Celani John Nyide
Co-operatives are seen as a growing tool to reduce poverty and unemployment. As such, they are the subject of government regulation in many parts of the world. However, a considerable number of co-operatives in emerging economies fail as economic enterprises and as self-help organisations beyond government support. They are unable to cope with modern economic realities due to poor administration, leadership and poor business practices. Studies are emphatic that the style of leadership has an influence on the survival of businesses. This study, therefore, investigated the leadership styles prevalent at a co-operative financial institution. This study used questionnaires as a research instrument to collect data from respondents. Questionnaires consisting test items were administered to 107 eligible participants who were selected using purposive sampling. A Kendall-Tau test was conducted to test the relationship between the leadership styles and their influence on the organisation’s performance. Findings from the primary research show that transformational leadership style is within the investigated co-operative. The results also show that there is a significant relationship between the transformational leadership style and its effectiveness in meeting job related needs. There is evidence that suggests that transformational leadership style is effective in ascertaining the investigated co-operative meets its organisational goals. This study contributes to the literature on the identification and evaluation of effective styles of leadership for cooperative banks in an emerging economy.