard deviation, and standard regression tools were employed. This study found a positive significant effect of transactional and transformational leadership styles on employee performance. However, laissez-faire leadership style negatively predicted employee performance. This study concluded that managers and supervisors who exhibit transactional and transformational leadership styles propel their employees to superior performance. It was recommended that the managers and superiors at Ghana Cocoa Board in the Western North Region of Ghana should employ more of transactional and transformational leadership styles at the workplace, because, these styles have the potential of predicting positive job outcomes of employees.