Leadership style and job satisfaction levels among faculty-members of Cape Coast Polytechnic

Abstract

This study sought to ascertain the type of leadership skills among heads of department and the satisfaction levels of faculty members in Cape Coast Polytechnic using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) The study also sought to establish the relationship between transformational leadership style of heads of department and job satisfaction of faculty members of the institution. The simple random sampling technique was adopted to sample both departments and faculty members. Nine departments and forty-five faculty members, fifteen from each school, took part in the study. Analysis was quantitative utilizing the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Both descriptive statistics and the Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation statistical tools were employed in the analysis. The study showed that Heads of Departments in the institution exhibit transformational leadership (33.3 percent), transactional leadership (34.0 percent) and laisser-faire leadership (33.7 percent) styles while all faculty members were satisfied with their jobs (mean = 2.75; SD = 0.628). The study also showed that there is a strong and positive correlation between transformational leadership of heads of department and faculty-member job satisfaction (r = 0.595; ρ = 0.005). It is recommended that policy makers in collaboration with the Human Resource Department of the institution should organize programmes that will equip department heads with transformational and transactional leadership principles.