The authors of the article in question put forth the idea that leadership is of great importance in every area of organizational performance because of its far-reaching impact on objective accomplishment and overall growth. In their study, Amofa et al. (2016) explored the impact of leadership styles on organizational productivity by using the case of Ghana Cement Limited. Through effective leadership, it is possible to establish a clear organizational structure that will link the way in which managers lead and the way in which employees engage in their work (Metwally et al., 2019). Therefore, improving the performance and productivity of teams within organizations is not about working harder but rather about working smarter through positive interactions between leaders and workers.
The researchers used a combination of convenience and purposive sampling for qualitative and quantitative data collection, which resulted in a sample of forty participants. Based on the interviews with Ghana Cement Limited workers, the findings showed that leadership was a crucial component of the high performance of employees (Amofa et al., 2016). It was also revealed that the style of leadership that considered the involvement of subordinates in the decision-making process was the one that worked. Besides, the researchers found that positive leadership could enhance competencies and relations, thus also facilitating an improvement of employee output. Therefore, good leadership allows for building an overall favorable organizational culture to increase the competitive advantage of every company by making its employees effective and efficient (Amofa et al., 2016). The more welcoming a leadership style is to employees’ participation and opinions, the higher the likelihood of fostering a climate in which workers feel motivated to show high levels of performance.
There are several pros and cons to the study that should be mentioned. In terms of the positive sides of the article, it has an easy-to-follow structure and the breakdown of findings based on specific research questions developed at the beginning of the paper. In addition, before providing the findings, the researchers offer a literature review that explores the topic of leadership, including the major theories and approaches. There is also a section on how productivity changes within organizations that have different approaches to leadership and work structures. Notably, high productivity is always correlated to the high quality of work rather than the number of inputs. Another advantage of the article is that it presents findings in a graph format, making it easier for readers to conceptualize them and assign visual meanings; for each of the research questions, there is a bar chart available. Finally, at the end of the article, the authors provide four points of recommendation for GHACEM Limited as to how the organization can improve its leadership to make employees more productive in the long run.
On the downside, even though the research article was published in 2016, it contains multiple outdated references that could have been avoided. The sample size of forty participants acquired through non-probability sampling is also a limitation, making it difficult to generalize the findings on the impact of leadership on a larger population (Sharma, 2017). It should also be noted that the authors themselves do not recognize their research limitations, which could have been helpful for making recommendations for future research on similar topics. Overall, the article does show that effective leadership is needed to facilitate a positive work environment that will improve performance and productivity, which is an important finding.
References
Amofa, A., Okronipa, G., & Boateng, K. (2016). Leadership styles and organizational productivity: A case study of Ghana Cement Limited. European Journal of Business and Management, 8(2), 131-143.
Metwally, D., Ruiz-Palomino, P., Metwally, M., & Gartzia, L. (2019). How ethical leadership shapes employees’ readiness to change: The mediating role of an organizational culture of effectiveness. Frontiers in Psychology. Web.
Sharma, G. (2017). Pros and cons of different sampling techniques. International Journal of Applied Research, 3(7), 749-752.