ST.

MARY’S UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

BUSINESS FACULTY
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT

LEADERSHIP PRACTICES AND PROBLEMS IN

TRANSPORT AUTHORITY

BY
BANCHAYEHU BEGASHW

JULY 2010
SMUC
ADDIS ABABA
LEADERSHIP PRACTICES AND PROBLEMS IN
TRANSPORT AUTHORITY

BY
BANCHAYEHU BEGASHW

A SENIOR ESSAY SUBMITTED

TO THE DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT
BUSINESS FACULTY
ST. MARY’S UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR

THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN MANAGEMENT

JULY 2010
SMUC
ADDIS ABABA
 LEADERSHIP PRACTICES AND PROBLEMS IN
TRANSPORT AUTHORITY

BY
BANCHAYEHU BEGASHW

FACULTY OF BUSINESS
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT
APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE OF EXAMINERS

_____________________ ____________________
Chair Person Signature
_____________________ ___________________
Advisor Signature

_____________________ ____________________
Internal Examiner Signature

______________________ ____________________
External Examiner Signature
 Acknowledgements

First of all, I would like to thank the Almighty God for his unbounded
support all the way through my life and for the successful
accomplishment of this senior paper.
My special thanks goes to my advisor Ato Goitom Abreham for his
constructive suggestions guidance and great advice without which I
would not have been able to successfully complete this study.
My other profound gratitude goes to my beloved family who helped me
through out the way in my endeavors.
Last but not least my deep gratitude goes to all those who assisted me in
my education and preparation of this paper.

i
 Table of Contents
Page
Acknowledgements --------------------------------------------------------------- i
Table of contents ----------------------------------------------------------------- ii
List of tables ----------------------------------------------------------------------- iii
Acronyms ------------------------------------------------------------------------- iv
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the study------------------------------------------------ 1
1.2 Background of the Organization - -------------------------------------- 2
1.3. Statement of the problem----------------------------------------------- 2
1.4. Research questions ----------------------------------------------------- 3
1.5. Objectives of the study ---------------------------------------------- 4
1.6. Significance of the study------------------------------------------------ 4
1.7. Delimitation (Scope of the study)-------------------------------------- 4
1.8. Research design and methodology------------------------------------- 5
1.8.1. Research design---------------------------------------------------- 5
1.8.2 Types of data collected -------------------------------------------- 5
1.8.3. Method of data collection----------------------------------------- 5
1.8.4. Population and sampling technique---------------------------- 6
1.8.5. Methods of data analysis----------------------------------------- 6
1.9. Limitations of the study ------------------------------------------------ 6
1.10 Organization of the paper---------------------------------------------- 6
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Definition and Nature of Leadership -------------------------------------- 7
2.2 Importance of Leadership --------------------------------------------------- 9
2.3 Leadership traits and skills ------------------------------------------------- 10
2.3.1 Earlier trait theorists ------------------------------------------------- 10
2.3.2 Later trait theorists ---------------------------------------------------- 11
2.3.3 Motivational Traits ----------------------------------------------------- 12
2.4 Leadership skills -------------------------------------------------------------- 12
2.5 Leadership styles -------------------------------------------------------------- 13

ii
 2.5.1 Autocratic style --------------------------------------------------- 13
2.5.2 Permissive style --------------------------------------------------- 14
2.5.3 Participative style ------------------------------------------------ 14
2.6 Emerging theories of leadership ------------------------------------------ 14
2.6.1 Charismatic leadership theories ------------------------------- 14
2.6.2 Transformation leadership theory ----------------------------- 15
2.6.3 Transactional leadership theory ------------------------------- 15
2.7 Distinction between leadership and management--------------------- 15
2.8 Role of leader/managers identified by theorists based
on observational studies ------------------------------------------------- 17
2.9 Situation as determinant of leadership -------------------------------- 17
2.9.1 Situations viewpoint -------------------------------------------- 17
2.9.2 Fielder’s contingency model------------------------------------ 18
CHAPTER THREE
DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION
3.1. General Background Characteristics of the Respondents -------- 20
3.2 Analysis and interpretation of data concerning the study -------- 22
CHAPTER FOUR
SUMMARY CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
4.1 Summary of findings --------------------------------------------------- 34
4.2 Conclusions -------------------------------------------------------------- 35
4.3 Recommendations ------------------------------------------------------ 37
Bibliography
Appendices
Appendix I
Appendix II
Appendix III
Declaration and Submission Approval
 List of Tables
Page
Table 1: Respondents by sex, age, educational background
and work experience--------------------------------------------- 21
Table 2: Employees responses on the relationship they
have with their supervisors ------------------------------------ 22
Table 3: Responses of employees on satisfaction with
the leadership practice of the organization------------------ 23
Table 4: Respondents views on the superiors’ readiness
to communicate organizational values, vision
and goals with subordinates ----------------------------------- 24
Table 5: Employees participation in decision making process ------ 25
Table 6: Responses of employees on leaders’ performance
in attaining organization’s objectives-------------------------- 25
Table 7: Leadership practice of the organization as compared
with other government organizations-------------------------- 26
Table 8: Employees comfort with the current leadership style------- 27
Table 9: Employees response on functional misunderstanding
between leaders--------------------------------------------------- 27
Table 10: Employees evaluation on the organization performance- 28
Table 11: Response in rating employees’ performance --------------- 29
Table 12: Employees involvement on the planning process
of the organization---------------------------------------------- 29
Table13: Employees evaluation on manager’s leadership
Competence------------------------------------------------------- 30

iii
 Acronyms

BPR- Business Process Re-engineering

LCP- Least Preferred Coworker
TA- Transport Authority

iv
 Bibliography
Alio R.J (2003) Human Resource Management New Delhi: Tata Mc
Graw Hill Publishing Company Limited
Dwivedi R.S (2001) Human Relations and Organizational Behavior
New Delhi Macmillan India L.T.D
Hersey P, Balanchard K.H and Johnson DE (2001) Management of
organizational Behavior New Jersey Prentice -Hall
Mchane and Guno (2003) Organizational Behavior USA MC Grew- Hill
Publishing Company.
Narayana V S P (2000) Organizations Theory and Behavior (2ed ed)
New Delhi: Konark Publishers [Link]
Sekaran (2000) Organizational Behavior. New Delhi: Tata Mc Grew –
Hill Publishing Company .
Sudan A.S and Krmarn (2003) Management Process and
Organizational Behavior New Delhi J.C Komar for Anml
Publication [Link]
Singh N.(2000) Human Relations and Organizational Behavior. New
Delhi: Printed in Elegant Printers.
Kumar N. (2003) Management Process and Organizational Behavior.
New Delhi: Jikumar Printer.
 Appendix I

ቅድስት ማርያም ዩኒቨርስቲ ኮሌጅ

ቢዝነስ ፋክሊቲ
የአስተዳደር ትምህርት ክፍል

የሥራ አመራር አተገባበርና ችግሮች በትራንስፖርት ባለስልጣን ለመገምገም የቀረበ

መጠይቅ፡፡
በድርጅቱ ሠራተኞች የሚሞላ
የተከበራችሁ መላሾች

እኔ በቅድስተ ማርያም ዩኒቨርስቲ ኮሌጅ የአስተዳደር ትምህርት ክፍል ተመራቂ

ስሆን በአሁኑ ወቅት የመጀመሪያ ዲግሪዬን ለማግኘት በከፊል ማሟያነት የሚያገለግል
ጥናት “የሥሪ አመራር አተገባበር በትራንስፖርት ባለስልጣን ቢሮ” በሚል ርዕስ ዙሪያ
በመስራት ላይ እገኛለሁ፡፡
የጥናቱ ዋና ዓላማ የሥራ አመራር አተገባበር ችግሮች በመስሪያ ቤታችሁ
ውስጥ ምን እንደሚመስል ጥናት በማካሄድ እና በስተመጨረሻም የድርጅቱን የስራ
አመራር አካላት ችሎታና አቅምን የሚያጐለበት የመፍትሔ ሃሳቦችን ለማቅረብ ነው፡፡
በተጨማሪም ወደፊት በዚህ ርዕስ ዙሪያ ጥናታቸውን ለሚያደርጉ ሌሎች አጥኒዎች
በመረጃ ሰጪነት የሚያገለግል ይሆናል፡፡
ስለሆነም የእርስዎ ትክክለኛ እና ጊዜውን የጠበቀ ምላሽ ለጥናቱ መሣካት
ከፍተኛ ድርሻ አለው፡፡ ስለዚህም ከአምስት ቀናት ባልበለጠ ጊዜ ውስጥ ተአማኒነት
ያለውን ምላሽ ይለግሱግ ዘንድ በአክብሮት እየጠየኩኝ ጥያቄዎቹን በጥንቃቄ በማንበብ
ለሚሰጡኝ ቀና ምላሽ በቅድሚያ እጅግ አድርጌ ላመስግን እወዳለሁ፡፡
የሚሰጡኝም ምላሽ ለዚህ ጥናት ብቻ የሚውል በመሆኑ በከፍተኛ ሞያዊ ስነ-
ምግባር የሚጠበቅ ሲሆን ለሌላ ለማንኛውም ጉዳይ የማይውል መሆኑን ላረጋግጥልዎ
እወዳለሁ፡፡
ይህ መጠይቅ ሁለት ክፍሎች አሉት በእያንዳንዱ ክፍል ያሉትን ጥያቄዎች
በትክክል ይመልሱ ዘንድ በታላቅ አክብሮት እጠይቃለሁ፡፡
ለሚያደርጉልኝ ቀና ትብብር አመሰግናለሁ፡፡
ግላዊ መረጃ
ክፍል አንድ፡
መመሪያ፡ () ምልክት በተገቢው ሣጥን ውስጥ ያኑሩ
1. ጾታ
ሀ. ወንድ
ለ. ሴት
2. ዕድሜ
ሀ. 2ዐ-29
ለ. 3ዐ-39
ሐ. 4ዐ-49
መ. 5ዐ-59
ሠ. 60 እና ከዚያ በላይ
3. የትምህርት ደረጃ
ሀ. ከሁለተኛ ደረጃ በታች
ለ. ሁለተኛ ደረጃ ያጠናቀቀ
ሐ. ሰርተፍኬት
መ. ዲፕሎማ
ሠ. ቢ.ኤ.ዲግሪ ያለው
ረ. ኤም. ኤ. ድግሪ ያለው
ሰ. ሌላ ተጨማሪ ካለ ----------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. የስራ ልምድ
ሀ. 1-5
ለ. 6-1ዐ
ሐ. 11-15
መ. 16-2ዐ
ሠ. 2ዐ ዓመት በላይ
ጥናቱን የሚመለከቱ ጠቃሚ መረጃዎች
ክፍል ሁለት፡
እባክዎን ለሚከተሉት ጥያቄዎች () ምልክት በተዘጋጀው ሣጥን ውስጥ በማስቀመጥ
ምላሽዎን ይስጡ፡፡ ለቀረቡት ጥያቄዎች ከአንድ በላይ መልስ ሊሰጡ ይችላሉ፡፡
1. በሰራተኞች እና በስራ አመራር አካላት መካከል ያለውን ግንኙነት እንዴት
ይገልጹታል?
ሀ. እጅግ በጣም ጥሩ ለ. በጣም ጥሩ
ሐ. ጥሩ መ. ደህና ሠ. መጥፎ
2. በድርጅቱ ውስጥ ያሉ ሠራተኞች የስራ አመራር አካላቶች በሚያከናውኑት ተግባራት
ረክተዋል?
ሀ. በጣም እስማማለሁ ለ. እስማማለሁ
ሐ. አላውቅም መ. አልስማማም ሠ. በጣም አልስማማም
3. የድርጅቱን እሴቶች ራዕዮች እና ዓላማዎች ስለማስፈፀም ከአለቃዎ ጋር በየጊዜው
ይወያያሉ?
ሀ. እወያያለሁ ለ. አልወያይም
ሐ. አልፎ አልፎ መ. እርግጠኛ አይደለሁም
4. የድርጅቱን ዓላማ ከማስፈፀም አንፃር በምን ያህል ደረጃ አስተዋጽኦ አድርጌያለሁ
ብለው ያምናሉ?
ሀ. በጣም ከፍተኛ ደረጃ ለ. በከፍተኛ ደረጃ ሐ. በመጠኑ
ለ. በአነስተኛ ደረጃ መ. በፍፁም አስተዋጽኦ አላረኩም
5. በመስሪያ ቤቱ የውሳኔ አፈፃፀም ሥርዓት ላይ ምን ያህል ተሣታፊ ነዎት?
ሀ. በጣም በከፍተኛ ደረጃ ለ. በከፍተኛ ደረጃ
ለ. በመጠኑ መ. በዝቅተኛ ደረጃ
ሠ. ተሣትፎ አላውቅም
6. የአመራር አካላቱን ችሎታ የድርጅቱን ዓላማዎች ከማስፈፀም አኳያ እንዴት
ይገመግሙታል?
ሀ. በጣም ከፍተኛ ለ. ከፍተኛ
ሐ. ተመጣጣኝ መ. ዝቅተኛ ሠ. በጣም ዝቅተኛ
7. የድርጅቱን የሥራ መሪዎች የሥራ አመራር አተገባበር ከሌሎች መንግስታዊ ከሆኑ
መስሪያ ቤቶች ጋር ሲያነፃፅሩት እንዴት ይገልፁታል?
ሀ. እጅግ በጣም ጥሩ ለ. በጣም ጥሩ
ሐ. ጥሩ መ. መካከለኛ ሠ. ዝቅተኛ
8. የድርጅቱን የሥራ መሪዎች የሥራ አመራር አተገባበር ከሌሎች መንግሰታዊ ከሆኑ
መስሪያ ቤቶች ጋር ሲያነፃፅሩት እንዴት ይገልፁታል?
ሀ. እጅግ በጣም ጥሩ ለ. በጣም ጥሩ
ሐ. ጥሩ መ. መካከለኛ ሠ. ዝቀተኛ
9. በድርጅቱ ውስጥ ባሉ የሥራ መደብ ሐላፊዎች መካከል የስራ አለመግባባቶች አለ
ብለው ያስባሉ?
ሀ. በጣም ከፍተኛ ደረጀ ለ. በከፍተኛ ደረጃ
ሐ. በመጠኑ መ. በዝቅተኛ ደረጃ ሠ. በፍፁም አይታይም
1ዐ. ለሕብረተሰቡ ጥራት ያለው አገልግሎት ከመስጠት አንፃር የድርጅቱን አቅም
እንዴት ይገመግሙታል?
ሀ. እጅግ በጣም ጥሩ ለ. በጣም ጥሩ ሐ. ጥሩ
መ. ደህና ሠ. መጥፎ
11. የአመራር አካላቶች የሰራተኞችን ችሎታ ከመመዘን አኳያ እንደ ጓደኝነት እና
ጥላቻን ከመሳሰሉ ማንኛውም ዓይነት ተጽእኖዎች ነፃ ናቸው ተብሎ ይታመናል፡፡
እርስዎ በድርጅቱ ባለው ሁኔታ በዚህ ዓረፍተ ነገር ይስማማሉ?
ሀ. በጣም ከፍተኛ ደረጃ ለ. በከፍተኛ ደረጃ
ሐ. በመጠኑ መ. በዝቅተኛ ደረጃ ሠ. በፍፁም አልስማማም
12. የእቅድ አወጣጥ ስርዓትን በተመለከተ ከአለቃዎት ጋር በምን ያህል ደረጃ
ተሣትፈዋል?
ሀ. በጣም ከፍተኛ ደረጃ ለ. በከፍተኛ ደረጃ
ሐ. በመጠኑ መ. በዝቅተኛ ደረጃ ሠ. በፍፁም አልተሣተፍኩም
13. ሠራተኞች በየጊዜው ለሚያስመዘግቡት የስራ ችሎታ ተገቢውን ወሮታ ያገኛሉ
ብለው ያምናሉ?
ሀ. በጣም ከፍተኛ ደረጃ ለ. በከፍተኛ ደረጃ
ሐ. በመጠኑ መ. በዝቅተኛ ደረጃ
14. በአጠቃላይ በድርጅቱ ውስጥ ያሉ የስራ መደብ ሀላፊዎች የሚከተሉትን የስራ
አመራር አተገባበር ብቃት እንዴት ይገመግሙታል?
ሀ.እጅግ በጣም ጥሩ ለ.በጣም ጥሩ ሐ.ጥሩ
መ.ደህና ሠ.መጥፎ
15. እባክዎን በድርጅት ውስጥ ለሥራ አመራር አተገባበር ችግር ፈጥረናል ብለው
የሚያስቡትን ነገሮች ከዚህ በታች ባለው ክፍት ቦታ ላይ ይዘርዝሩ፡፡
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16. ከላይ ለገለፁት ችግሮች ምን ዓይነት የመፍትሔ ሀሳቦችን ይጠቁማሉ?
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17. በአጠቃላይ የድርጅቱን የሥራ አመራር አተገባበር የበለጠ ለማሻሻል እና ለማሣደግ
እንደ መፍትሔ ሐሳብ ይጠቅማሉ ያሉትን ይጠቁሙ?
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 Appendix II

St. Mary’s University College

Faculty of Business
Department of Management
Structured Questionnaire for Employees

Survey on leadership practices and problems in Transport Authority

Addis Ababa; 2010

I am prospect of St. Mary’s University College from the department of

management. I am conducting a research for the partial fulfillment of my
BA degree in management, titled “Leadership Practices and Problems at
Transport Authority”.
The purpose of the study is to investigate and identify the strengths and
limitations of leadership trends at transport authority in light of the
theoretical aspect of the discipline. The study also aims to document
findings as a reference material for other researchers.
Therefore your genuine and timely responses are highly appreciated for
the success of the study.

I would like to inform you that your answers are completely kept
confidential. For this purpose, there is no need of writing your name on
this form.

The questionnaire has two parts and you are expected to answer all the
questions under each section genuinely.

Thank you for your kind cooperation!

 Part I. Background of Respondents
Please answer the following questions genuinely and put “” mark in the
box which contain the alternative you chose please be informed also that,
in some conditions you may have more than one answer.
1. Sex
a. Male
b. Female
2. Age
a. 20-29
b. 30-39
c. 40-49
d. 50-59
e. 60 and above
3. Educational Background
a. Below high school certificate
b. High school certificate
c. Diploma
d. BA/BSC degree
e. MA/MSC
f. Other, specify __________________
4. Experience
a. 1-5 years
b. 6-10 years
c. 11-15 years
d. 16-20 years
e. 21-25 years
f. Above 25 years
 Part II. Information concerning the study
1. How do you express your relation with your supervisor?
a. Excellent
b. Very good
c. Good
d. Fair
e. Poor
2. The employees of the organization are satisfied with the leadership
practice of the organization
a. Strongly agree
b. Agree
c. Disagree
d. Strongly disagree
3. Do you communicate the values, visions and goals of the
organization with your supervisor?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Not sure
4. Do you believe that you have an important role to the goal
achievement in the organization?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Not sure
5. To what extent do you participate the decision making process of the
organization?
a. To a very great extent c. To some extent e. Not at all
b. To a great extent d. To less extent
6. How do you evaluate the performance of leaders of T.A in order to
attain the objectives of the organization?
a. Very high
b. High
c. Moderate
d. Low
e. Very low
7. How do you see the leadership practices of your organization as
compared to that of another government organization?
a. Excellent
b. Very good
c. Good
d. Average
e. Poor
8. To what extent are employees comfortable with the current
leadership styles demonstrated by your leaders?
a. To a very great extent
b. To a great extent
c. To some extent
d. To less extent
e. Not at all
9. Do you think that there is a functional misunderstanding between
leaders at different level, in your organization?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Not sure
10. How do you evaluate the performance of your organization on
attaining quality service to the society?
a. Excellent
b. Very good
c. Good
d. Fair
e. Poor
f. I can not judge
11. Ideally supervisors are deemed to be free from personal biases like
friendship, hate etc. in rating employee’s performance. Do you agree
with the implementation of the above statement in your
organization?
a. Strongly agree
b. Agree
c. undecided
d. Disagree
e. Strongly disagree
11. To what extent does your superior involve you in the planning
process of the organization?
a. To a very great extent
b. To a great extent
c. To some extent
d. To less extent
e. Not at all
13. Are employees recommended sufficiently for their outstanding
performance?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Not sure
14. How do you evaluate the general leadership competence of the
managers at different levels?
a. Excellent
b. Very good
c. Good
d. Fair
e. Poor
15. Please write the main problems that you have observed on the
leadership practices of your organization?
I. ________________________________________________________________
II. ________________________________________________________________
III. ________________________________________________________________
15. Suggest any solutions for these problems?
I. ________________________________________________________________
II. ________________________________________________________________
III. ________________________________________________________________
16. What do you recommend to the organization in general in order to
improve its current leadership practices and performance?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
 Appendix III

Interview for Managers and Supervisors

1. How do you express your relationship with subordinates?
2. What leadership style do you follow to lead your subordinates?
3. How do you communicate your strategy and organizations objective
with your subordinates?
4. Do you believe that your leadership practice has important
contribution to goal achievement in transport authority?
5. Can you tell the main problems that you observed on the leadership
practice of your organization?
6. To what extent you participate employees on planning and decision
making process?
7. What are the criteria for your selection to participate on decision
making process?
8. Do you believe that the quality of service your organization gives to
the society is satisfactory?
9. Is there a well framed national plan and results that show the
development of transportation?
10. To what extent is the leadership style of your organization is suitable
to deal with to day’s management thoughts?

THANK YOU!!!
 Declaration

I, the undersigned, declare that this senior essay is my original work;

prepared under the guidance of Ato Goytom Aberham. All sources of
material used for the manuscript have been duly acknowledged.

Name: _______________________________

Signature ____________________________

Place of Submission __________________

Date of Submission ___________________

Submission Approval

This senior research paper has been submitted to the department of

management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for BA degree in
management with my approval as on advisor.

Name Ato Goytom Aberham

Signature ________________

Date _________________
 CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Exercising one style of leadership is not suitable to handle all types of

subordinates in organizations because in today’s organizations not one kind
and type of people are employed but a human resource with different
varieties of skills, Knowledge and competencies are acquire. They differ in
their quality, determinations and their attitude towards the organization.

They also exhibit different behaviors as they differ in their attitude and their
out look. The important point here is to study their behavior closely and they
should then be lead accordingly because an executive leader while exercising
his duties must know the psychology of the people he is working with and
leading them. He must understand their behavior and accordingly can make
use of the various style of leadership.

According to Tannenbaum, Weschler and Massarik (462) “leadership is an

inter personal influence exerted in a situation and directed, through the
communication system, towards the attitudes the attainments of specific
goals.”

From this point of view, we understand that leadership is relation oriented,

that involve the influencing agent and the individuals who are influenced and
usually, it is equated with the differential exertion of influences

When leaders of any organization able to practice the above factors in their
group of employees, they will be able to lead them effectively and best use of
their potential.
The aim of the study was to investigate and identify the strengths and
limitations of the leadership trends in Transport Authority and to forward
possible recommendations for the problems encountered.

1
1.2. Background of the organization

The transport authority is established as an autonomous public authority

having separate juridical personality the proclamation that established the
authority is number 468/[Link] is stated in the proclamation that authority
is accountable to the ministry of transport and communication.

The transport authority objective

1. To promote an efficient, adequate, economical and equitable transport
system.
2. To ensure that public transport services are safe and comfortable.
3. To develop domestic and international transport net –work and
4. To promote the development of all aspect of transport.

VISION
Our vision is to ensure the provision of the modern, in targeted and safe
transport service to meet the need of all the communities.
MISION
 To promote and ensure the provision of efficient, economic and safe
transport service of the country.
 To coordinate and strengthen the road traffic improvement system.
 To develop road transport directives and standards in line with the
development of the country.
 To develop transport data base system to enhance research and
analysis of he development of the sector.
CORE VALUE
 Customer satisfaction is our institution culture.
 Based on good ethics we render efficient service.
1.3. Statement of the problem

Any organization needs a well framed and organized leadership practice in

order to perform its activities. Thus, organizations need to design their
leadership practices clearly.

2
According to a preliminary assessment made by the student researcher
through an informal communication with some staff members of Transport
Authority, the organization has the following problems.
 There is functional misunderstanding between leaders at different
levels
 Most of the leaders do not participate employees on decision making
process. The presence of these problems may affect the overall
performance of the organization.
 Despite the fact that the organization has well experienced employees,
when its performance is measured the quality of service that it gives to
the society is not satisfactory.

The above problems that are observed on the leadership practice of the
organization currently were the main concern of the researcher.
What encouraged the student researcher to engage in this study is the
complaints of individual staff members over a staff meeting and from
practical observations while the student researcher were on an internship
program for two months at transport authority.

1.4 Research Question

The study tries to find out answers for the following basic questions;
1. What type of leadership style do most managers at different managerial
levels in the organization is used currently?
2. What are the problems observed in the leadership practice of the
organization?
3. To what extent is the leadership style of the organization suitable to deal
with the rapidly changing circumstances taking place in to day’s
management thought?
4. How far employees satisfied with the existing leadership practices of the
organization?

3
1.5 Objective of the study

The general objective of this study is to investigate and identify the strengths
and limitations of leadership trends in Transport Authority. The following
specific objectives are drawn from the general objective:

 To identify the type of leadership style mostly practiced in transport

authority.
 To identify the internal influences which affect the leadership practice
of the organization.
 To find out the existence of proper plan and policy about the type of
leadership that the organization is following currently and to prove its
applicability.
 To find out the problems observed on the leadership practice of the
organization.
 To come up with possible and workable recommendations for the
problems encountered.
1.6 Significance of the study

The study has the following importance

 It provides information on the leadership practices of transport
authority.
 It cites the areas of problems in the leadership practices of the
organization that needs special attention to improve the service.
 It contributes to increase the overall performances of the
organization by providing the necessary information on proper
functioning of the leadership practices.
 It may also serve as a reference material for other researchers.

1.7 Delimitation (scope of the study)

The scope of the study is limited at the head office of Transport Authority,
which is located in Addis Ababa. Regional branches of the organization are

4
not included in the study due to shortage of time and finance and material
resources as well. The sample size is also delimited to 96 from a total
population of 319, assuming that it is not manageable economically to
involve more than 30% of the population. In addition, the student researcher
delimited the data collection tools to interview and questionnaire because
these are believed to be appropriate tools to gather relevant data from a wide
range of respondents.

1.8 Research design and methodology

1.8.1 Research design

The general research method that is employed in conducting the research is

descriptive type. Descriptive research design is used because the research
involves answering questions such as what and how. The research design
has compilation of review of related literature, construction of questionnaire
and interview questions, compilation of data gathered from primary and
secondary sources and summarize findings construct conclusion and forward
recommendations that were relevant to address the situation.
1.8.2 Types of data collected and used
For this study both primary and secondary sources of data are used. The
primary data were collected from the respondents in the organization and the
secondary data are collected from available documents of the organization in
order to get sufficient and relevant information for the study.
1.8.3 Method of data collection

Three kinds of data collection instruments were used with the intention of
achieving the goals of the study.
They are interview, document review and questionnaire. The interview was
prepared for administrative staffs and the questionnaire for operational staff
members.

5
Both qualitative and quantitative data were used. Thus, qualitative method is
used for interview and document review where as, to analyze the data
obtained through the distribution of questionnaire quantitative method is
used.
1.8.4 Population and sampling techniques
At the head office of transport authority there are about 319 employees
which are very useful to the study. Out of the total population 30% (96) were
selected as a sample element. In this study the student researcher used
accidental sampling method. Accidental sampling is used because it enables
the researcher to go for convenient respondents’ .The sampling unit of the
study includes the transport authority directors, experts and operational
employees. Moreover, the selected sampling technique is easy and
inexpensive for implementation.

1.8.5. Methods of data analysis

The data collected through questionnaire is analyzed using percentages.

Whereas, the data obtained from document review and interview is analyzed
qualitatively.
1.9 Limitation of the study
Research work requires availability of sufficient time, money and other
resources. In addition the willingness of the concerned organizational
representatives to give the necessary information can be mentioned as
another limitation of the study. Further more; employees were reluctant to fill
the questionnaire.

1.10 Organization of the paper

The paper contains four chapters.

- Chapter one gives a general introductory about the study
- Chapter two includes review of related literature.
- Chapter three discusses the findings of the study, based on the data
obtained.
- The last chapter includes the summary, conclusion and
recommendations of the study.
6
 CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Definition and Nature of Leadership

“Leadership is the process of influencing a group of followers, adding, Value,

and helping the community adapts to change.” It is also the quality exhibited
by those who lead (Allio Robers J, 1999; P.12)

This definition underscores the relationship between leaders and followers,

without whom there is no leader. The leader must be a moral force for the
community, whatever it may comprise from business to nations and must
guide its evolution. A leader, by inference, is one exhibits leadership.

On the other than (R.S DWIVEDI 2001; P.462) defines leadership as follows;
“Leadership is an interpersonal influence exerted in a situation and directed,
through the communication system, towards the attainment of specific
goals.’

The author adds, “Leadership is the ability to influence a group towards the
achievement of goals” .(Ibid 463) overall, as perusal of literature reveals
,leadership is used in behavioral science with three major meanings the
characteristics of a position, the feature of an individual and a category of
behavior. Again, it is relation oriented, involving the influencing agent and
the individuals influenced, it is equated with the differential exertion of
influence. Accordingly, organizational leadership is viewed as the influential
increment beyond mechanical compliance with the routine directives of the
organization. In organizational settings or supervisors at a given level in the
hierarchy are given equal power and authority to give rewards and
punishments. However, some of them may use their legitimate power and
authority more effectively to maximize their influence in the structure, whilst
others may not fruitfully employee them and, thus, fail to get optimum
results. (Ibid)
7
Leadership and Human Relations: The formally appointed head may not
necessarily be an influential leader, and there may exist an informal leader
having greater influence on the work team, notwithstanding this difference,
the basic responsibility of a formal leader in an organizational setting is to
get work done through subordinates, and this is achieved by effectively
influencing the behavior of other individuals to whom the work has been
assigned. This makes it imperative that the leader knows and understands
the fundamental principles, concepts, methods and techniques of human
relations. Accordingly, the leader, irrespective of whether he is a foreman
supervisor or an executive, must be able to effectively motivate his people by
communicating with them, training and developing their potentialities with a
view to direct their efforts to accomplish a common goal. This indicates that
the key to effective leadership is human relations. Although human relations
are an integral part of the leadership function, it is not only responsibility
which a leader possesses and requires. A leader has to know and perform
several things involving basic management functions such as planning ,
organizing, staffing, directing, controlling and coordinating the totally of the
leader’s job involves all things leading to the determination of work, which
must be accomplished by human resources in organizational settings.(Singh,
2002:325)

Leadership as an Art or a science: leadership is becoming increasingly

complex with the increasing demands on leader in organizational settings.
There is a difference of opinion as to whether it is an art or a science. Those
who consider it as and art assert that leadership is an initiative skill and
therefore, there exists very little possibility of building transferable knowledge
regarding it. However, those who consider it as a science feel that there exists
a possibility to develop and disseminated knowledge regarding it. (Ibid)

8
Leadership as a profession: another difference of opinion prevails in respect
of considering leadership as a profession. Although leadership is yet not
qualified to be called professional. Numerous leaders are attempting to
perform their task in a professional manner by informally complying with
professional requirements. Moreover, there is a doubt as to whether the
emerging general body can provide a basis for a true profession. However, it’s
hoped that this trend toward building and disseminating a body of leadership
knowledge would mark the first step towards professionalism. (Ibid)

2.2 Importance of leadership

Importance of leadership does not need any over emphasis. Success of

leadership is because of its leadership. Even national independence, growth
of industrial or business organization is also because of effective leadership.
Eye-catching performances are achieved by many organizations through able
executive leadership.
An effective and important leadership must perform the following functions.
1. A leader should act as a friend, philosopher and guide to the people
whom he is leading. He must have the capacity to recognize their
potentialities and transform them in the realities.
2. A leader should win the confidence of his people and seek their
cooperation and convince them of policies, procedures and the goals to
be achieved. He should be able to wipe out the differences among his
people unite them as a team and build up team spirit.
3. He maintains discipline among his group and develops a sense of
responsibility. He should be impartial in treating people under him and
build up a high morale. He should as far as possible not use coercive
methods. He should represent his people in and outside the
organization. According to R. Likert, “Leaders act as a linking pin
between the work groups and the forces outside it”

9
 4. He should motivate his subordinates to achieve goals. He seeks their
commitments to attain the objectives of the organization.
5. He should try to raise high moral and ethical standards among his
people. (Signgh N. 2000; P, 376)
2.3 Leadership traits and skills

Leadership traits have been defined in two ways:

(1) traits used to differentiate the leaders from then on-leaders or
followers;
(2) Traits that differentiate effective from ineffective leaders.
Thus, attempts have been made to differentiate leaders from non-leader on
the basis of personality traits and to identify personality traits, which
promote a high level of group productivity because the effectiveness of
leaders depends upon the effectiveness of the group. A personality trait has
been defined as some constant quality behavior which characterizes the
individual in a wide range of his activities. (DWVIDI R.S. P, 466)
2.3.1 Earlier trait theorists

It has been assumed by trait theorists that all successful leaders possess
common personality traits. Among trait theorists, Tead, Bemard and Schell
are worth mentioning. Tead has emphasized a list of 10 traits which he finds
necessary in leaders, admitting that all of these qualities may not necessarily
appear in every leadership situation nor are they equally required of every
leader however, and the feels that are ideally desirable qualifications for a
leader.
Among the traits, which executives usually require are innate interest and
affection for people, strength or power of personality, scientific trend of mind,
etc.

Stogdill, demonstrates that are a number of traits which have been

frequently found among successful leaders in a variety of groups and
situations, such as persistence, consistency, self-confidence and
dependability. (Ibid)

10
 2.3.2 Later trait theorists

Later trait theorists include Meclelland, Dwivedi and Mc Gregor. Ettinger

states that the small entrepreneur must primarily display the required
characteristic of personality and leadership. Mc Clelland said that in a mobile
society, where an occupational position is some what dependant on
performance instead of family or political connections, managers, executives
or entrepreneurs should have a higher achievement motive than man in
other comparable occupation Dwivedi administered as a questionnaire
covering personality traits to managers from different public and private
sector undertakings located in and around Delhi in order to explore the
relative importance of these traits as viewed by Indian managers. The highest
ranking traits were being cooperative, intelligent and energetic, while the
lowest were free from cultural influence among English speaking nationals. It
is very difficult to assert unanimously what is meant by personality traits.
Such as intelligence, coverage, and flexibility, this commonly listed as traits
of a successful leader. Theoretically to select individuals for leadership
positions, one should look for traits related to leadership positions, one
should look for traits related to leadership success among the job applicants.
However this is not feasible in actual practice. Besides difficulty in defining
traits, it is not possible to ascertain as to whether a particular trait has a
direct bearing on leadership effectiveness. Let us assume that an individual
possess a sociable personality but lacks initiative will he/she be effective in a
leadership position in a marketing department? The trait theory provides no
solution to this thorny problem. Personality traits are increasingly employed
in modern organizations as basis for selection of both leaders and followers.
(Ibid)

11
 2.3.3 Motivational Traits
Leader with a high degree of achievement motivation are likely to set high
standards of performance for themselves and for their work groups whereas
those with low amount of it are least likely to bother about high standards or
excellence in their work and are most likely to be content with low and
routine type of performance.
As regards power motivation, it has been assumed that leaders with high
amount of this quality with negative inclination are likely to adapt an likely
to be permissive or adapt a free rein style.
Similarly, those with moderately high power motive with positive inclination
are likely to adapt a participative and democratic style of leadership.
So far as affiliation motivation is concerned , it is believed that leaders with a
high degree of this quality are likely to be more relations-oriented, warm,
friendly and supportive, whereas those with low of it are likely to be
impersonal bureaucratic, and inaccessible. Leaders with a very high degree of
affiliation motivation and a low amount of achievement motivation are likely
to waste a great deal of their time and energy pleasing others and seeking
popularity of the risk of standards of performance with a view to maintain
good relations. (Ibid)

2.4 Leaderships skills

As quoted in Debra [Link] al (2000:384) an effective leader appears to rest on

three personal and basic development skills. (1) Technical skills, which is
used to refer to proficiency and understanding of a specific kind of activity
involving a method, process, procedure or technique. This skill is primarily
concerned with working with ‘things (2) Human skill which is the manager’s
ability to work with others and to build a cooperative effort with the group he
manages. This skill is primarily concerned with working with ‘people’ (3)
conceptual skill, which implies the ability to visualize the organization as a
whole. This skill enables the manager to perceive and recognize the
interrelationships of various factors operating within the total organization.

12
The relative importance of these skills are required more than the conceptual
skill. (DWIVEDI R.S, 2001; P, 471)

2.5. Leadership styles

According to (R.S DWIVEDI 2001; P, 471) attempts have been made to
identify several styles, including authoritarian, democratic, laissez-fair and a
strict autocrat, a benevolent autocrat or a genuine autocrat, a pseudo-
democrat, etc.
Broadly speaking, there have emerged three types of leadership styles,
comprising autocratic or leader-centered or free-rein. The autocratic style
refers to the behavior of a leader marked by unilateral decision-making,
concentration of immense power in his own hands and the implantation of
his decisions through the followers by the use of authority.

Participative style emphasizes teamwork and group effort, and deals with a
pattern of decision-making involving discussions and consultations with the
followers, sharing of power by permitting the subordinates to make decisions
and to let the decisions stem from them. A permissive style refers to the least
indulgence by the leader, abandonment of authority and allowing the
subordinates to work entirely on their own. The recent view is that the
participative or the group-centered style is the one that is most conducive to
productivity.
2.5.1. Autocratic style

The autocratic style permits little delegation of authority to subordinates. The

subordinates are expected to follow the orders of their and the extent of their
participation is usually limited to informing the leaders of their problem.
They are required to implement instructions of their leader without raising
questions. The leader uses his authority to accomplish organizational
objectives. In this type of leadership, subordinates are entirely dependent on
the leader and production tends to decline in the absence of the leader. It
may be noted that although this style of leadership is not necessarily based
on a negative philosophy of getting results, the leaders may tend to use their
authority to prevent or delay rewards the leaders can make decisions which
13
they consider to be in the best interest of their subordinates, and impose
these decisions on the plea that this will benefit them in the long-run, (Ibid)

2.5.2. Permissive style

This style permits substantial delegation of authority to subordinates. The
subordinates are expected to formulate the objectives which they are to
accomplish and the leaders always stand by to provide general guidance. In
this type of leadership style, the leaders tend to give general rather than
detailed instructions. This style differs from the participative style in so far as
it permits delegation of authority for most decisions to subordinates while in
the participative style, the leaders retain this authority. This style is likely to
be effective only in situations where high quality subordinates exist. (Ibid)

2.5.3. Participative style

Participative leadership style has become a slogan in modern management

literature. it implies that the subordinates should be provided with and
opportunity to participate in decision made in their work settings, and which
influence them directly or indirectly. There is a plethora of literature on the
advantages of participative leadership encouraging supervisors and
executives to enhance worker’s participation in different organization
activities, particularly in the decision-making process. (Ibid)

2.6. Emerging theories of leadership

2.6.1 Charismatic leadership theories
These theories are the outcome of studies conducted by house he analyzed
the behavior, value and attitudes of political and religious leader, and found
a set of charismatic features in their leadership. These leaders revealed
charismatic features in their leadership.
These leaders revealed characteristics, such as self-confidence and
confidence in subordinates. The subordinates emulate the values and
behavior of charismatic leaders and experience a sense of self-confidence,
impression management skills, socials sensitivity and empathy. Sometimes,
charismatic leadership is also a function of a crisis demanding drastic
change as well as subordinates dissatisfactions with the status quality.
(Michael and etal, 2004:110)
14
2.6.2 Transformation leadership theory
A leadership perspective that explains how leaders change team or
organizations by creating communicating and modeling a vision for the
organization or work unit, and inspiring employee to strive for that vision.
(Machane and Gunow 2000:450)

2.6.3 Transactional leadership theory

Leadership that help organizations to achieve their current objective more
efficiently by linking job performance to valued rewards and ensuring the
employees have there sourced needed to get the job done. (Ibid 450)

2.7. Distinction between leadership and management

(Signgh N 200; P, 326) said that Leading and managing go together but some
differences exist between the two. The following are the points of differences
between them:
1. Management establishes relationship through authority. This is
relationship between superiors and subordinates within the framework of
organization. Leadership does not require any framework or organization.
Management needs formal organized groups leadership does not require
any such groups. Informal groups can be led not managed. Anyone can
follow leader. There are no juniors or seniors among followers. But in
management juniors have to follow seniors.
2. Management expects managers to be rational decision-making while
leadership vent on moods and expectations of the followers.
Leadership has emotional appeal while management does not have such
appeal rather it acts on rationality.
3. All leaders are not managers and all managers are not leaders. Managers
direct subordinates by virtue of authority vested in them while leaders
have no such formal authority invested in them; rather they derive power
from their followers. Leaders use this power to guide, direct and influence
people.

15
4. Managers have formal authority to reward the employees with promotion
or transfer them or demote them if they erred. But leaders have no such
authority. Leaders with people power to satisfy their social needs and ego.
5. Management tries to accomplish organizational objectives. Leadership tries
to accomplish people’s hopes, aspirations and expectations
6. Management is the process of planning, organizing, actuating controlling
the activities of the to attain organizational object leadership on the other
hand is a process of influences behavior of people to attain their shared
goals.
7. According to Peter Drucker, “Management’s efficiency climbing the leader
of success; leadership determines whether leader is leaning against the
right wall.”
8. Management is accountable for its behavior in clearly defined but
leadership is not so accountable in clearly defined manner.
9. Leadership qualities for management are supposed to be essential and
added advantage but, for leadership managerial qualities are not essential
at all.
10. Management requires policies and procedures to direct people for
attainment of goals of the organization. Leadership achieves goals
through actions by the people.

16
2.8. Role of leader/managers identified by theorists based on
observational studies

Theoretically, researchers have identified varied roles of senior executives.

One study suggests three roles. International, information and decisional;
and each involves set of sub-roles .Another study proposes four basic roles of
chief executives; vision setter. Motivator, analyzer and task, master. Attempt
has also been made to differentiate between the roles of successful (those
promoted rapidly) and effective (those with satisfied and committed
subordinates and high performance units) executives of the four executive
activities (i.e. communication, traditional management, human resources
management and networking), only networking has significant positive
relationship with success. Communication and human resource
management lay largely contributed to executive effectiveness .historically,
managers appeared with two key roles a, to maintain order and to see that
the interests of employees are carried out and -----to function as a bearer of
expertise. (Ibid)

2.9 Situation as determinant of leadership

2.9.1 Situations viewpoint
According to the situations viewpoint, a specific situation determines the
effectiveness of leadership. If the situation changes the individual holding the
leadership role will change. For example, if an individual us a leader in a
situation which demands knowledge of conducting employee morale survey,
his position as a leader is supported by his background and knowledge in
this respect. However, if this situation changes and another situation arises
which demands knowledge of conducting consumer survey, some other
individual may assume the leadership role because of his background and
knowledge in that field of work. The situations theory asserts that the
individual perceived to be most suitable for leadership in a particular
situation will come forward spontaneously from the group as the leader.
Accordingly, attempts may be made to place individuals in different informal
situations demanding specific interaction and select those individuals who

17
assume leadership positions in such situations for formal leadership
positions in organizational settings. It is argued that individuals who tend to
rise to leadership positions in informal group situations are likely to be
useful in formal leadership positions.
However, as situations change, there is some doubt whether such individuals
will be effective in formal positions. The informal group may follow a leader in
a social situation but may not do so in a formal situations.

The focus in the situational approach to leadership is on observed behavior

rather on any hypothetical inborn or acquired ability. It stresses the behavior
of leaders and their subordinate’s vis-à-vis different situations. Attempts are
being made to encourage the possibility of training individuals with a vie to
adapt their behavior to changing situations. (Narayana, 2000:356)

2.9.2 Fielder’s contingency model

As any one style of leadership cannot be considered suitable for all situations
and subordinates, attempts have been made to formulate a leadership
contingency model asserting that various types of situations appears to
favors various styles of leadership .It has been assumed that the effectiveness
of the leader is based on his ability to act in terms of situational
requirements. Attempts have been made to ability to act in terms of
situational requirements. Attempts have been made to categories leaders as
task-centered and relations-centered on the basis of a psychological test
called the Least Preferred Coworker (LPC).The identification of the style
orientation of a leader provides a base to ascertain leadership effectiveness in
various situations. Accordingly, situations have been categorized in three
groups: highly favorable to the leader and intermediate. Fielder ascertained
the favorability of the situation to the leader in terms of three factors his
personal relations with the subordinates, the vividity and the amount of
structure in the task the subordinates perform and the authority possessed
by the leade in his formal position in organizational settings.
The favorableness of the situation refers to the extent to which the situation
permits the leader to exercise his influence over group of followers.

18
On the basis of numerous research studies, it was concluded that the task-
centered leaders performed best in those group situations which fell on the
extremes of favorableness, i.e. situations which appeared highly unfavorable
to the leaders and those which were highly favorable to them. The
relationships centered leaders tended to perform best in the intermediate
situations represented by a majority of job situations I in modern
organizational settings. The theory implies that it would be more fruitful to
identify the requirements of the situation and then select the leader with
appropriate styles instead of attempting to modify leader behavior itself. (Ibid)

19
 CHAPTER THREE
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

This chapter contains two parts, namely the general background of

respondents and analysis of data concerning the study which are collected
through questionnaire and a management of interview. Out of the total
population of 319, 96 (30%) were selected to complete the questionnaire
distributed and respond to the interview questions.
The questionnaires were distributed to 92 employees. Out of the distributed
questionnaires seventy three were completed and returned. The return rate is
79%. Interview was conducted with 4 senior management members of the
organization.

3.1 General background characteristics of respondents

The following table shows analysis of the general background of the
respondents that were included in the study.

20
Table 1. Respondents by sex, age, educational background and work
experience
Frequency responses No = 73
Item Alternatives No. %
Sex Male 47 64
Female 26 36
Total 73 100
Age 20-29 11 15
30-39 42 58
40-49 13 18
50-59 7 9
60 and above -
Total 73 100
Educational background Below high school - -
High school certificate 3 4
Diploma 24 33
BA/BSC degree 42 58
MA/MSC 4 5
Above - -
Total 73 100
Work experience 1-5 years 17 23
6-10 years 19 26
11-15 years 11 15
16-20 years 14 19
21-25 years 7 10
Above 25 years 5 7
Total 73 100
(Source primary data)

According to table 1, item 1, 64 percent of the respondents are male and 36

percent are female respondents. This will lead as to conclude majority of
Transport authority employees are male. Therefore, there is high
concentration of male in the organization. The data may however indicate
that there is reasonable representation of the female employees in the study.

From table 1 item 2, it is clear to readers that 15 percent of the study

population consists of youngsters who are below 30 years of age. Majority of
the respondents that is 58 percent however fall between the ranges of 30-39
years. Moreover, 18 percent of them fall under the age range of 40-49 years.
The rest 9 percent are between 50-59 years. This shows that majority of the
employees are in their productive and maturity age. Accordingly, there is no
doubt on their responses reasonability as well as relevance to the study.

21
Almost half of the respondents are degree holders, which comprise 58
percent; 33 percent are diploma holders; 4 percent are high school graduates
and 5 percent are MA/MSC holders. The number of the degree and diploma
holders’ counts 91percent containing significant majority of the respondent.
This may indicate that organization is equipped with qualified work forces
more or less.

As indicated in table 1, item 4, 23 percent of the respondents have a work

experience of less than 5 years, 26 percent are between 6-10 years, 15
percent are between 11-15 years, 19 percent have served for 16-20 years and
10 percent have a work experience ranging between 21-25 years, the rest 7
percent have more than 25 years work experience. This shows that large
number of respondents are senior.

3.2. Analysis and interpretation of data concerning the study

Table 2: Employees responses on the relationship they have with their

supervisors
Item Alternatives Frequency responses
No. 73
No. Percentage
How do you express your Excellent 7 10
relation with your supervisors? Very good 11 15
Good 13 18
Fair 15 20
Poor 27 37
Total 73 100
(Source primary data)

Concerning employees relation with their supervisors, 10 percent of the

respondents said that it is excellent while 15 percent of the respondents
chose very good, 18 percent of the respondents believes they have good
relation, 20 percent of the respondents said their relation with their
supervisor is fair and the rest 37 percent of the respondent rated the

22
relationship as poor. It is quite possible to say that majority of the employees
in the organization have no close relationship with their supervisors.
Therefore, we can say that if employees have no close relation with their
supervisors, it may significantly decrease their motivation to work and also
may make them to be very reluctant on using their physical energy as well as
their cognitive thinking when they perform their job in a way they could have
used it. Thus, we can conclude that this will create a potential threat to the
organization on attaining its objectives and addressing satisfactory service to
the society as well as to employees on the attainment of job satisfaction and
upgrading their commitment to work.

Table 3: Responses of employees on satisfaction with the leadership

practice of the organization
Item Alternatives Frequency responses
No. 73
No. Percentage
The employees of the Strongly agree 3 4
organization are satisfied with Agree 13 18
the leadership practice of the Undecided 17 23
organization. Disagree 31 43
Strongly disagree 9 12
Total 73 100
(Source primary data)

Table 3 above presents information regarding employees’ satisfaction with

the current leadership practice of the organization. Accordingly, 43 percent of
the respondents said that they are dissatisfied with the existing leadership
practice; while 23 percent of them were not able to decide. On the other
hand, 22 percent of the employees expressed their satisfaction with the
existing leadership practice of the organization. Thus, majority of the
employees are dissatisfied with the current leadership practice of the
organization. From the data, it is possible to say that the organization has
leadership problem. Whenever employees are dissatisfied they are likely to
23
leave. They would seek and have a great expectation for changes to happen,
and moreover, they would be in need of new blood to leadership positions
with an excellent emotional intelligence that would make them empower. In
summary, the dissatisfying leadership practice of the organization will have a
great contribution on employee’s poor motivation and high job dissatisfaction
that would make them very dormant to use their potential in any way it is
needed while they perform their task, in the way they would have used it if
they were satisfied. So, it is possible to conclude this is a potential bottleneck
for the organization as well as for employees to develop teamwork spirit with
shared values, common goals and in addressing of the organization’s
objectives as a whole.

Table 4: Respondents views on the superiors’ readiness to communicate

organizational values, vision and goals with subordinates
Item Alternatives Frequency responses
No. 73
No. Percentage
Do you communicate the values, Yes 23 32
visions and the goals of the No 39 53
organization with your Not sure 11 15
supervisor? Total 73 100
(Source primary data)

As it can be seen in table- 4, 53 percent of employee respondents do not

communicate the values, visions and the goals of the organization with their
supervisors; while 32 percent of them responded as they communicate and
the rest 15 percent said that they do not at all communicate with their
supervisor on attaining the values, visions and the goals of the organization.
According to the data the majority of employees in the organization have no
communication with their supervisors about the different kinds of values,
vision and goals of the organization. Therefore, supervisors may possibly face
difficulties towards accomplishing their job and taking an effective action.

24
Table 5: Employees participation in decision making process
Frequency responses
Item Alternatives No. 73
No. Percentage
To what extent do you To a very great extent 5 7
participate in the decision To a great extent 11 15
making process of the To some extent 17 23
organization? To less extent 23 32
Not at all 17 23
Total 73 100
(Source primary data)

As presented in table- 5, employees response regarding their participation in

decision making process in the organization is observed as, 32 percent of
respondents said that they participate in decision making to less extent. On
the other hand, 23 percent of the employees answered to some extent, 23
percent said to a great extent and the rest 7 percent said they participate to a
very great extent. This indicates that there is no sufficient employees’
participation in decision making process in the organization. Thus, this
situation is likely to result in lack of belongingness and trust among
employees.
Table 6: Responses of employees on leaders’ performance in attaining
organization’s objectives
Item Alternatives Frequency responses
No. 73
No. Percentage
How do you evaluate the Very high 9 12
performance of leaders of T.A High 12 17
in order to attain the Moderate 19 26
objectives of the organization? Low 28 38
Very low 5 7
Total 73 100
(Source primary data)

25
Regarding leaders’ performance in attaining organization’s objectives, 38
percent of the employee respondents said that their supervisors’ performance
is low; while 26 percent of them answered that it is moderate. On the other
hand, 17 percent and 12 percent said it is high and very high respectively.
The remaining 7 percent of the respondents rated their leaders as very low
performers. Therefore, from the above data we can easily assert that the
leaders’ level of performance is generally not satisfactory.
Table 7: Leadership practice of the organization as compared with other
government organizations
Item Alternatives Frequency responses
No. 73
No. Percentage
How do you see the leadership Excellent 3 4
practice of your organization as Very good 9 12
compared to that of other Good 11 15
government organizations? Average 21 29
Poor 29 40
Total 73 100
(Source primary data)

Table: 7 exhibits that according to 40 percent of the respondents the

leadership practice of the organization is poor as compared with other
government organizations. According to the data 29 percent of the employees
said their organization’s leadership practice is average as compared with
others. On the other hand; 15 percent 12 percent and 4 percent responded
that it is good, very good and excellent, respectively. Thus, about 31 percent
(23) of the respondents seem to be satisfied with their leaders. However, it
should be realized that the leadership of the organization is deficient as
conformed by majority of the respondents.

26
Table 8: Employees comfort with the current leadership style
Frequency responses
Item Alternatives No. 73
No. Percentage
To what extent are To a very great extent 2 3
employees comfortable To a great extent 6 8
with the current leadership To some extent 30 41
styles demonstrated by To less extent 21 29
your leaders? Not at all 14 8
Total 73 100
(Source primary data)

Table 8, presents’ response of employees on the suitability of leadership style

exercised by their leaders. Accordingly, 41 percent of the employees said
that they are comfortable to some extent, 29 percent to less extent, and 8
percent of them said they are not satisfied not at all. On the other hand 11
percent of the respondents seem to be comfortable with the leadership style
demonstrated by their leaders. This implies that most leaders in the
organization do give little attention to empower their employees. This means
communication is certainly one way. Thus, leaders a dominant role.
Moreover, leaders do not inspire and motivate employees to work as a team.
This situation will definitely demolish the motivation and moral of employees
and hamper the efficiency of the organization.
Table 9: Employees response on functional misunderstanding between
leaders
Frequency
Item Alternatives responses No. 73
No. Percentage
Do you agree that there is Strongly agree 31 43
functional misunderstanding Agree 23 31
between leaders at different Undecided 13 18
levels in your organization? Disagree 4 5
Strongly disagree 2 3
Total 73 100
(Source primary data)
27
As indicated in table 9 above, that asked whether there is functional
misunderstanding between leaders at different levels 73 percent of the
employees responded that there is functional misunderstanding among
leaders in the organization. On the other hand, 18 percent of the respondents
remained undecided, and 8 percent of them disagreed with the statement.
Therefore, from the data it is possible to say that there is functional
misunderstanding among leaders. This is likely to result in conflict of
responsibilities and affect the successful accomplishment of organizational
goals. This would also be threat to followers as well as to the organization to
bring quality, as well as fast and sustainable service to the society.

Table 10: Employees evaluation on the organization performance

Frequency responses
Item Alternatives No. 73

No. Percentage
How do you evaluate the Excellent 10 14
performance of your Very good 14 19
organization on attaining Good 4 5
quality service to the society? Fair 21 29
Poor 24 33
Total 73 100
(Source primary data)

As can be seen from table 10 above, 33 percent of the respondents said that
the performance of the organization towards attaining quality service is poor
while 29 percent of them felt that it is fair. On the other hand, 38 percent of
the respondent rated it as good and above. Based on this data, we can
possibly say that the attention given by the organization to provide quality
service is not that significant. This is likely to diminish the reputation of the
organization.

28
Table 11: Response in rating employees’ performance
Frequency
Item Alternatives responses No. 73
No. Percentage
Supervisors rate their Strongly agree 6 8
subordinates without bias or Agree 12 17
discrimination, in the Undecided 27 37
organization. Disagree 14 19
Strongly disagree 14 19
Total 73 100
(Source primary data)

The above table describes employees’ response on objectivity of their

superiors’ response in rating their performance. Accordingly, 38 percent of
the respondents conformed that bias of superiors is observed when
evaluating performance of subordinates. Only 25 percent of the respondents
responded positively to the statement. On the other hand 37 percent
remained undecided. Therefore, from the information we can say that there
are personal biases like friendship or hate in rating employees’ performance.

Table 12: Employees involvement on the planning process of the

organization
Frequency responses
Item Alternatives No. 73
No. Percentage
To what extent does your superior To a very extent 6 8
involve you in the planning process To a great extent 9 12
of the organization? To some extent 21 29
To less extent 28 39
Not at all 9 12
Total 73 100
(Source primary data)

29
Table 12: presents employees response about their involvement in the
planning process. Consequently, 39 percent of them said they are involved to
less extent while 29 percent of employees answered to some extent. Equal
number of respondents which is 12 percent each also said that they are
involved to a great extent and not at all respectively. The rest 8 percent
responded to a very great extent. Therefore, there is less employee
participation on planning process. Thus, the organization may face
difficulties on mobilizing employees’ knowledge, credibility and their cognitive
thinking.

Table13: Employees evaluation on manager’s leadership competence

Frequency responses
Item Alternatives No. 73
No. Percentage
How do you evaluate the Excellent 5 7
general leadership competence Very good 9 12
of the managers at different Good 19 26
level? Fair 11 15
Poor 29 40
Total 73 100
(Source primary data)

Table 13: presents data about the general leadership competence of the
managers at different level of management. Accordingly 40 percent of the
respondent employees evaluated their managers leadership competency
However, 26 percent of the employees evaluated their managers leadership
competence as good. And 15 percent of them rated it positively. Whenever
organizations think of their leaders competency they should give an
emphasis on inspiring others, ability to motivate, emotional maturity,
problem solving, flexibility, risk taking and other factors. Based on the above
data, there is unsatisfactory leadership competency of leaders in the
organization as conformed by the employees’ responses. Thus, it is possible
to conclude that most leaders in the organization do not have leadership
competencies.

30
 Summary of open ended questions
The summary of response for the open ended questions which were included
in the questionnaire, that ask respondents to write the main problems of
leadership practices of their organization is enumerated as follows:-
 Absence of well defined tasks between departments
 Insufficient delegation of power
 Lack of motivation to work
 Poor communication among employees and managers.
 Lack of supervisors’ performance to inspire subordinates, being role
model, catching etc.
 Using old fashioned type of leadership
 In conducive working environment
 Benchmarking trends that were adopted in the organization does not
match with the country’s condition and employees working culture.
 Lack of supervisors’ competency.
 There is no organizational culture that participate employees in both
planning and decision making process.
 Lack of recognitions, promotions and different kind of incentives for
extra work and good performances of subordinates

Finally, respondents were asked to recommend any possible solutions in

order to improve the organization’s current leadership practice and its
performance.
The respondents suggested their possible solutions to the problems as
follows:-
 There must be transparency of power
 There should be teamwork sprit among departments
 Avoid communication barriers like too much bureaucracy
 Conduct training and development program
 All the community of the organization should develop tolerance
 Supervisors should work on monitoring and coaching

31
  Even though, taking other countries and successful organizations
experience as benchmark is good, those trends should be modified
according to the country’s economy, socio-cultural conditions and
more over, the needs and wants of the customers.

Summary of the Interview conducted with the management

This part summarizes the findings from interview with senior directors of
transport authority. Among them the researcher has interviewed with four
department heads. Based on their responses; there is a smooth relationship
between leaders and followers unlike with employees’ responses. However,
one of them argued that though she believes human element on working area
has significant role equivalent as raw materials, finance and information,
there are times she may be forced to treat followers unfriendly and use
punishment as reinforcement.

Unlike employees all of the directors responded on the style of leadership and
said they are democrats. However, three of them believe there are lots of
problems in the organization such as poor performances of employees as well
as leaders, manual system, lack of coordination, facility problems,
communication barriers, bureaucracy, and so on. On the other hand one
among them argued that most of the problems are solved during
implementation of B.P.R in the organization.

Regarding the question, to what extent they participate employees on

planning and decision making process two of them said that they never
participate followers neither on planning nor on decision. The other
interviewee said that she believe every employee has his/her own task to
perform and make plans and decision are my own duties. However, the other
person said that he has thoughts that every body must feel the organization
as his/her own property therefore, he participate all followers under him
whenever he make plans and decisions. The last person argued that every
subordinate do not have to participate on every plans and decisions. He
participate followers based on the kind of plans and decisions he made and
based on the demand.

32
For the question they are asked about the quality of service their
organization gives to the society they all think that the quality of service
their organization gives to the society is not satisfactory which means there is
a great deal of gap between the demands of customers and service delivery
potential of the organization. They also believed that lack of transport service
observed in every day in Addis Ababa city as well as in regional towns shows
the poor potential and very low quality of the organization.

Finally, when they are asked to what extent their leadership practice is
suitable to deal with today’s management thoughts, two of them say their
leadership practice is very suitable because they implement B.P.R. and the
program they are following currently is participant that empowers employees
so that they could develop team sprite. The last two persons said the existing
leadership style and the work culture do not allow them to exercise the
different kinds of management thoughts and believes.

33
 CHAPTER FOUR
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter summarizes the main findings of the study and presents
conclusions and recommendations to the identified problems based on the
conclusions.

4.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

The study tries to investigate and identify the strengths and limitations of
leadership trends in transport authority.
It was intended to come up with possible and workable recommendations for
the problems encountered and to provide information on the leadership
practice of the organization.

According to the primary data obtained, the study has come up with the
following findings.

 The study indicates majority of the employees in the organization have

poor relationship with their supervisors.
 Most of the respondents feel that they are dissatisfied with the existing
leadership practice of the organization that let them to have poor
motivation.
 As revealed by majority of the respondents, employees participation in
planning and decision making process is low.
 Both groups of respondents believe that the quality of service the
organization gives to the society is not satisfactory.
 Most of employee respondents confirm that there are functional
misunderstandings between leaders.
 According to the study, leaders are influenced by personal biases such
as friendship, hate etc. in rating employees performance.
 The finding shows that, the majority of employees do not have any
communication about the different kinds of values, vision, and goals of
the organization with their supervisors.

34
  As the finding obtained from the interview, the leaders believe there are
lots of problems in the organization such as poor performance of
employees as well as leaders, manual system, lack of coordination,
facility problems, communication barriers, bureaucracy, and so on.
 The finding shows two controversial issues whether the leadership
practices of the organization are suitable to deal with today’s
management thoughts or not. Some of the respondents believe it is
suitable because they implement B.P.R that allows them to get the
work done at one place with shorter time and they start to empower
employees. However, other respondents think the existing leadership
style and the work culture do not allow them to exercise the different
kinds of updated management thoughts and believes.

4.2 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the above findings the following conclusions are drawn:

 Though the responses of managers do not concede with the employees

responses, the majority of employees have no close relationship with their
supervisors. Therefore, we can say that this poor relationship is likely to
significantly decrease their motivation to work and also may make them to
be very reluctant on using their potential when they perform their task.
 Most of the employees are dissatisfied with the existing leadership
practice of the organization. This may result in developing great
expectation for change and moreover, they would be in need of new blood
to leadership positions with an excellent emotional intelligence that would
make them to have high job satisfaction.
 Employees participation in planning and decision making process is low.
This may indicate that leaders in the organization do not have a
participatory program to employees and they are more of authoritarian
managers than democrat leaders. Thus, majority of employees in the
organization has lack of feelings such as belongingness and trust.

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 As the findings indicate, the quality of service the organization gives to the
society is not satisfactory. This may result in creating a great deal of gap
between the service and the demands of the society.

 The study shows that there is functional misunderstanding among

leaders. This indicates that low effective work accomplishment and
communication towards common goal. This would also be a threat to
bring quality, fast and sustainable service to the society.
 The majority of employees feel that leaders are influenced by personal
biases like friendship, hate etc. This may result in discriminating followers
based on their relation with their supervisors.
 The study indicates that, leaders of the organization has poor leadership
competencies such as inspiring others, ability to motivate others,
emotional maturity, problem solving flexibility, risk taking and so on.
Therefore, the absences of these factors have a negative influence on
subordinate’s performance.
 According to the findings the different kind of values, vision and goals of
the organization are not communicated among employees. Accordingly,
those leaders of the organization may face difficulties in attaining
organizational goals and may also have difficulties in taking an effective
action in the future.

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4.3 RECOMMENDATIONS
The following recommendations are forwarded based on the findings and the
conclusions made, hoping that they may contribute to an improved
leadership practice in transport authority.
 Leaders of the organization is advised to build positive and good
relationship among them as well as their followers, through formal
communications, discussions and so an.
 The organization is advised to identify the dissatisfaction of employees
that leads them to be reluctant, not motivated and low productive etc.
Thus, the leaders should improve their leadership practice by avoiding
those problems encountered and by making corrections as per the
recommendations. Moreover, the organization should design
participatory leadership and work on employee’s job satisfaction,
promotions, training and development program for better
performances.
 The organization in general and the leaders in particular are strongly
advised to improve the participation of employees on planning and
decision making process so that they could feel belongingness to the
organization by following participatory leadership style and by
delegating power to others.
 The organization has to take other similar organizations trends, which
is currently in position of highest standards, as benchmark in order to
increase the quality of its service.
 It is strongly recommended that the organization as well as the leaders
should work together having a defined task and should avoid
functional misunderstanding between them so that they could deliver
fast and sustainable service to the society.
 The leaders are advised to avoid influences that would create personal
biases such as friendship and hate in order to avoid discrimination in
the organization.

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 The organization and its leaders are strongly advised to work together
on developing leader’s competency.
 The organization is suggested to work on communicating and
addressing the values, vision and goals to employees all the time.
 Whenever there is leadership problem in the organization, employee’s
productivity and using their potential becomes under question mark
even if they have good interest to their job. Thus, leaders are advised to
improve their quality to work with motivated employees.

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