Leadership Styles of Principals and Job Performance of Staff in Secondary Schools in Delta State of Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the leadership styles of principals and the effect on job performance of teachers and supportive staff in senior secondary schools in Delta State of Nigeria. The population comprised all 358 senior secondary schools in the State from which a sample 120 was selected through the simple random sampling technique. Three instruments were used for data collection – principals‟ leadership style questionnaire (PLSQ), teachers‟ (TJPQ) and supportive staff (SSJPQ) job performance questionnaires. The data collected were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, ANOVA, and regression statistics. Results showed that autocratic leadership style was the most commonly used among principals of senior secondary schools in Delta State, followed by laissez-faire, and lastly democratic. Job performance was found to be low for both categories of staff in the three leadership variables. Interestingly, supportive staff indicated highest level of job performance under laissez-faire principals and lowest under autocratic principals. For teachers job performance was highest under democratic and lowest under autocratic principals. Also, job performance of staff was found to be more significantly related to democratic leadership style than either autocratic or laissez-faire leadership style. It was therefore recommended that principals should adopt the democratic leadership style to boost better job performance among staff and in essence enhance administrative effectiveness and students‟ academic performance.

Keywords: Leadership Style; Principals; Staff; Job Performance