CHAPTER ONE

 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

When one hears of leadership as a concept for discussion, he is likely to conceive in his mind numerous ideas.  Probably, he may think of it in terms of power, authority or influence.  He may equally conceive some acclaimed great names like Napoleon, Churchill, Lincoln, Washington, Ghandi, Martin Luther (jnr), Azikiwe, etc, and uses the records of these men as a yardstick to measure requisite traits effective leaders should possess and how they should behave.

The above indicates the multifaceted nature of the concept of leadership. 

However, in this work, we are confining the concept of leadership to the “Realm of work; that is organisational leadership”.

The issue of leadership is primary in the discussion of modern organisations.  Differently put, discourse on leadership occupies a central position in the modern organisations, be it governmental (as is the case under study), individual, or jointly owned business concern.  The impact of leadership style on the progress of any organisation becomes manifest through their performance of the workforce shown through the productivity level of the outfit towards the attainment of its corporate objectives.

Leadership to this end has become so pivotal that both success and failure of any organisation are attributed to the leadership style of the person, or body of persons that pilot the activities of that system.  It is in realization of this fact that

Ikejiani Clark et al. (1995) assert that where leadership is incompetent, 

…bankrupt of ideas, goal setting becomes a luxury or at worst the articulation of the epileptic fits of the leader.   Under such a situation, goal achievement becomes elusive,  and performance evaluation an exercise in futility.

 This concept has so grown in importance in modern organisations that identifying and developing leaders poses a major concern to industries and or

Institutions today.  For example; Muchinsky (1990) illustrate thus:

                                in Greensboro, North Carolina, there is an organisation 

called the ‘Centre for Creative Leadership’  whose purpose is to enhance, through training,  the leadership abilities of key industrial,  business and public personnel.

 Leadership from the above explanation can stand as a way of inducing compliance, the exercise of influence, a kind of persuasion or a tool for goal attainment.  It involves dispensing management functions from the position of a planner, organizer, co-ordinator, controller, supervisor, motivator, e.t.c.  The leadership of an organisation should not only be able to influence the members to act willingly towards achieving organisational goals, but should also structure the activities of the organisation in such a way that members, in the process of achieving the overall organisational goals, will equally achieve their personal goals. The leadership should ensure the job satisfaction of the members of the organisation, that job security, their acquaintance with organizational policy and their direct participation in policy decisions.  This point of view is also shared by Makin (1989) who maintains that these roles required of a leader are embodied in democratic leadership style as against the autocratic style since “great leaders have their effect by increasing their followers” feeling of power, not by subjugating them”.

 In contrast with the above features expected of an organisational leadership, the organisational performance of Nigeria Breweries, Lagos State, is found wanting.  Since its inauguration, work cohesion and development have been minimal. The surfacing of mal-administration makes leadership-

subordinate relationship deteriorate by ‘leaps and bound’.  Job security is an ‘up hill’ task as staff of the Board work under threat and mutual suspicion.  The work environment therefore becomes conflict prone, unconducive for

organisational progress.

                                        It is therefore not an overstatement to say that the problems inflicting this

Board are legion and multifaceted, posing a cog in the wheels of its progress.  Notably though, there have been some achievements, these problems hinge on the maladministration being sustained by the autocratic leadership of the Chief Executives.  Thus, it is pertinent to assess the extent to which this leadership ineptitude contributes towards the inefficient organisational performance of the

Board.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

At the Nigeria Breweries, Lagos State, most of the Chief Executives who are the Chairmen or act as sole administrators of the Board run the Board as their own private estate meant to accomplish their personal ambition and those of their few acolytes.  In order to realize this obnoxious goal, they become too autocratic, employing indiscriminate victimization and suppression as effective weapons to intimidate staff who, they feel, oppose their absolutism.

Most staff of the Board then work under the threat of job insecurity.  Because the leadership is not motivational, most of the staff lack job satisfaction.  The work environment is unconducive as the Chief Executives succeed in creating schism amongst staff, compelling them to live and work in mutual fear and suspicion of one another.  A few staff, obviously their kinsmen and members of their personal courts are unduly favoured, irrespective of their educational background and ranks.  This set of staff are regularly promoted without appraising their performances and confirming their appointment.  The organisational Chart is constantly distorted to favour this group of staff who consider themselves as policy makers.  With these, irregularities, indiscipline and corruption abound, the administrative structure has been weakened by these defects which made the allocation and discharging of roles problematic.  Consequently upon the above leadership inefficiency is poor organisational performance. 

Aptly, this raises some questions thus;

(1)  Are the conditions for working conducive for efficient service delivery?

(2)  Are there sound and effective leadership towards high organizational performance?

(3)  How efficient is the organizational structure in roles allocation and executions?

1.3  OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

Based on the problems resultant from the leadership inefficiency, as discussed above, the main objectives of this study dwell on the following:

(a)              To examine the effects of leadership without check and balances on the   organization. 

(b)             The evaluate the impact of incompetent and autocratic leadership on staff output and by extension on the overall organizational performance of NIGERIA BREWERIES

(c)              To determine the efficiency of the laid down organization structures of

NIGERIA BREWERIES

1.4  SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

Theoretically, the study is significant because it is going to fill the gap of knowledge and in literature, which exists in the subject of discourse.

Given the most sophisticated technology and requisite skill for optimum performance, output or productivity may still remain at a very low ebb if the leadership machinery is incompetent.  Poor policy formulation, faulty decision implementation procedures, poor structuring and co-ordination of human and material resources can bring all the available skill and modern technology to naught.

To this end, the empirical aspect of the researcher is to bring to bear a better understanding of leadership, its operations, limitations and improvements, which will guarantee efficient organisational performance. Particularly, if the suggestions made in this work is judiciously followed and applied, would contribute immensely towards improving organizational performance of the

Nigeria Breweries, Lagos State. 

1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF STUDY 

The Scope of this study focuses only on Lagos State Nigeria Breweries. It was not possible to study other States of the federation. The researcher study was limited to the study of leadership and organizational performance in the Nigeria Breweries. The research explored the background of Nigeria Breweries and the condition of the National Primary School System before the establishment of Nigeria Breweries

The study on the other hand was limited by many constraints, some of which were beyond the control of the researcher. One of such was almost total absence of written materials on Nigeria Breweries. The few information available are in newspapers and magazines and /that do not really constitute research findings. In the real sense of it, most of them are merely speculative in nature.

The method of records keeping in the office was also a serious handicap. A formal well equipped and up-to-date Library was non-existent as the board is still planning to establish one. Hence, good record Management is not being maintained to the extent that even when you are informed of the existence of certain information and documents, it is often quite difficult to trace such (them).

The administration of the questionnaires was not as easy as the researcher presumed. Some of the Board staffs, after perusing the research questions, refused initially to collect the questionnaires. Some who did collected didn’t return them for fear born out being identified with views that stand at variance with those of the Chief Executive of the Institution. Moreover, the economic quagmire in the country made the sponsoring of the project research some what arduous.

Finance and time as a single factor was one of the greatest hindrances to the study. The researcher had to battle between giving time to his class work, and sourcing for the materials/data which most times takes him out of the town (school). Two (2) of these situations demanded full concentration. There were also some other contending factors and issues which limited the work to what is now produced. Nonetheless, data collected were remarkable to authenticate the research findings.

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