The influence of headmaster’s leadership style on teacher motivation at the Kumasi metro

Abstract

Several studies have been carried out to discern the relationship between leadership styles of heads of second cycle institution and teacher motivation to perform but such studies have not been carried out on a large scale in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. This study therefore sought to investigate the leadership style used by the Heads of second cycle institutions in the Ashanti Region of Ghana and whether the leadership styles adopted motivates teachers to perform satisfactorily. Sample of five Senior High Schools (SHS) in the Kumasi metropolis were used for the study. Simple frequencies and percentages were used to analyze the data. Of the five headmasters interviewed, four revealed that they more often than not use democratic leadership style while all the five maintain that in addition to democratic style they again maximize the use of transactional style. The study adopted a mixed method by the use of both qualitative and quantitative approach involving the use of questionnaire and interview. The findings revealed therefore that the Heads of the five SHS in the Kumasi metropolis used the democratic, transactional leadership styles extensively while Management By Objective (MBO) and Management By Wandering Around (MBWA) were also used on limited scale. Leadership styles such as laissez faire, autocratic and paternal were rarely used. It is recommended however that other forms of leadership styles such as situational leadership style, pacesetter style should also be used when necessary.