Lulama Manciya, Bibi Zaheenah Chummun
Abstract
Organizations operate in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous times, therefore, there is a need for effective leadership styles to deliver quality services to the communities and ensure employees perform at their best. Effective leadership styles not only enhance employee performance but also keep employees motivated and eager to learn and do more for their organization. Thus, the purpose of this research study is to investigate the impact of autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, transformational, and transactional leadership styles on the performance of employees in the health maintenance branch of the Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) in Gauteng. A quantitative research method was adopted for this study with a sample size of 80 employees across six regional offices and five academic maintenance hubs. There were 73 respondents, resulting in a response rate of 91.25%. The research information was collected utilizing structured questionnaires on a 5-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistical methods on the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software (Version 29) were utilized for the data analysis. The research findings indicated that transformational and transactional leadership styles correlate strongly and positively with employee performance. The performance of employees whose regional head exhibits transformational and transactional leadership traits increases substantially. Even though the autocratic and democratic leadership styles positively affect employee performance, they have a much lesser impact than transformational and transactional leadership styles. On the other hand, the laissez-faire leadership style negatively affects employee performance at DID health maintenance branch. The study has investigated the impact of different leadership styles on employee performance and outlined which leadership styles positively predict employee performance, and which styles negatively predict employee performance. This research provides senior management at DID with effective and impactful leadership styles managers should exhibit to inspire, motivate, and get employees in the health maintenance branch to improve their performance.