Relationship between the leaders’ behaviour and employee morale of the private sector banking organizations in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Behaviour o f the leader affects the performance o f any organization either directly or indirectly. Employee morale itself has a direct impact on the job satisfaction o f employees and customers o f the organization as well as the performance o f the organization. But employee morale is affected by a number o f factors. Among them behaviour o f the leader is prominent. This inter-influencing nature o f these two variables: behaviour o f the leader and the employee morale creates contradictory arguments on the nature and the degree o f relationship between employee morale and leader’s behaviour as well as how these variables affect organizational performance. However, leaders in each division o f any organization have a major role in improving employee morale and ensuring the success o f the organization. Therefore, effective managers modify their behavior to meet both these challenges. This study aims to examine inter-influencing nature and relationship between the leaders ’ behaviour and employee morale and the most general style o f leadership practiced by the private sector banking organizations in Sri Lanka. A sample study o f managers and employees o f private sector banking organizations in Sri Lanka was conducted to examine the relationship between leaders ’ behaviour and employee morale. One o f the major conclusions o f the study is that leadership style could not be identified as a separate independent behaviour within a continuum o f task-concerned and people concerned behavior. Instead o f practicing a single behaviour, every leader in the sample simultaneously practice both behaviours, and this behaviour seems to have recorded high employee morale. The findings revealed that a satisfactory level o f employee morale can be achieved through balancing a higher degree o f concern for achieving tasks while practicing the same level or slightly higher level o f concern for employees.