Abstract

This research investigates and compares the relationship between organizational leadership and employee performance, in the public and private secondary schools in Buea Sub-division. The specific objectives of the research were to determine the dominant leadership styles in the public and private secondary schools, to examine the relationship between leadership styles and employee performance, to investigate factors influencing leadership behavior in public and private secondary schools and to find out the challenges faced by leaders in public and private secondary schools. Information was gathered, using questionnaires, from a sample of 135 leaders and 405 subordinate (raters).

A Questionnaire was designed based on the Blake and Mouton leadership grid to determine leadership style within the organization. Employee performance was captured and recorded using data on the student’s performance at the General Certificate of Education Examinations. Leadership and its traits were identified as the independent variables and employee performance as the dependent variable. Data Obtained from the research instruments was then statistically analyzed.

Through the Chi square Goodness of fit test, it was concluded that the dominant leadership style in public schools is not significantly different from that of private schools, and that there is a significant relationship between employee performance and organizational leadership.

This research therefore adds a new dimension to organizational leadership and employee performance, since no similar study has been conducted in the school. As this research takes place within the context of the Secondary Education in Buea sub-division, it contributes to the bank of findings relating to the concept of leadership in public and private establishments in Cameroon.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Leadership is one of the most widely discussed and researched aspects of business. It has long aroused interest among so many researchers around the world, and most of these scholars have examined the concept from a variety of perspectives. However, the extent to which these studies have been able to provide a complete explanation of the idea of leadership is limited. Early analyses of leadership for instance differentiated leaders and followers characteristics and observed that no single trait or combination of traits fully explained leader’s abilities (Lussier & Achua, 2013).

Having failed to arrive at a consensus on style and qualities necessary for leadership success, most scholars took an interest in the influence of the situation on leaders’ skills and behaviors. Subsequent leadership studies attempted to distinguish active leadership from non-effective leadership. Other leadership studies (1970s-1980s) focused on the individual characteristics of leaders which influence their effectiveness and the success of their organizations (Bass, 1997).

It can, therefore, be argued that the leader and leadership are crucial but complex components of an organization. In fact, reflecting on the concept of leadership depicts images of powerful and dynamic individuals who command victorious armies, direct corporate empires to success, or shape the course of nations. The fascination with leadership may be attributed to the fact that, it is such a complicated process; as well as one that touches everyone’s life and the organization as a whole. Such facts as how leaders inspire intense fervor and dedication in their subordinates, how leaders built great empires, how some leaders get to positions of high power and how some leaders are despised by their subjects only go a long way to proof the complex nature of the term leadership (Lussier and Achua, 2010).

Despite its complexity, some progress has been made in investigating the relationship between leadership and employee performance in organizations such as business corporations, government agencies, hospitals, universities, etc. However, whether leadership qualities needed for success in the business sector are the same qualities needed for success in public agencies, remain a bone of contention, and the few studies that have dwelled on this are largely inconclusive (Hayward, 2005). Consequently, this study attempts to investigate leadership effectiveness in both public and private institutions in the ministry of secondary education in Cameroon.

The crux of the matter is that organizations in Cameroon, whether in the public or private sector, both are increasingly coming under severe pressure to improve their performance so as to withstand global competition. The country is currently ranked 116th among 144 countries regarding business efficiency, as judged using criteria such as productivity, motivation and managerial competence (World Competitiveness Report, 2014). For Cameroon to improve this situation and become more competitive in the global environment, the organizations both public and private need to adopt leadership styles that will facilitate performance.

This study is base on leadership and employee performance in the secondary education sector in Buea. It is aimed at improving the quality of educational services influenced by the leaders. It is within the context of increasing dissatisfaction with educational services that the president of the Republic of Cameroon signed a decree No 99/016 of 22 December 1999 regarding general rules and regulations governing establishments and enterprises of the public and private sector (Regional Delegation of Secondary Education, South West Region). The underlying principle of this law is the notion of good governance and accountability which is likened to good leadership.

The United Nation Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) 2007), states that, good governance means ‘competent management of a country or organization’s resources and affairs in a manner that is open, transparent’ accountable, equitable and responsive to people’s needs to improve performance. “Good governance is about the process for making and implementing decisions, it is not about making ‘correct’ decisions, but about the best possible process for making those decisions”. Good decision-making process and good governance, therefore, share several characteristics. All have a positive effect on various aspect of local government including consultation policies and practices, meeting procedures, quality service protocol, counselor and officer conduct, role clarity and good working relationship (www.goodgovernment.org, 2015).

Many organizations are created in Cameroon on a daily basis, but the criteria for recruiting or appointing individuals to lead these institutions are largely unclear. It is observed that some business owners employ mostly their relatives even for the simplest of jobs (Asobo, 2012). Some create and run the companies themselves without mastering the skills necessary for boosting employee performance. In the public sector, the situation may be different as leaders are appointed on a political basis, political ties or influences, and this seems to have a significant bearing on the leadership of these public institutions. It is generally perceived by most Cameroonians either rightly or wrongly that, public organizations in Cameroon have not been performing efficiently enough as compared to the private organizations and that, without state subsidies, the public institutions may not survive (Asobo, 2012). This notwithstanding, the forces that account for improved efficiency in the private sector over the public sector are multidimensional. For example, the motives of both public and private sectors are not the same, recruitment criteria not the same, but whether the differences in leadership can be used as an indicator for measuring efficiency in both sectors is a critical issue worth investigating.

One of the areas that have raised much discussion in Cameroon is education, with many arguing that the liberalization of the education sector in the late 1980s was a blessing to the country. To probe into the thesis of leadership as a determinant of efficiency and inefficiency in public and private institutions; therefore, it may be apt to use the education sector.

In a continuous quest to improve efficiency in the public sector, particularly in the education sector, there was the liberalization of education in Cameroon, and private individuals could now run schools. Before the liberalization of education in Cameroon, the few Government secondary schools that existed at the time were over populated and gaining admission into such schools was tough. In Buea, the first secondary school was a missionary school, that is, St Joseph’s College Sasse, created in February 1939 by the Millhill missionaries and it was the first college in the British southern Cameroon at the time. In 1963, the fist government secondary school was created, that is, the Bilingual Grammar School Molyko.

Around the 1970s, no lay private college existed in Buea. But since the liberalization of the education sector in Cameroon in the 1980s, the town now has about 16 government secondary and high schools including three technical colleges, seven confessional schools and about 15 lay private colleges (schools own by individuals) in 2015 (giving a total of 22 private schools) see Appendix 4. This implies Buea has a total of about 38 registered schools (South West Regional Delegation of Secondary Education, 2015 report). It is on this premise that we investigate the influence of leadership on employee performance in the secondary education sector with a focus on selected public and private schools in Buea subdivision in the South West Region of Cameroon.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Leadership is a term that has been under-researched since the advent of the term worldwide (Lussier and Achua 2010). It is observed that a majority of local public and private organizations in Cameroon are under-performing compared to those of other countries in Africa (World Competitiveness Report, 2014). Many Cameroonians have attributed this to lack of visionary leadership as cases of corruption, mismanagement, laxity, impunity, and lackadaisical attitude is reported on a daily basis in the country’s public institutions.

Effective leadership has the potential of boosting employee morale and drive performance. But curiously, it is doubtful whether those who lead or own institutions in Cameroon are conscious of the relationship between leadership and performance. Inefficient leaders are employed, and leaders are appointed mostly on family ties and political ties. The above assertion is supported  by the fact that there is a limited zeal to work, lateness, absenteeism, employee turnover and carefree behavior which are very visible in most Cameroonian institutions, whether public or private, a situation which puts to question the quality of leadership in these establishments.

While the above issues are often discussed on a general scale, the extent to which this affects specific sectors of the country is largely unknown owing to limited empirical evidence. This is particularly evident in the education sector where very little evidence exists to justify the link between the quality of leadership and employees’ performance.

Since the liberalization of education in Cameroon, the performance of public and private educational institutions has increased disproportionately. But the extent to which the quality of school leadership has played a role in this performance has largely been undermined by researchers. Consequently, failure is often blamed on the teachers, parents, school infrastructure/facilities, and inadequate effort of the students, with limited regard for the school leadership. This study, therefore, attempts to fill this gap by investigating the influence of school leadership on employees’ performance in both public and private secondary schools in Buea subdivision.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

This study is focused at investigating the influence of organizational leadership on employee (teachers) performance in the secondary education sector in Cameroon, with a focus on schools in Buea Subdivision in the South West Region of Cameroon.

The following set of specific objectives will be pursued in order to achieve the above aim.

1. To investigate the dominant leadership styles in selected public and private secondary schools in Buea subdivision.
2. To examine the relationship between leadership styles and employees’ performance in public and private schools in Buea subdivision.
3. To investigate factors that influence leadership behavior in public and private schools.
4. To identify the challenges of leadership in public and private secondary schools in Buea – subdivision

Check Out: Human Resource Project Topics with Materials