Microsoft Word - 8 (19-02) - Amole 121 LEADERSHIP STYLES, ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS AND EMPLOYEES` COMMITMENT IN SELECTED PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA Ik Muo Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria Adebiyi J. Abosede Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria Jonathan Ehimen Ekpudu Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria Bilqis Bolanle Amole University of Lagos, Nigeria Received: November 19, 2018 Accepted: October 21, 2019 Online Published: December 4, 2019 Abstract The study examined leadership styles, organizational politics and employee’s commitment using selected private and public organizations in Lagos state as case studies. To achieve its objectives, it probed the direct relationship that exists between organizational politics and the leadership styles used in both private and public organization and as well as the extent to which employees’ commitment depends on leadership styles and organizational politics in both private and public organization. A descriptive survey was employed using a sample size of 112 respondents. The main research instrument used was questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed using frequency and percentages; while a one-way ANOVA and regression statistical analyses were used to test the study’s hypotheses. Results from the hypotheses tested revealed a major arithmetical relationship between leadership styles and employees’ commitment; also between organizational politics and employees’ commitment in both public and private organizations in Lagos state, in addition that organizational politics and leadership styles used in both public and private organization have significant difference in their respective abilities to entrust employees’ commitment. The study concluded that there is a positive relationship between leadership styles and the level of employees’ commitment in both private and public organization and that a positive relationship also exists between organizational politics and the level of employees’ commitment in both public and private organization in Lagos State. The study therefore recommended that the management should embrace situational leadership International Journal of Economic Behavior, vol. 9, n. 1, 2019, 121-135 122 approach to attract employees’ commitment and that they should employ workers who have potential to adjust and adapt to their organizational and political culture. Key words: Organizational politics; Employee commitment; Leadership styles; Affective commitment. 1. Introduction Organizational politics is the avocation of individual objectives and personal motives in an organization without considering how they interact with organization’s efforts to attain its objective. Organizational politics denotes various activities that are linked with the utilization of regulated plans to ameliorate organizational or personal interest. Studies have shown that individuals who possess political knowledge incline to be more effective in reaching more personal ability, coupled with handling job and stress demands than their counterparts who are politically naïve (Jarret, 2017). Organizational politics is a set of unofficial, informal activities, usually not visible to the organization to promote their ideas, heighten power, or attain other directed objectives (Hochwarter, Witt, & Kacmar, 2000; Brandon & Seldman, 2004; Cacciattolo, 2014; Cheong, & Kim, 2018; Özen, 2018). Organizational politics starts when an individual has his interest or agenda close to himself without considering how his activities influence the entire organization. Such activities may be evident via personal disputes and power conflicts in order to promote individual status. It may also be a situation in which an individual bypasses the official channel in pursuit of objectives that may not necessarily be personal (Muo, 2015). It is also noteworthy that organizational politics is not always totally being negative (Muo & Oghojafor, 2012). In modern organization, leadership is regarded as one of the most crucial elements that significantly regulate how the employees, managers and organization as a whole perform (Wang, 2005; Mkheimer, 2018). The general idea of leadership style is crucial to management in an organization as such a leader is distinguished to be the individual who fixes a path and encourages his followers to follow the path. The role of leadership in regards to organizations politics cannot be ignored. In this case, one’s action as a leader (without regard to the leadership style applied) determines how follower, voluntarily work together to achieve organizational objectives. That is the manner and way one uses his or her office as a leader determines the political climate around the organization. Politics at work is usually difficult to annul whether due to personality trait or career prospects and opportunity. There are usually individual(s) (people) who utilize work place as a battlefield. Hence the role of the leader in handling such a scenario, determines the political climate and the overall performance of the organization. As such, having the discernment of political conduct and the effective usage of leadership styles to guide employees in the direction of organizational goals is vital to optimizing the outcomes of organizational politics and improving one’s standing as a good leader, whose role is elaborately linked to the organization’s political climate. Employee commitment is defined as the connection employees go through with their organization. It is also the extent to which an individual’s recognition as well as involvement or participation in an organization. When employees feel attached to an organization, they tend to exhibit strong confidence (belief) in and adoption of organizational set goals, and hence his readiness to put in significant attempt to help achieve the overall objectives. The coordination of employees at workplace is a vital feature of management process. Some leaders do not believe that employees need to be encouraged and motivated in 123 order to achieve organizational goals and objectives. Also, organizational politics particularly in the public sector has done more damage than good as such have negatively touched on the commitment of employees. Most employers do not exhibit good leadership behavior in the sense that they treat employees as tools in the course of pursuing their goals. This ultimately has reduced the commitment level of their employees. Since employee commitment is a tool for achieving goals and objectives of an organization, if they are not effectively motivated the turnover rate of employees will increase which in turn reduces employee productivity. This is because employees are demotivated. Hence, the study evaluates organization politics, leadership styles and employee commitment in selected public and private organizations in Lagos state. Lagos State is a state in Southwestern geopolitical zone of Nigeria. It is the most economically important state of the country and largest urban area. it well-known commercial city in Nigeria where majority of organizations reside. It is major financial center and fifth largest economy in Africa if it were to be a country. To achieve this, the study will ascertain the extent to which leadership style affects employee’s commitment; the possible ways in which organizational politics hinders employee’s commitment; the direct relationship that exists between organizational politics and the leadership styles used in organization, and the extent to which employees’ commitment depends on the interaction between leadership styles and organizational politics. 2. Review of literature and theoretical framework 2.1. Theoretical framework The theoretical review embedded in this paper revolves around the following three theories which are Allen and Meyer’s three component model, the full range leadership model, and Pfeiffer’s model of organizational politics. Allen and Meyer’s three component model Although different authors have different definitions of ‘employee commitment’, the definition of Meyer and Allen (1991, 1997) captures the core issues in commitment when they defined employee commitment “as a psychological state that characterizes the employee’s relationship with the organization and has implications for the decision to continue membership in the organization”. They further pointed that an eminence exists between behavior and attitudinal commitment. In the latter approach, it is a mind-set or attitude of employees that has been used with respect to either consequences or conditions of that commitment. While former approach, regarded it as a flow of activity which functions as a vital part as employees (human resource) become committed unambiguously to assure existing behavior. For example, by continuing to be with the organization, they absorb their attitudes in proportion to the common idea of work experiences to ensure it is maintained and deflect cognitive dissonance as postulated by Meyer and Allen (1990). The influence to which the two approaches have on the formulation of employee’s commitment is to of a large scale. However, Meyer and Allen (1991), demonstrated three different types of commitment as; Affective Commitment, Continuance Commitment, and Normative Commitment. Also, they stated that the connection an employee has towards his/her organization is moderated by the style of leadership, as well as the pattern and tempo of organizational politics. As a result, the knowledge employees acquire about the nature of politics and leadership style of their workplace significantly influences the level of commitment to their organization. 124 The full range of leadership model This leadership model was formulated by Bass (1990) and consists of transactional, transformational and passive leadership styles. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was also introduced by Bass in order to assess the full range of leadership styles in the organizational scenery, which in keeping with Turner and Miller (2005), is the utmost extensively adopted leadership scale in the prior studies. Bass (1990) model covers nine (9) factors of leadership styles/behaviors in an organizational perspective. This study only considers the transformational and transactional leadership styles. Whilst there exist many theories of leadership behaviors which suggest diverse leadership behaviors/styles, transactional and transformational leadership styles have attracted the attention of different authors as better perspectives for gaining more insight on leadership behaviors. Burns (1978) recognized as the first scholar to introduce transactional and transformational leadership, which proposed that they both are at opposite ends of the continuum (range) (Bass, 1990). However, Bass (1985) stated that transformational style of leadership widens the influence of that of transactional leadership. Pfeffer’s model of organizational politics This can also be referring to as Pfeffer’s theory of Organizational Politics. Pfeffer (1981) stated that “political activities are seen to be the outcome of several conditions” The existence of these conditions will results in politics and power in the environment of an organization which enforces the constraint and demands that will be accommodated in terms of end and means. That is, by following whatever method (means) an organization acquires functions and what objectives (ends) they are pursuing. 2.2. Empirical review of the past literature There have been series of studies aimed at exploring the relationships, particularly between transformational, transactional, laissez-faire leadership styles and organizational commitment (Dunn, Dastoor & Sims, 2012; Mkheimer, 2018; Avolio, Zhu, Koh, & Bhatia, 2004; Rehman, Bwa, Wang, Lawler & Shi, 2004; Emery & Barker, 2007; Limisila & Ogunlana, 2007). Yiing and Ahmad (2009) looked at the link that exists between affective commitment and leadership behaviors such as: directive, supportive and participative in line with the controlling effects of organizational culture. They found that all the three leadership behaviors exhibit significant and positive bond with affective commitment of employees. Also, in the study of Limisila and Ogunlana (2007) centered on performance and leadership effect and its correlation between leadership styles and subordinates commitment, they found that transformational style of leadership has significant positive correlation with affective commitment, whereas no significant bonds were observed to occur between laissez faire leadership style, transactional and affective commitment. In a cross-cultural research by Dun, Dastoor and Sims (2012), on transformational leadership and organizational commitment, they discovered a strong positive link between transformational leadership, normative and affective commitment, but insignificant connection between continuance commitment and transformational leadership. Avolio, et al., (2004) in their study affirmed a positive link between transformational leadership style and employee commitment. Sun, and Xia (2018) confirmed that organizational politics perception has numerous influences on workers’ behaviors. They asserted that organizational politics observation and its apparatus drive organizations and employees in precautionary measures to eradicate the negative effect of organizational political consciousness. 125 In an empirical study of Ebikeseye, and Dickson (2018), affirmed that there was a positive link between employee commitment to work and increase in firms’ productivity. They concluded that in order to increase productivity and peaceful relations in the work setting, management of firms need to crave the enabling and conducive environment to motivate staff to be committed to work and increase productivity. Mkheimer, (2018) study acknowledged that most organizations have same styles of leadership. The results showed that, transactional leadership style has an essential impact on business success. However, transformational leadership style was found to have negative impact on business success. Joo, Yoon, and Jeung (2012) study examined the potential role of leadership style on organizational commitment, and found a positive relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment. They found that group goal, vision articulation, intellectual stimulation and promotion were significant interpreters of organizational commitment. Kaplan and Kaplan (2018) study on the relationship between organizational commitment and work performance, the result showed that affective commitment had a positive influence on work performance, whereas normative and continuance commitment had insignificant sway on work performance. Walumba, Wang, Lawler and Shi (2004) and Rehman, Shareef, Mahmood and Ishaque (2012) examined the interaction of both transactional and transformational leadership on organizational commitment, and found that transformational style of leadership had so much more contributions to the organizational commitment level than transaction leadership style. According to the research done by Edward and Richard (2016), they found a positive and significant connection between intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence this is in line with ideas the individuals have about the work they are engaged within the organization. An examination of the works of the various authors above shows a gap in literature; that most studies failed to look into the moderating effect of organizational politics on leadership styles and how it will influence employee commitment. Hence, this study critically looked into that direction with reference to selected public and private organization in Lagos state. Figure 1 below depicts the assumed relationship between the Organizational politics, Leadership styles, moderated by motivation, and employee commitment which is moderated by job satisfaction and organizational citizenship between behavior. Their interrelationship was empirical investigate in both private and public organization to see if there exist significance difference. 3. Methods A descriptive survey research design was used in this study. Stratified sampling technique was used to select the public and private organizations in Lagos state. Five organizations each from the category of organization under study were used to make comparative analysis of the employees’ perception on these constructs' leadership styles, organization politics employees’ commitment. The public organizations were government parastatals in Lagos State: Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Economic Planning & Budget, Ministry of Education, Lagos State Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions; while the private organizations encompass Beloxxi Group; DVLS Integrated Combine Services, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc; Forte Oil; and Greenlife Pharmaceuticals Limited. The population of the study is the employees of various parastatals under consideration. A self- administered questionnaire was used as a research instrument to capture the perception of 126 employees on the leadership styles, organization politics and employee commitment of the selected organizations in Lagos state. Two hundred and twenty (220) copies of questionnaire were distributed among the employees of selected organizations. Out of the copies of questionnaire distributed one hundred and twenty (120) were returned, and 93% of the returned copies of questionnaire were valid and used for the analysis. The proportion of the public organization was 52% from the returned copies of questionnaire while the remaining 48% came from the private organizations. Figure 1 – Conceptual model showing the link between and among leadership styles, organizational politics and employee’s commitment Source: Developed by Researchers, 2018. 3.1. Measures of related variables Organizational politics instrument developed by Kacmar and Carlson (1997) that is the Perceptions of Organizational Politics Scale (POPS) was utilised for this study. This scale looked into three (3) dimensions, encompassing: “Go Along To Get Ahead” (7 items), “General Political Behavior” (2 items), “Pay and Promotion Policies” (6 items); which makes it 15 items all together. Employee commitment was measured using the three Component Model of Organization Commitment developed by Meyer and Allen (1991) emphasizes commitment as a spectacle to an organization exhibit 3 distinct components that significantly influence how employees relates towards their organization. The 3 components are; continuance commitment that is Fear of loss (8 items), Affective commitment that is affection for the job (8 items) and normative commitment that is Sense of obligation to stay (8 items). While, leadership style was statistically measured by implementing the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, (MLQ) (Avolio, Bass, & Jung, 1999; Avolio et al., 2004; Bass & Avolio, 1993; 1994), which differentiates between transformational leadership and transactional leadership style. In accordance to MLQ, transformational leadership has four (4) subscales which are inspirational 127 motivation, charisma, individualized intellectual stimulation consideration. While transactional model has 3 subscales: management-by-exception (MBE) contingent reward, and laissez-faire. Data Analysis Data collected were analyzed using One-way ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis were used to measure the statistical relationship between organizational politics, leadership styles and employees’ commitment in an organization, through predictive analytics software (PASW). Reliability Test According to the responses that obtained from the pilot study, using Cronbach Alpha to determine the internal consistency and reliability statistics of the items. The reliability statistics for the measurement are shown in Table 1. Table 1 – Reliability Statistics SN Variables Items Cronbach's Alpha 1 Organizational Politics 15 0.685 2 Employees Commitment 24 0.768 2a Affective Commitment 8 0.756 2b Continuance Commitment 8 0.701 2c Normative Commitment 8 0.725 3 Leadership Styles 9 0.821 3a Transformational Leadership 5 0.948 3b Transactional Leadership 4 0.699 4 Overall Reliability 48 0.866 Source: Field Survey, 2018 4. Data analysis and results This section presents the data analysis and its clarification. The techniques used were the frequency distribution tables and percentages, while One-way ANOVA and regression statistical analysis was adopted for the study hypotheses. 4.1. Bio-data characteristics of the respondents Table 2 below shows that majority of the respondents (54.5%) were within age group of 31-40 years. Also, the table shows that there almost equal distribution of gender among the respondents that participated in the study. Hence, high skewness of responses due to gender differences was eliminated. In addition, that majority of the respondents has at least a university degree and was married. Furthermore, majority of the respondents sampled from both public and private organization in Lagos state, had over 10years, but less than 15years working experience. 4.2. Comparative analysis between public and private organization in Lagos State This section presents the comparative analysis on the perceptions of respondents from Public and Private Organization on organizational Politics, Employee commitment and Leadership styles. The results have been presented using Means and standard deviation analysis. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to show the significance difference with the aid of statistical software package (SPSS- Statistical Package for the Social Science version 20.0). 128 Table 2 – Bio-Data Distribution of Respondents Variables N % Variables N % Age group 20 - 30 years 28 25.0 Marital status Single 23 20.5 31 - 40 years 61 54.5 Married 89 79.5 41 - 50 years 13 11.6 Total 112 100.0 51 -60 years 10 8.9 Sector Private Organization 54 48.2 Total 112 100.0 Public Organization 58 51.8 Gender Male 58 51.8 Total 112 100.0 Female 54 48.2 Service length 0-5years 11 9.8 Total 112 100.0 5-10years 15 13.4 Educational Qualification SSCE 1 .9 10-15years 66 58.9 Diploma/HND 22 19.6 15-20years 20 17.9 B.A/B.Sc. 65 58.0 Total 112 100.0 MBA/PhD. 1 .9 Others 23 20.5 Total 112 100.0 Source: Field survey, 2018 Case One: Organizational Politics There is no significant difference in the insight of organizational politics in the public and private organization Table 3 shows the descriptive and the ANOVA analysis output which indicates whether there is a statistically significant difference in the perception of organizational politics between the public and private organization. It was recognized that the significance value is 0.000 (i.e, p= 0.000), which is inferior to 0.05. Hence, a statistical significant difference in the perception of organizational politics between the public and private organization is established. This implies that the organizational politics in the public organization is different from that of the private organization. Table 3 – One WAY ANOVA for Organizational Politics on Private and Public Organization Organizational Politics N Mean Std. Deviatio n Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval for Mean Min Max Lower Bound Upper Bound Private Organization 54 2.1500 .47296 .07130 2.7062 2.9938 2.00 3.60 Public Organization 58 2.8627 .49164 .05962 2.7437 2.9817 2.00 3.60 Total 112 2.8577 .48228 .04557 2.7674 2.9480 2.00 3.60 ANOVA Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 3.004 1 3.004 12.783 .000 Within Groups 25.813 110 .235 Total 28.818 111 Source: Authors` computation, 2018 129 Case Two: Employee Commitment There is no significant difference in the way employee are committed between the public and private organization Table 4 below results show that P<0.05. It is an indication that there is a significant difference in the way employee are committed between the public and private organizations. Table 4 – One-way ANOVA for Employee Commitment Private and Public Organization Employee Commitment N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval for Mean Min. Max Lower Bound Upper Bound Private Organization 54 3.0030 .39868 .06010 3.1818 3.4242 2.58 4.29 Public Organization 58 3.3444 .43698 .05299 3.2386 3.4501 2.58 4.29 Total 112 3.3281 .42100 .03978 3.2493 3.4070 2.58 4.29 ANOVA Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 2.046 1 2.046 11.494 .000 Within Groups 19.628 110 .178 Total 21.674 111 Source: Authors` Computation, 2018 Case Three: Leadership Style There is no difference in the leadership style used in the public and private organization Table 5 shows the descriptive and the ANOVA analysis which indicates a statistically significant difference in the leadership style adopted in the public and private organization. Here also, one can see that the significance value is 0.002 (i.e., p = 0.002), which is below 0.05. Hence, a statistical significant difference in the leadership style adopted in the public and private organization was acknowledged. This implies that the leadership style adopted in public organizations is merely different from that of private organization in Lagos Nigeria. Table 5 - One-way ANOVA for leadership styles of private and Public Organization Leadership Styles N Mean Std. Deviati on Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval for Mean Min Max. Lower Bound Upper Bound Private Organization 54 3.0636 .67620 .10194 3.8581 4.2692 2.00 4.80 Public Organization 58 4.0618 .74293 .09009 3.8819 4.2416 2.00 4.80 Total 112 4.0625 .71435 .06750 3.9287 4.1963 2.00 4.80 ANOVA Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 3.020 1 3.020 5.864 .002 Within Groups 56.642 110 .515 Total 59.663 111 Source: Author’s SPSS result computation, 2018 130 4.3. Regression analysis This was conducted using the field data and the results interpreted according to the adjusted R2 values and P-values at P < 0.005 significance level. Hypothesis one HO: There is no relationship between leadership style and employee commitment. Table 6 exhibits the adjusted R-squared which is 0.316 meaning the independent variable (i.e. leadership style used in the study organization) accounted for 31.6percent variations in the dependent variable that is, the extent to which employee are committed to the organization as a result of leadership adopted in the organization., while the rest are explained by the other factors aside leadership styles. Also, the t-statistics is 7.238 and F-statistic is 52.393 with a P- value of 0.0000 which implies that the regression model is significant. To this end the null proposition that no significant relationship between leadership style and employee commitment was not supported thus rejected, while its alternative was accepted and this shows a fair positive significant relationship between leadership style and employee commitment. Table 6 – Summary of Regression Results Dependent Variable Independent Variable R R2 Adj. R2 Std. Error of the Estimate t-statistics F Sig. Employee Commitment Leadership Style .568 a .323 .316 0.34807 7.238 52.393 0.000 Source: Authors` SPSS result computation, 2018 Hypothesis two H0: There is no relationship between organizational politics and employee commitment. In addition, Table 7 shows that the adjusted R-squared is 0.89 meaning that (organizational politics) accounted for 8.9 percent variations in the dependent variable that is, the extent to which employee are committed to the organization as a result of politics of the organizational, while the rest are explained by the other factors aside organizational politics. Also, the t- statistics is 3.435 and F-statistic is 11.797 with a P-value of 0.001 which also implies that the regression model is significant. To this end the null proposition that there is no significant relationship between organizational politics and employee commitment was also not supported thus rejected, while its alternative was accepted and this affirmed an important relationship between organizational politics and employee commitment. Table 7 - Summary of Regression Results Dependent Variable Independent Variable R R2 Adj. R2 Std. Error of the Estimate t-statistics F Sig. Employee Commitment Organizational Politics .311a .097 .089 0.40191 3.435 11.797 .001b Source: Authors` SPSS Result Computation, 2018 131 Hypothesis three HO: There is no direct relationship between organizational politics and leadership styles used in organizations. Furthermore, Table 8 shows the adjusted R-squared value of 0.281 that the independent variable (i.e. the leadership styles adopted in the organization) accounted for 28.1 percent variations in the dependent variable that is, the politics of the organizational, while the rest are explained by the other factors aside leadership style used in the organization. Also the t-statistics is 6.655 and F-statistic is 44.293 with a P-value of 0.000 which also implies that the regression model is significant. To this end the null proposition that no direct relationship between organizational politics and leadership styles used in organizations was also not supported thus rejected, while its alternative was accepted and this exhibits a direct relationship between organizational politics and leadership styles used in organizations. Table 8 – Summary of Regression Results Dependent Variable Independent Variable R R 2 Adj. R2 Std. Error of the Estimate t-statistics F Sig. Organizational Politics Leadership Style .536a .287 .281 0.40906 6.655 44.293 .000b Source: Authors` SPSS Result Computation, 2018 Hypothesis four HO: There is no significant relationship between leadership style, organizational politics and employee commitment. Table 9 shows that the adjusted R-squared is 0.310 meaning that the independent variables (i.e. the leadership styles adopted in the organization and as well as organizational politics) accounted for 31.0 percent variations in the dependent variable that is, the extent to which employee are committed to the organization as a result of politics of the organizational, as well as the leadership style used in the organization, while the rest are explained by the other factors aside leadership style used in the organization. Also, the t-statistics are6.029 and 3.314 for leadership style and organizational politics respectively while their joint and F-statistic is 25.966 with a P-value of 0.000 which also implies that the regression model is significant. Hence, the null proposition that no relationship between leadership style, organizational politics and employee commitment was not supported thus rejected, while its alternative was accepted and this affirms a significant relationship between leadership style, organizational politics as well as employee commitment. Table 9 – Summary of Regression Results Dependent Variable Independent Variable R R2 Adj. R2 Std. Error of the Estimate t-statistics F Sig. Employee Commitment Leadership Style .568a .323 .310 .34964 6.029 25.966 .000b Organizational Politics 3.134 Source: Authors` SPSS Computation Result, 2018 132 4.4. Discussion of findings Based on the empirical results of the analyses above, the study finds that there is a significant difference in the perception of organizational politics between the public and private organization, and that there is a significant difference in the way employee are committed between the public and private organization and that there is a significant difference in the leadership style adopted in the public and private organization. Also, the study made findings that there is a positive significant relationship between leadership style and employee commitment; that there is a positive significant relationship between organizational politics and employee commitment; also that there is direct relationship between organizational politics and leadership styles used in organization; and that there was a significant relationship between leadership style, organizational politics and employee commitment. These findings corroborate the view of Yiing and Ahmad (2009) where they explored the connections between employee commitment and leadership styles moderated by organizational culture, they discovered that leadership styles adopted in the study have significant and positive connections with affective commitment of employees. Also, the findings support the view of Walumba, Wang, Lawler and Shi (2004) and Rehman, Shareef, Mahmood and Ishaque (2012) where they examined the interaction of both transactional and transformational leadership on organizational commitment, they discovered that transformational style of leadership had so much more contributions to the organizational commitment level than transaction leadership style. 5. Conclusions, limitations and implications for future research The study has been able to affirm that organizational politics and as well as leadership styles are very effective in improving the commitment of employees in an organization. They are also very active in giving direction for their organization, as well as encourage their followers by giving control and direct group roles. The study has also shown that through effective organizational politics which aims at dislodging organization for improve performance. As such ensuring effectiveness and efficiency is the main objective of an effective leader regardless of their gender. Leaders must aim to attain organizational goals always while simultaneously not neglecting the mediating effect of organizational politics. This simply implies that employers in both public and private organization should adopt leadership styles in an enabling environment, which will help them to carry along their employee in everyday activities which results in daily and measurable performance. Conclusively, the study has shown that, a positive significant relationship between leadership style and employee commitment was paramount; a positive significant relationship between organizational politics and employee commitment; also that there is direct relationship between organizational politics and leadership styles used in organization; and that a significant relationship between leadership style, organizational politics and employee commitment was renowned. The above findings imply that the most effective leaders are leaders who put into practice the most effective and right leadership style with favorable organizational politics to improved and encourage and the commitment of employees in the organization which ultimately ensure organizational performance. Hence, based on the conclusion the following were recommended, that managements in both public and private organization in Lagos state need to pattern the way, by laying down a good example, being a role model and worthy to be followed. 133 In addition, since it was found that there was a link between employee commitment and organizational politics, the management of both public and private organization in Lagos State are notified to recruit employees who will tends to become linked to the politics of the organization. Before they hire workers, they will have to look for the suitability amid the individual’s goals and values and the organization’s goals and values. This study was limited to government owned and private organizations in Lagos State due to time constraints and accessibility. There needs to further expatiate the scope of the study to other states by future researchers. 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