Management Styles and the Performance of Administrative Staff at Makerere University School of Public Health

Abstract

The study set out to explore the effects of Management styles on the performance of administrative staff at MakSPH. The study was guided by three study objectives; To find out the effects of Autocratic; Democratic and Laissez-faire management style on the performance of administrative staff at MakSPH. The study adopted the case study research design to examine the effects of management styles on the performance of administrative staff at MakSPH. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview methods and was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented inform of frequency tables. The hypotheses were tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. Findings revealed a positive but weak relationship between autocratic management style and performance of administrative staff, a positive relationship between Democratic management style and performance of administrative staff, and lastly a positive but very weak relationship between Laissez-Faire and performance of administrative staff. It was hence concluded that different management styles have an effect on the performance of the administrative staff. According to the study findings, there is no best management style that suite an organization but rather different management styles suite different situations at a particular time. Therefore, the study recommends that managers at MakSPH should involve administrative staff in decision making because the study found out that majority of the administrative staff were not involved in decision-making. According to Jason et al., (2010), decision-making is the process of generating and choosing from a set of alternatives to solve problems. In addition, the study recommended that the senior managers at MakSPH should try to consider the suggestions made by the employees since this is very important in promoting motivation among the administrative staff, and once an organization has motivated staff performance will automatically improve.