The impact of transformational leadership on organizational performance in the hotel industry

Abstract

Throughout the world, leadership rather than management has been identified as one of the keys to a high performance organization. It is regarded as a critical factor in the initiation and implementation of the transformations in organizations. The purpose of the study was to examine how transformational leadership style of managers affects the organizational performance. The objectives of this study were to examine the styles of leadership practices in existence, evaluate the significance of the styles of leadership, establish how the role of different leaders affect organizational performance, examine the different factors that influence transformational leadership style and to make recommendations on how best this leadership style should be enhanced in order to lead to organizational performance. The theoretical framework undertaken for this study was Bass‟ (1997) Transformational Leadership Theory who advocated for transformational leadership in terms of how the leader affects followers, who are intended to trust, admire and respect the transformational leader. In Literature review, the works done by various authors especially in transformational leadership were reviewed. The study employed the case study method research design and used Nairobi Serena Hotel as the case organization. The target population of this study comprised both the managers and the low level employees of Nairobi Serena Hotel making it a total of 463 employees. The sample size of the general employees was 30% of the total employees. All the top and middle managers including the supervisors constituted the sample. A sample size of one hundred and thirty nine (139) respondents in total was selected out of a total population of 463 employees. Both the probabilistic and non-probabilistic techniques were used. To select a representative sample, a simple random sampling, stratified and purposive sampling methods were employed. Under the non-probabilistic sampling, purposive sampling was used to choose Nairobi Serena Hotel, the top managers, the departments and the line managers and/or supervisors of these departments. Stratified sampling was used to come up with departments existing in the organization, followed by simple random sampling to arrive at proportional number of employees in each department. Data was collected by use of questionnaires with both structured and unstructured questions and interview schedules. Data on the study was first coded according to categories based on the type of information. Data was presented by use of tables. Chi square was used to test the interdependence of the variables and to test the hypotheses. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, bar graphs, pie charts and percentages) was used to analyze the data and facilitate interpretation by the researcher. The researcher utilized SPSS computer programme to aid in the analysis of the data. The study found out that different styles of leadership have significance such that when they are used the staff are motivated hence improving productivity at work, also cultivates unity of purpose and finally it increases motivation for commitment.