THE ROLE OF A LEADER IN THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL OBJECTIVES

1.1 Introduction

A leader is one who is willing to work with zeal and confidence. Zeal here reflects other earnestness, experience and technical ability. To lead is to guide conduct direct and proceed. The word leadership is an important aspect of managing the ability to lead effectively. Moreover, people tend to follow a person as a leader who they perceive as providing a means of achieving their own desires want and needs; that is why any organization that desires to achieve her objectives must have an effectives and efficiency leader who knows how to apply all the management principles in achieving her organization objectives. Leadership according to Katz and Kahn (2002) is generally defined simply as influence, the art or process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly to achieve a group goal.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

An effective leadership has been widely acknowledged as a potent instrument for achieving organization goals and objectives especially in Access Bank PLC Enugu Main Branch. Leadership is an important aspect of managing the ability to lead effectively is one of the keys to being an effective manager; the essence of leadership is fellowship. In other words, it is the willingness of people to follow that makes a person a leader. Moreover, people tend to follow those whom they perceive as providing a means of achieving their own desires, wants and needs. That is why any organization that desires to achieve her objectives, must have an effective and efficient leadership who knows how to apply all the management principles in achieving her organizational objectives.

The leader must be one who is willing to work with zeal and confidence. Zeal here reflects ardor earnestness, and intensity in the execution of work, confidence reflects experience and technical ability. To lead is to guide, conduct, direct and proceed. Leaders act to help a group achieve objectives with maximum application of its capabilities.

Access Bank is chosen as the background of study for the project. Over the past 26 years, Access Bank Plc. has evolved from an obscure Nigerian Bank into a world-class African financial institution. Today, Access Bank are one of the five largest banks in Nigeria in terms of assets, loans, deposits and branch network; a feat which has been achieved through a robust long-term approach to client solutions – providing committed and innovative advice. Access Bank has built its strength and success in corporate banking and is now applying that expertise to the personal and business banking platforms it acquired from Nigeria’s International Commercial bank in 2012. The next two years were spent integrating the business, investing in infrastructure and strengthening the product offer. As part of its continued growth strategy, Access Bank is focused on mainstreaming sustainable business practices into its operations. The Bank strives to deliver sustainable economic growth that is profitable, environmentally responsible, and socially relevant (Accessbankplc, 2021).

Leadership often emerges in a social context in that it does not exist in a vacuum but a phenomenon for people and by the people. The objectives of leadership are products of clear vision and its actions are dictated by great focus and a sense of mission. The way and manner leadership is conducted in any given situation depends on the interplay of such factors as individual personality, work demand and the exercise of the environment. The extent to which any of these factors dominates ones behaviour determines to a large extent the person accumulation of natural or situational leadership traits. Several arguments have been raised over time about the relationship between leadership and employees attitude. However, most scholars caution against tendencies to propose a cause effect relationship because of the confounding of the interview variables.

Therefore, in Access Bank PLC Enugu Main Branch where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to examine the role of a leader in the achievement of the organizational objectives.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that capacity utilization of Nigeria industrial organization has been at a very low level since 1983, and many industries have since folded up. This is an apparent failure on the part of those in leadership positions which the organizations operate and design practical and effective response strategies to cope with the prevailing situation the obvious conclusion in that they have serious leadership problems.

Many organizations which could have been economically viable are folding up even now and some which are surviving could hardly meet their targeted maximum production level even when such organizations have their required financial banking, enough raw materials and human resources. Therefore, leadership remain the problem militating against the growth and development of such organization. To curb this menace, there is need for an effective leader to effectively put those resources to proper use for maximum result.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to examine the role of a leader in the achievement of the organizational objectives using Access Bank PLC Enugu Main Branch as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To evaluate the roles of effective leadership in achieving organizational goals and objectives
2. To examine the roles an effective leader play in the achievement of organization goals.
3. To investigate the factors that affect the roles of effective leadership in the achievement organizational goals.
4. To find out the problems limiting the efficacy of the roles of effective organizational goals.
5. To recommend on how best to enhance the effective and efficient roles of effective leadership in the achievement of organizational goals.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Are there factors that affect the roles of effective leadership in the achievement organizational goals?
• What are the roles of effective leadership in achieving organizational goals and objectives?
• What are the roles an effective leader play in the achievement of organization goals?
• What are the problems limiting the efficacy of the roles of effective organizational goals?
• What is the best way to enhance the effective and efficient roles of effective leadership in the achievement of organizational goals?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: The roles of effective leadership have not been very effective and efficient in the achievement of organization objectives.
• H1: The roles of effective leadership have been very effective and efficient in the achievement of organization objectives.

Hypothesis Two

• H0: Access Bank PLC Financial Institution does not have efficient and effective machinery to implement her planned programmes for effective leadership roles.
• H1: Access Bank PLC Financial Institution has efficient and effective machinery to implement her planned programmes for effective leadership roles.

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1.7 Significance of Study

This study is very timely, especially now that all hands are on deck to enhance the development and growth of financial institutions nationwide. This study will be of immense benefit to other business enterprise on how to determine the best leadership style to adopt in achieving her enterprise goals and objectives.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the role of a leader in the achievement of the organizational objectives using Access Bank PLC Enugu Main Branch as a case study.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

Leadership: This is generally defined as Influence, the art or process of influence people so that they will strive willingly toward the achievement of group goal.

Effectiveness: This refers to the extent to which output is in line with organizational objectives.

Efficiency: This is defined as fitness or power to accomplish or in accomplishing the purposes intended it described the relationship between resources consumed in process of generating effective output and the output so produced.