Abstract
The South African education system is in a crisis characterised by inequalities, inefficiencies and quality inadequacies. Against these observations, the need to understand how to manipulate antecedents of organisational effectiveness such as leadership styles and how these styles impact job satisfaction of subordinates becomes critical. Because of the complexities of the South African Higher Education system, the leadership style that leads to higher job satisfaction and better graduates remains a subject for research. Reports on the effectiveness of leadership styles in influencing employee job satisfaction vary with time and place. This implies that constant research on these phenomena is important to ensure that any available practices are relevant to time and place. The main aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between leadership styles of heads of academic departments and employee job satisfaction in a Higher Education institution in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The focus of the study was on the academic staff members of Ibika Site at Walter Sisulu University. Informed consent and permission were requested from the participants before the study commenced. Participants’ privacy was respected and confidentiality was maintained at all times. The researcher reviewed existing literature on the different leadership styles, the relationship between leadership styles and job satisfaction and the factors affecting job satisfaction...
M.Ing. (Quality and Operations Management)