Investigating the relationship between manager leadership style and employee job satisfaction - the case of Simba Corporation Ltd

A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters in Business Administration at Strathmore Business School Strathmore UniversityThis paper investigates the relationship between leadership styles and employee job satisfaction at Simba Corporation Ltd with the aim of recommending a strong talent management strategy for the Human Resources department. The study adapted a quantitative method of research and targeted 215 respondents from various departments. Out of the distributed 215 questionnaires, 20 questionnaires were not filled out and were therefore disregarded; whereas, 195 were fully filled and returned for analysis, resulting in a response rate of 91%. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) developed by Bass and Avolio (1989) was used to measure leadership style. Job satisfaction was measured using a single item measure of job satisfaction. A Pearson’s correlation was done to investigate the relationship between leadership style and employee job satisfaction. The findings revealed that first, the most dominant leadership style in use at Simba Corporation was transactional at 39%, followed by transformational at 37% and passive at 24%. Second, a significant 53.8% of the respondents were neutral as regards job satisfaction, 30.8% were dissatisfied and only 15.4% were satisfied. Third, the correlation analysis revealed that employee job satisfaction had the strongest positive correlation with transformational leadership at r=0.734, that is, when transformational leadership was increased, employee job satisfaction also increased. Based on the findings of this study, the main recommendation was that Simba Corporation adopt a transformational approach to leadership through a well-designed leadership and development program for its managers