Influence of Assertive Leadership on Organizational Development: A Case of Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC)
Abstract
Assertive leadership as an emerging domain of inquiry in leadership research has been portrayed as a new phenomenon in analyzing the role of leaders in organizations. The concept of assertive leadership has recently developed as an amendment to ethical and transformational leadership. It is considered that problems related to assertive leadership can be better observed from the position of the leader since the assertive leadership construct is mostly based on self-awareness rather than the evaluation of other individuals. The study related the concept of assertive leadership in refining organizational development of state corporations with a case of Kenya Power and Lighting Company using self-regulation and self-awareness. KPLC was chosen for this case study as it one of the key enablers of the Vision 2030 and energy security remains a matter of national priority. Over the years, the corporation has undergone major leadership and strategic changes in its business processes and portfolio as well as in its organization structure and where key leadership has been a key challenge. Both the Self-Regulation Theory and Self-Awareness Theory informed the study. Primary data was obtained using self-administered questionnaires. The findings indicated that self-regulation and self-awareness were positively and significantly related to organizational development Thus, both the research hypotheses that self-regulation and self-awareness as a measure of leadership assertiveness has no significant effect on organizational development Kenya Power and Lighting Company were rejected since their p-values were below the critical 0.05. Based on the study findings, the study concluded that regulation and organizational development is positively and significantly related as was the case for self-awareness, which was also positively and significantly related to organizational development. The study concluded that the assertive leadership fosters greater self-awareness, an internalized moral perspective, the balanced processing of information, and the relations on the part of the leaders working with their subordinates, thus fostering positive self-development. The study recommends on management of the public sector institutions on managerial confidence and assertiveness leadership as it command the respect of their employees and superiors. The leadership should maintain good relationships with other staff members as an assertive leadership concept and can be enhanced by embracing the self-regulation aspect on behavior regulation, self-control, cognitive reappraisal and self-discipline.
Keywords: Assertive Leadership, Self-Regulation, Self-Awareness, Organizational Development, State Corporations & KPLC.
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