The Impact of Participative and Directive Leadership on Organisational Culture: An Organisational Development Perspective

Leadership is critical for the success of any organisation developing a sustainable and competitive culture. Organizational culture mediates the association between leadership styles and organizational performance. The purpose of the present study was to assess the impact of participative and directive leadership on organisational culture from an organisational development perspective. The data was collected from a sample of 246 administrative departmental employees at Fort Hare University using a self-designed biographical and occupational questionnaire. To measure participative leadership, a six-item 5-point rating scale adopted from Arnold et al. (2000) was also employed. To measure directive leadership, a seven-item bi-polar rating scale adopted from Litwin and Stringer (1968) was also employed. And to measure organisational culture, a four-item 5-point rating scale adopted from the Denison Organizational Culture Survey (Denison & Neale, 1996) was also used. Data analysis was done using various statistical techniques, including descriptive statistics, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Technique and Multiple Regression Analysis. The results showed that participative and directive leadership have positive and significant impact on organisational culture. However, directive leadership has negative and insignificant impact on adaptability. The results also indicated that participative and directive leadership combined have no additive impact on organisational culture. However, participative leadership had a stronger effect on organisational culture than when was combined with directive leadership. The present study therefore, recommends managers to use participative leadership in their efforts to adapt their organisational cultures to achieve a sustained competitive culture. However, directive leadership may be used in certain organisational contingencies that demand it. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p197