EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE TO MANAGEMENT STYLE (Case: International equitable association Nigeria Limited) (MANAGEMENT PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
ABSTRACT
The aim of the study is to reveal employees’ attitudes to management style in International equitable association Limited, Aba, Nigeria (IEA). IEA is a soap and detergent manufacturing company. The company uses modern management styles to drive employee performance. This study set out to investigate employee attitudes to the various management styles in use at IEA. The study used a framework which shows that employee attitude is driven by the employee’s awareness, the employee’s application of management styles, as well as the employee’s support to and ownership of their management styles. A survey among 55 employees of IEA revealed over 50 per cent support each of these frameworks, e.g. the employee’s awareness of management styles (79%), the application of management styles (85%), the employee’s support to their management styles (92%), the employee’s ownership of management styles (94%). It is concluded that the management styles of IEA are working or driving employees in the right direction. It is recommended, therefore, that the management of IEA give employees advanced training, thereby enhancing their ability to work effectively with management styles.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Considering today’s competitive and economic environment, it is important that management develop the ability to determine the best management styles favorable for their workers.
Rapid environmental changes will necessitate continuous attention and emphasis in formulating strategies on the part of management in an organization. In essence, worker’s needs, welfare and feelings are crucial for policy formulation.
The essential element required in matching the needs of workers, the organizational goals/objectives and the services of the organization lies in the development of a positioning strategy. This involves the perceptual differentiation of the organization and its services from its competitors. Thus by tailoring management strategies to focus on the satisfaction of its workers, management may be able to influence the attitude of their staff toward increased productivity. It is therefore the task of all managers in an organization to design and maintain an environment, conducive to enhance the performance of the individuals working together in groups towards the accomplishment style. Note that effective, efficient and prudent management style is crucial for the continuous existence and survival of any organization.
According to Kotler (1990), mangers should possess both leadership andmanagerial skills because an organization faces huge risk of failure without these managerial qualities. We can therefore say that, management comprises of all managerial function (planning, directing, managing etc.) harmonized in actualizing organizational goals and objective.
Leadership at the other hand is the ability to control a group of people towards accomplishing a set goal(s). Kevin Freiberg further explains “Leadership as a dynamic relationship based on mutual influence and common purpose between leaders and collaborators in which they are moved to high levels of motivation and moral development”. (Tom Craig and Campbell 2012, 482).
