Transactional Leadership in Uganda Prisons Service: A Performance Catalyst

Abstract

This paper sought to examine the relationship between transactional leadership style and employee performance in Uganda Prisons Service taking Uganda Government Prison Upper-Luzira as station study. Transactional leadership as viewed by many, relies entirely on rewards and punishment as a means of leading and to many this style of leadership does not yield positive results often times arguing that this style is suitable for military operations were rules and regulations are required for the attainment of objectives. Yet organisational leaders have continued to use transactional style to achieve organisational objectives through motivating followers, being visionary and directing their followers amidst among other ways. This paper documents efforts by leaders to see to it that employees are guided to attain organisational objectives amidst the existing challenges as drawn from the experiences of the staff of U.G. Prison Upper-Luzira. Using a cross-sectional design that adopted both qualitative and quantitative approaches, a sample of 133 respondents was drawn using both purposive and simple random sampling techniques from a target population of 200 employees, and this yielded a response rate of 97%. Validity and reliability of instruments was taken care of, and data was collected using self-administered questionnaires and interview guide. Data was analysed using SPSS computer package and involved the use of descriptive statistics, correlation, regression and content analysis for qualitative data. The findings indicated a strong and significant positive relationship between transactional leadership style and employee performance in Uganda prisons Service which as indicated by correlation coefficient (r =0.502^**, p<0.05). The study concluded that, transactional leadership style plays a pivotal role in employee performance in Uganda Prisons Service. This means that with increased motivation, direction and visionary leadership, there will also be increased performance from the employees.