ACCRA TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF BUSINESS
SECRETARYSHIP AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES

FEMALE LEADERSHIP STLYE AND IT EFFECT ON EMPLOYEE’S

PRODUCTIVITY IN ACCRA TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

PROJECT PROPOSAL

BY

NARTEY ERICA ASI

01204921D
1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The growth of the social economy has accelerated the transition to the knowledge era,
altered corporate cultures, and increased the number of highly educated females.
Particularly, the labor force participation rate of females is clearly higher than that of
males, and soon, females will be able to work alongside and compete with males in the
workplace. More females are needed as managers in the twenty-first century due to the
rising percentage of females in the workforce and the advancement of female leadership
(Lin, 2014). Females' efforts are important, but so are their contributions to the societies
and businesses that demand new ideas and perspectives from them. Ladies have distinctive
personality features that aid female managers in creating distinctive management
philosophies in corporate management. Moreover, female groups have grown to be a
crucial force in social development. So, issues pertaining to female employees take
precedence. The leadership traits, fundamental abilities, and effectiveness of the growing
number of female leaders in the period of gender equality merit additional consideration.

The knowledge worker era of the 21st century, in which many women participate in the
workforce, is transforming leadership. Females are able to compete in the job market
thanks to the raising of educational levels and the growing independence of women.
Ghanaian societies transition from conventional manufacturing to high-tech engineering
services, the information economy, and political governance as a result of changes in the
country's industrial structure and social makeup. Most secretarial workers, including
supervisors, professionals, and technical personnel in regular or contract roles, are female.
As a result, there are many more chances for employment for women than there was
previously due to changing demands for human resources.

In an organization, a leader is essential. Although not the only factor in an organization's

success, effective leadership can affect how well it performs (Farzin et al. 2012).
Leadership is the display of a leader's behaviors, and while it cannot be quickly established
or altered, it does present a leader's characteristics (Groves and LaRocca 2011). The main
concerns for a leader are confirming organizational vision, creating organizational
directions, helping the followers comprehend the objective and motivating them to move in

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that path. According to Judeh (2012), leadership is the interactive relationship between a
leader and their followers. When resources are scarce, advocacy and persuasion are used to
build consensus among members so they can work together and trust one another to
accomplish particular goals.

The main aim of this study is to seek the to determine female leaders and its effects on
employee’s productivity at work or an institution. The role of females in homes as with
families, and the leading role played as managers in institutions have effects on
productivity one way or the other. Universities in particular and Ghanaian organizations in
general have had leadership issues that have recently come to light. These issues show
themselves as organizational politics, power struggles, disobedience, tribalism, repression,
etc. However, in other instances, a lack of conceptual clarity surrounding the term
"leadership" amplifies these issues. For instance, it's typical practice, mostly in universities
and other academic institutions, for employees to hold the leaders responsible when an
organization doesn't meet its goals. In other situations, the boss accuses the workers of the
organization's failure. Yet, leadership, namely the leader, the followers, and the
situation/environment, are meant to share responsibility for the success or failure of an
organization. Failure in leadership, which is comprised of these three factors, can result in
low output, low profits, high staff turnover, low job satisfaction, etc. Low institutional
performance is the result of all these factors together.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

In order to effectively use human resources, both male and female roles must be taken into
account, particularly when the goal is to boost employee productivity. In particular, when
female leaders are faced with difficult circumstances, it is important to determine whether
elements like culture or family issues have an impact on the style of leadership practices in
organizations. The level of productivity and work is what determines an employee's total
performance in this examination. The results of leadership and performance working
together must be clear to see as a result of the management style and strategy used to
encourage performance, which in turn requires specialized leadership tactics to address
certain operational challenges in achieving departmental goals. According to Armstrong

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(2005), this will undoubtedly lead to efficiency, specialization, and outstanding
organizational relationships.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following questions brings out the fundamental accessibility of female leadership
styles.

i. To what extent does leadership style affect employee’s productivity?

ii. Is female leadership the primary effect of employee’s productivity?
iii. What leadership style is exhibited by female leadership in Accra Technical
University?

1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this study is to ascertain female leadership style and its effect on
employee’s productivity.

1.4.1 Specific Objectives

The specific objectives of this study are;
i. To identify the type of leadership style that exist in Accra Technical University.
ii. To determine the impact of leadership style on employee’s productivity.
iii. To determine an effective female leadership style for improving employee’s
productivity.

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Future researchers, scholars, and students who are attempting to comprehend the
significance and consequences of various leadership styles on employee productivity will
find this study's conclusions to be helpful.

The corporation will be able to use the results and conclusions of this study to enhance
leadership techniques that are successful for an improvement in organizational performance
once it has gained insight into the relationship between various leadership styles and
employee performance.

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This study will also assist female leaders in identifying the best and most effective
leadership styles to use in the circumstances that will have the most impacts on their ability
to raise output and improve the standard of their job.

1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

The study was organized in chapters.

Chapter one deals with the introduction to the study. These includes the background of the
study, problem statement, objectives, significance of the study, research questions and
delimitation.

Chapter two of the project explains publications, articles, and other publications conducted
by researchers on this topic, and the literature gap for this project. The types of leadership
which is in existence will be discussed and more attention will be given to bring light on
the project.

Chapter three discusses the methods used to achieve the research objectives. Details
explanation of the research design for the project will be discussed, the research approach,
population, sampling technique, sampling size, research data, research instrument and its
validation with procedures used to collect data and its consideration ethics will be
discussed in this chapter.

Chapter four is the results obtained from distribution of the questionnaires by analyzing
and making findings.

Chapter five will deal with conclusion and recommendations for future researches.

1.7 DELIMITATION

The impact of female leadership in Accra Technical University will be the main subject of
this research. As a result, both the questionnaire portion and the one-on-one interviews will
focus on female leaders. When comparing male and female leadership, this theory
exclusively takes into account male leadership. Also, because there hasn't been much
research on this subject, this research will only concentrate on Accra Technical University.
Only when comparing the situation for female leaders at large-scale institutions will large-
scale educational institutions be considered. Also, this thesis will just take into account the

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general environment of Accra Technical University. Due to a lack of data, neither the
African nor global situations will be taken into consideration, nor will the situation of a
regional institution in Ghana. In addition, this research will solely address academic issues;
it will not address the involvement of politicians or any other stakeholders.

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 CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
It was shown in the proceeding chapter that, there are grounds for proposing that

motivation does have an effect on employee performance and organizational citizenship

behavior. This chapter is in two sections, the first section of the chapter will deal with the

methodology to be adopted in conducting the study. The chapter will be organized as

follows; research methodology, research design, research strategy, sources of data,

population and sampling, research instrument, data collection procedure, analyses of data

and the second section is profile of research area.

3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN

A research design is the arrangement of condition for collection and analysis of data in a

manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure.

The research design for this study will be a descriptive survey through questionnaire. The

purpose of using descriptive surveys is to collect detailed and information that describe an

existing phenomenon. From a review of literature, a survey questionnaire will be

developed to collect data for the study the primary data which will be collected through this

form of questionnaire and was hand delivered to the target employees. The questions will

be filled by the participating employees and will be returned. After that, the results will be

furtherly analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis method to find out how the

motivational factors affect their organizational citizenship behaviour. This study is a

descriptive survey because it will adopt the use of questionnaire aimed at finding the

impact of employee motivation on organizational citizenship behaviour.

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3.1.1 Research Strategy
The research strategy is the way in which the research objectives are questioned (Saunders

et al., 2009). The three known strategies; quantitative, qualitative, mixed research is a

research strategy that emphasizes quantification in the collection and analysis of data. It

also entails a deductive approach to the relationship between theory and research, in which

the accent is placed on the testing of theories; has incorporated the practices and norms of

the natural scientific model and positivism in particular; particular; and embodies a view of

social reality as an external, objective reality.

Qualitative research on the other hand is a research strategy that usually emphasizes words

rather than quantification in the collection analysis of data (Bryman & Bell, 2011). It

predominantly emphasizes an inductive approach to the relationship between theory and

research, in which the emphasis is placed on the generation of theories; has rejected the

practices and norms of the natural scientific model and positivism in particular in

preference for an emphasis on the ways in which individuals interpret their social world;

and embodies a view of social reality as a constantly shifting emergent property of

individuals’’ creation.

Mixed methods research is the type of research strategy in which a researcher or team of

researchers combines elements of qualitative and quantitative research approaches (e.g.,

use of qualitative and quantitative viewpoints, data collection, analysis, inference

techniques) for the broad purposes of breadth and depth of understanding and corroboration

(Burke et al. 2011).

To this end the quantitative method research was chosen to obtain information on the effect

of motivation on employees” organizational citizenship behaviour: empirical evidence from

three (3) branches in the Greater Accra.

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3.3 SOURCES OF DATA
Both primary and secondary data will be used in conducting the research.

3.3.1 Primary Sources

According to Blaxter (2011), primary data is defined as consisting of materials that one has

gathered by himself through systematic observation, information archives, the results of

questionnaires and interviews and case study which one has compiled. Data are primary if

they have been gathered according to one’s rational and interpreted by one to make a point

which is important to one’s own argument. To ensure that reliable and valid information

are collected, the researcher contacted staff of the Ernest Chemist Limited in the Greater

Accra municipal. Primary data were collected using questionnaires and interviews. A

content analysis technique was employed to analyze and interpret the qualitative data

(interviews). The quantitative data was however analyze using Statistical Package for

Social Sciences (SPSS).

3.3.2 Secondary Sources

Sauders et al.., (2007) defined secondary data as data use for a project that were originally

collected for some other purpose. The secondary sources of information that the research

will use in the study include books, internet search articles and journals among others.

These secondary sources will help the researcher project to identify how others have

defined and measured key concepts, and how this research is related to the work of them.

3.4 POPULATION, SAMPLE SIZE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

Population according to Bryman and Bell (2011) is the universe of units from which a

sample is to be selected. In other words, all elements, individuals, or units that meet the

selection criteria for a group to be studied and from which representative sample is taken

for detailed examination. Sampling is the process of selecting units (e.g. people,

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organizations) from a population of interest so that by studying the sample, a fairly

generalized results is trace back to the population from which they were chosen (Trochim,

2008). For this study, 276 employees with different designation and experience level were

chosen as target population over 3 branches of Ernest Chemist Limited of 214 being

permanent staffs and 62 being contract staffs.

The sampling done was using stratified sampling technique, the population are divided

into groups (in this case, designation wise and experience wise) based on factors that may

influence the effect of motivation i.e., 214 permanent staffs and 62 contract staffs. A

convenient sample was used in distribution questionnaires to the targeted population. The

sample frame according to Bryman and Bell (2008) is the listing of all units in the

population from which a sample is selected. The final sample size of 214 was obtained

based on DeVaus (2002) formula as shown below:

N
n = 1+ N ( a ) 2
¿
¿

Where:

n = sample size.

N = population universe and

a = the confidence level

The formula adopted a confidence level of 90% and the the margin of error is therefore

10% which is acceptable in social science research. The brak down for each of the group is

calculated as follows:

Contract Staff

N = 62

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 62 62
n = , n= , n=38
1+ 62(0.1) 1.62

Permanent Staff:

N = 214

214 214
n= , , n=176
1+ 214 ( 0.1 ) 2 1.214

Table 3.1: Distribution of respondent of questionnaires

Respondent Sampled Respondents

Contract Staff 38

Permanent Staff 176

Total 214

3.5 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

The researchers used one major research instrument and this is the questionnaire (close-

ended questions). According to Trochim (2013), a questionnaire is a type of survey method

that utilizes a standardized set or list of questions given to individuals or groups, the results

of which can be consistently compared and contrasted It can be used to reach large number

of respondents, lower costs than interviewing, reduced interviewer bias and among others

are advantages associated with questionnaire. It drawbacks are low response rates, clarity

issues, possible language and literacy issues, et cetera. The questionnaire was in five

section, the first section requested general personal information about the respondents. The

second section requested for respondents’ opinion on factors that motivates employees in

the Administrative Department. The questions address the key dimensions of factors of

motivation identified in the literature. The third section requested respondents to indicate

factors that lead to job satisfaction or dissatisfaction in the Production Department.

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Motivation questionnaire (scale) which was adapted includes 16 items containing two

dimensions and was developed by Dondar et al, (2007). Extrinsic motivation was

measured by 8 items. The sample items for extrinsic motivation were “I have promotion

prospects” and “I think the feel is enough to get from my work”. A mean score was

determined for the items matching the two dimensions of the motivation scale. The

resulting Cronbach alpha values of the main study were 0.79 for Intrinsic Motivation, 0.54

for Extrinsic Motivation and 0.90 for motivation (the aggregate dimension of motivation).

Employee Citizenship Behavior developed by Podsakoff et al.’s (1990) was adapted. This

questionnaire, participants evaluated each behaviour by using a 7-point Likert scale (from 1

= it doesn’t describe me at all to 7 = it describes me completely).

3.6 ANALYSIS OF DATA

At the end of the entire data collection process and plausible checks were conducted and

inconsistent data was also cleared appropriately. Quantitative analysis is the use of tables

or diagrams that show the frequency of occurrence and using statistics such as indices to

enable comparisons, through establishing statistical relationships between variable to

complex statistical modeling (Saunders et al, 2015). The results were analyzed and

converted into tables and percentages. Data for the various research questions were

analyzed using percentages obtained to show the distribution of opinions and perceptions

of respondents. The statistical summaries of the result were presented in the form of

percentage and tables using computer data analysis package such as the statistical package

for social science (SPSS) and other relevant software to help interpret results.

3.6.1 Instrument Validity

The validity of an instrument is the extent to which an instrument measures what it is

supposed to measure and performs as it is designed to perform (Denzin & Lincoln, 2008).

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Questionnaire is one of the reliable and valid instruments for gathering information from

selected respondents to enable the respondents to easily fill them. The questionnaires will

be verified for content validity by randomly discussing it with some few respondents. In

order for accuracy, the language to be used will be simple. Besides, they have high degree

of accurate result since much time is given for the completion of the questionnaire.

3.7 PROCEDURES OF DATA COLLECTION

The data collection followed the procedures described below. A letter of introduction was

acquired from the Business Department of Koforidua Technical University (KTU) to

introduce the researchers to the organizations. This was sent to the various respondents to

seek permission to conduct the study. The questionnaires were delivered to the

respondents by the researchers. Respondents were given ample time to fill the

questionnaires.

3.7.1 Ethical Consideration

The researchers made some ethical considerations. This will be very necessary because the

study was involved staff of Administrative Departments at Ernest Chemist Limited. The

researchers were concerned about seeking the consent of the participants. Participants’

consents were soughed before the questionnaires administered. Additionally, the

researchers will assure them of their confidentiality and also respected their privacies.

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