Leadership Style and Employee Turnover Intentions in Organizations in Kenya: A Case of XYZ Company
Keywords:
Transactional Leadership, Transformational Leadership Style, Democratic Leadership Style, Laissez-Faire Leadership, Turnover Intentions and XYZ Company.Abstract
Many organizations are facing turnover issues caused by many factors such as unsupportive leadership, disparity in labor market, bad work climate, job dissatisfaction, and so on. Reducing employee turnover is not rocket science; however, many companies struggle with very high turnover year every year. The common denominator of high turnover in organizations is poor leadership. Therefore, organizations that stress leadership development have an inherent advantage that can mean the difference between survival and extinction, work quality diminishes productivity decreases, attitudes drop. Consequently, it is very important to study if there is a relation between the leadership behaviors which impact on staff turnover. The study determined the relationship between leadership style and employee turnover intentions at XYZ Company. The study employed a descriptive research design. The study targeted population of 420 employees from XYZ Company and obtained a sample of 200 respondents. The study used both primary and secondary data sources. The study employed descriptive analysis and regression analysis. The findings showed that taking all other independent variables at zero, a unit increase in Transformational leadership style would lead to a 0.862 increase in the employee turnover intentions in XYZ Company. Further, the findings shows that a unit increases in Transactional leadership would lead to a 0.735 increase in employee turnover intention in XYZ Company. In addition, the findings show that a unit increase in Laissez-faire leadership style would lead to a 0.564 increase in employee turnover intentions in XYZ Company. Also, the findings show that a unit increase in democratic leadership style would lead to a 0.437 increase in employee turnover intentions in XYZ Company. Leaders were expected to find and correct their own errors. Leaders had good knowledge of appropriate social control mechanism. The study concluded that the manager- employee relationship was characterized by fear. Leaders involved staff in making organizations programs. Leaders delegated duties to members and expected them to accomplish without supervision and were less concerned with what staff members do. They had a vision of extra ordinary goals and the ability to motivate employees to achieve better performance. Leaders at XYZ Company should consult the group and manager should tell employees what to do and how to do it. Leaders need to involve staff in making organizations programs, gets group approval in important matters before going ahead and is friendly, supportive and considerate towards others. Leaders need to be concerned with what staff members. Leaders should have a vision of extra ordinary goals and the ability to motivate employees to achieve better performance.
Keywords: Transactional Leadership, Transformational Leadership Style, Democratic Leadership Style, Laissez-Faire Leadership, Turnover Intentions and XYZ Company.
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