The influence of leadership styles on organizational team culture in a South Africa mining organization

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of leadership styles on organizational team culture in a South African based mining organization. Senior management of the company has noted different shop floor team cultures which seem to be affecting productivity negatively. This project will give emphasis on the context of leaders of an organization and the amount of influence or non-influence leadership has on shop floor team culture.

This study used a quantitative method research design. The research was conducted at the site logistics department of mining company X based in the Northern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).The aim of this study is to determine the current shop floor team culture using the Organizational Cultural Assessment Instrument (OCAI) developed by Cameron and Quinn (2011) and the current leadership styles governing these teams using the, Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) developed by Avolio and Bass (2004). These measuring instruments have demonstrated proven reliability and validity in previous studies. The analysis of data was done using the Statistics Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 24.0, with the results presented by figures and tables.

The study seeks to improve team practices and productivity. The target population of the study was made up of the 4 teams that make up the site logistics department and their immediate team leader/ supervisor. The sample size of the study was 114 employees in total i.e., 110 shop floor team members and the 4 team leaders.

The findings of the study revealed that the leadership styles of the team leader‟s does have an influence on organizational/team culture within the department. The study further revealed the miss alignment of the overall leadership style of all the team leaders to the to the perceived organizational direction of the senior management with regards to the leadership strategy.