EFFECTS OF LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE ON WORK BEHAVIOURS IN SELECTED MANUFACTURING ORGANIZATIONS IN NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA

Abstract

One of the major challenges facing contemporary organisations is their
sustainability and efficiency through effective leadership. To this end, this study examines the
effects of leadership structure on work behaviour in selected manufacturing organisations in
North Central Nigeria. The study adopted a mixed-method design to collect data from 403
respondents for questionnaires and respondents for oral interviews from the three sampled
organisations. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, while inferential
analysis was performed using the chi-square test at the 0.005 level of significance and content
analysis for qualitative data. The study revealed that leadership structure is one of the critical
factors determining work behaviour in the selected organisations. The results show that
workers who work under transformational leaders are more likely to exhibit positive work
behaviour. This is because transformational leaders are mostly motivational and always adopt
a bottom-up approach in terms of communication and decision-making. They always make
themselves available to all workers, thereby making jobs more interesting and friendly to
workers as they discuss career and personal developments with workers. It can be further
deduced that lack of independence and freedom of workers may lead to negative work
behaviour. That is, giving workers freedom and independence leads to job satisfaction, which
is one of the measures of work behaviour. The study also revealed that the level of freedom
and independence that workers enjoy determines their level of commitment as well as their
work behaviour in the organisation. However, it is recommended that organisations provide
enough freedom and assign employees responsibilities that could stimulate their job
performance. Additionally, manufacturing organisations should adopt transformational
leadership structures since they are mostly motivational and always adopt bottom-up
approaches in terms of communication and decision-making.