An Assessment of Transformational Leadership and Outcomes on Employee Commitment: A Case Study of Two Public Sector Institutions

Abstract

There has been several calls on the need to make the public service efficient, economical and effective through the application of managerial concepts and techniques borrowed from the private sector. This has placed more emphasis on the need for effective leadership at the public sector to facilitate economic growth and expansion, and introduce efficiency and effectiveness into their activities. Leadership can be effective when employees are committed to their work. Employees are the most strategic assets of  every organization and their commitment should be increased so that it will ultimately affect their performance.  The study was conducted with the purpose to assess transformational leadership and outcome on employees commitment  in two Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) institutes – Food Research Institute (FRI) and Water Research Institute (WRI). A total of 70 questionnaires were issued out and 62 were returned, giving a response rate of 88.6%. A five point Likert scale questionnaire, comprising 24 items of  transformational leadership skills and 11 items of the three levels of commitment.  Senior members and senior staff of Food Research Institute and Water Research Institute were used. The mean scores of the various domains of employee commitment and qualities of transformational leadership  generally agree with all the individual factors under them. The study has shown that practicing transformational leadership style will ultimately affect employee commitment. Transformational leadership positively affects the commitment of employees. If the public service system can take on a business oriented outlook, then it needs to adopt this style of leadership, which has the capacity, not only to enhance positive organizational outcomes, but also reduce the negative aspects associated with employee satisfaction and commitment.