GHANA INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM 
 
 
 
 

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES and RESEARCH (SOGRaR) 
 
 
 
 
 
 

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AS A PIVOT OF LEADERSHIP; EXPLORING 

 

THE MODERATING ROLES OF LEVEL OF EDUCATION AND AGE 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

BY 
 
 
 

ROBERT NII KPAKPO ATSEM 
 
 
 

MADC19066 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

SEPTEMBER, 2020. 



 

GHANA INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES and RESEARCH (SOGRaR) 
 

 

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AS A PIVOT OF LEADERSHIP; EXPLORING 

 

THE MODERATING ROLES OF LEVEL OF EDUCATION AND AGE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

BY 
 

 

ROBERT NII KPAKPO ATSEM 
 

 

MADC19066 
 
 
 
 
 

 
A RESEARCH WORK SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES and RESEARCH, GHANA 

 

INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A 
 

MASTER’S DEGREE IN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION. 
 
 
 
 

 

SEPTEMBER, 2020 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



DECLARATION 
 
 

 

CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION 
 
 

I hereby declare that, except for references to other people’s work, which have been fully 

acknowledged, this project work is the outcome of my original efforts and that no part has been 

presented for another degree in this Institute or elsewhere.

 

 

     

 

 

 
 

Date

 
 
 
 

SUPERVISOR’S DECLARATION 
 
 

I hereby declare that the preparation and presentation of this project work has been supervised by 

me according to the guidelines on supervision of project works as laid down by the Ghana 

Institute of Journalism.

 
 
 
 

 

 

Dr. Stanley Semarco 
 
 

Date

(Supervisor)
 

 
I 



DEDICATION 
 

 

This work is dedicated to Mr. Edward Appiah-Brafoh, Mrs. Millicent Adansi and family, Nana 

Obrempong and Dr. Mrs. Obrempong, Mr. and Mrs. Attafuah, and finally, Pharm Bernard 

Boateng. You have in more ways than one, given me a reason to shake off the dust and find a 

new meaning to life; to take on new challenges, and be the reason why others don’t give up in 

this life. I can never thank you enough. I can however pray that God continually blesses you and 

all generations after you. I promise to be better and make you proud. Cheers! 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

II 



ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
 

 

Dr. Stanley Semarco is a warm welcoming figure. His passion for research is infectious and I 

must say that although I never would have wanted to pursue another degree, his approach and 

style have left me yearning for more. Thank you, sir. 

 

Indeed, no man is an island. As is purported in the Ubuntu way of life, I am because we are. But 

for the help of a few colleagues and friends, I wouldn’t have completed this project successfully. 

So, to the many helping hands whose names I may not be able to enlist, thank you! Special 

mention to Isaac Boakye, Sandra Kuffuor, Mercy Armah, Kwabena Odame, Maame Afriyie 

Attafuah, and Amanda Goddard. You guys are amazingly patient and so accommodating. Thank 

you is the least I can say. 

 

Finally, I’d like to acknowledge the silent inspiration of Pastor Anthony Owusu Sekyere 

Kwarteng, of the Church of Pentecost. You are a true leader sir. Your ability to communicate 

comprehensively is enviable. It is heart-warming watching you lead the church of God the way 

you seemingly, effortlessly do. When I grow, I want to be like you. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

III 



ABSTRACT 
 

 

The overall aim of this study is to ascertain the effect leadership has on organizational 

effective communication, and how it propels the yielding of positive results if done right. 

The study was approached qualitatively using the deductive approach. The study adopted a 

desk research approach. The study selected articles from scholarly journals such as sage, 

emerald, and other peer-reviewed journals. The study ensured that the articles selected were 

within the last five years to allow for a more recent analysis of the information therein. 

Besides, newspaper articles written as well as discussions on communication as it pertains to 

communication within organizations were also considered. Future studies could employ the 

use of a mixed-method approach where data is taken from respondents in a sampled 

organization using both qualitative and quantitative means. The analytical review of extant 

studies revealed that there is a significant relationship between leadership style and effective 

communication. It is believed that a leader must adjust his leadership style by keeping in 

mind the intellectual level and maturity of the employees. Here maturity does not refer to the 

sensitivity or age, but it means work stability, tendency to handle complex situations, and 

potential of achieving a given target. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher 

suggests that further studies should analyze leadership communication styles across several 

different organizations. This should be done across different levels of the organization such 

as the corporate and operational levels of the organization. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

IV 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 

 

Declaration 
 

 

Dedication 
 

 

Acknowledgement 
 

 

Abstract 
 

 

Table of content 

 

 

I 
 

 

II 
 

 

III 
 

 

IV 
 

 

V 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CHAPTER ONE  

1.0 Introduction 1 

1.1 Problem Statement 4 

1.2 Research Objectives 5 

1.3 Research Questions 6 

1.4 Significance of study 6 

1.5 Scope and limitation of study 6 

1.7 Organization of the study 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

V 



CHAPTER TWO  

2.0 Introduction 8 

2.1 Human Relations Approach 8 

2.2 Systems Theory 9 

2.3 Theoretical Framework 11 

2.3 Socio-economic effects of plastic waste 11 

2.4 Leadership 12 

2.4.1 Leadership Theories 14 

2.4.2 Great Man and Trait Theories 15 

2.4.3 The Contingency or Situational School 16 

2.4.4 Fiedler’s Contingency Theory 16 

2.5 Communicator Competence 19 

2.6 Communication Across Demographic Factors 20 

2.7 Gap Analysis 22 

2.8 Empirical Literature 23 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

VI 



CHAPTER THREE  

3.0 Introduction 27 

3.1 Research Design 27 

3.2 Sampled Articles 27 

3.3 Proposed Method for Future Studies 28 
 
 
 
 
 
 

4. CHAPTER FOUR  

4.0 Findings of the Study 29 

4.1 To Establish Effective Communication as a Pivot of Leadership 29 

4.2 Relationship Btn Individual Leadership Styles and Communication 30 

4.3 Style According to the Situation 31 

4.4 Goal-Oriented Leadership Style 31 

4.5 Directive Leadership Style 32 

4.6 People-Centric or Employee Oriented 32 

4.7 Action Based Leadership 32 

4.8 The Level of Education, Age and Effective Communication 33 

4.9 Recommendations for Future Studies 34 
 
 
 
 

VII 



4.10 Conclusion 34 

References 39 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

VIII 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



CHAPTER ONE 
 
 

1.0 Introduction 
 
 

Extant literature has posited that the role and actions of leaders are critical in 

organizations. Various studies investigated the various ways leadership styles affect the 

organization from different perspectives (Bello, 2017). Specifically, leadership style is one 

of the significant concepts affecting employees, specifically their thoughts and feelings. 

Communication competency within this context serves as one of the main pillars that leads 

the leader's potential to leave a positive influence on the employees (Northouse, 2010). In 

this respect, leadership style and communication competency could be viewed as part of 

the fundamental dynamics affecting the job satisfaction of employees. A study by Gallom 

(2018) assessed the effect of leadership style on effective communication. This study was 

also replicated by Hernan (2018) who also assessed the same variables within the banking 

sector. However, these studies did not delve into leader specific variables such as gender, 

education, or age as posited in a theoretical paper by Osteen (2019). 

 
The scholarship of organizational theory and leadership revealed that job satisfaction 

has been influenced by many organizational factors, ranging from salaries, job 

security, workplace conditions, to leadership. Leadership style also has a significant 

impact on employee job satisfaction, commitment, and productivity (Moore, 2016). 

In this study, the leadership styles to be explored would be autocratic leadership, 

democratic leadership, coaching leadership style, and laissez-faire. The reason for 

this choice is because these are arguably the most common leadership styles seen in 

most organizations. 

 
Autocratic leadership is a leadership style where the leader takes the majority of 

decisions alone and is more focused on achieving results and efficiency. Coaching 

 
 

1 



 
leadership, however, can be considered as a leadership style where the leader takes into 

consideration members' strengths and weaknesses and helps them to improve or do 

better. He or she creates an inclusive and positive work environment. Another common 

type of leadership is democratic leadership where the leader considers inputs from team 

members before making a decision. This style fosters high levels of employee 

satisfaction. Finally, the laissez-faire leadership style is the complete opposite of the 

autocratic leadership style, where the leader gives team members’ full control of tasks 

with little to no supervision (‘Ten Common Leadership Styles’, 2020) 

 
The link between leadership and effective communication has received limited attention 

from business and communication scholars alike. According to Holladay and Coombs 

(1993), leadership is a behavior enacted through communication. Specifically, Holladay 

and Coombs suggested that communication shapes the perceptions of a leader's charisma, 

and communication can be divided into the content of the leader's messages and the 

presentation of those messages. Similarly, messages sent by leaders are considered to 

contain both affective and cognitive strategies (Hall & Lord, 1995), and when leaders 

effectively communicate their vision, they win the confidence of followers, which in turn 

aids in communication satisfaction between the leader and follower (Pavitt, 1999). 

Castaneda and Nahavandi (1991) suggested that subordinates who perceive their 

supervisors’ behaviors to exhibit both relationship orientation and task orientation report 

being the most satisfied. Based on previous research, leadership appears to be enacted 

through communication in such a way that it contains a relational (affective) and task 

(content) component. 

 
Getting a better understanding that everyone has a different way of speaking in terms 

of putting meanings forward is more likely to gain benefits from a variety of potential 

employees with different communication styles. In communication, various aspects 

 

2 



 
come into play which leads to differences in communication. Every individual has 

differences in his or her communication styles, which is not only influenced by his or 

her communication styles, but also by gender, age, education, cross-cultural 

differences amongst many others. Two of these factors, age, and education are 

monumental in influencing a way that a leader communicates to subordinates. 

 
Veering into age, it influences a leader’s communication and can either improve a 

leader’s communication or hinder it, just as the other factors stated above. According 

to Yorkston et al(2010), aging causes some physiological changes in voice, speech, 

and hearing. Irrespective, certain language skills remain relatively stable throughout 

one's lifetime such as grammatical judgment and vocabulary. They go on to point that 

even though some of the effects arising from differences in age may be subtle, they 

have consequences. Additionally, age is directly related to experience and hence, this 

may affect the type of leadership style the person chooses, as well as how effectively 

he or she may communicate. And by extension, how successful he or she will be as a 

leader. Interestingly, the generational gap between an aged communicator and a 

younger party may lead to some hindrances of effective communication. 

 
Education equally plays a key role in communication, specifically formal education. 

Education provides us with a lot of information so that we have enough material to 

organize our thoughts clearly which in turn ensures that we convey them in an effective 

and intelligible way to others. Once our thoughts are clear enough, the next requirement 

for effective communication is good vocabulary which aids us in lucid delivery of our 

thoughts and information. Education lends us a helping hand in initiating and enhancing 

our vocabulary continually. The communication of people who do not possess adequate 

knowledge and understanding of grammar will always be lacking in some important 

aspects, and their message will always be poor compared to that of 

 

3 



 
formally educated individuals. Education allows for regular interaction with other 

educated people, which enriches one’s practical knowledge, hence strengthening 

one’s expressions. Education supplies the essential impetus that motivates one to 

strive for continuous development and desirable evolution. Communication is verily 

one of the important aspects of humankind’s evolution. Without education, such a 

desirable growth will severely be hampered. 

 

 

The purpose of this study is to first establish effective communication as a pivot of 

leadership. Beyond that, the relationship leadership styles have on effective 

communication of leaders would also be explored. Finally, the moderating roles of 

leaders’ level of education and age would be examined. This study is of value in that, it 

extends prior research and seeks to fill up some gaps. The current study examines the link 

between communicator competence and leadership styles. However, this study would take 

things a bit further by exploring the roles of age and educational level. 

 
 
 

 

1.1 Problem Statement 
 

 

Global Statistics (2019) reported that a pool of complaints among employees revealed that 

the main issue they have with their leaders stemmed from the fact that communication had 

been poorly executed. The data revealed that five out of twenty leaders had very good 

communication skills. Seeing that the other fifteen out of twenty leaders did not, it proves 

that it is important that more leaders communicate properly in their respective 

organizations. This is key because communication is the key thing that drives 

organizations (Walumbwa, 2016). 

 
 
 

 

4 



 
Scholarship on communication showed that the communication competency of a manager 

has a significant role in the satisfaction of the employees. Cushman and Craig (2016) 

suggested that listening and negotiating skills of the managers are the determining factors 

in communication competency. Pavitt (2019) noted that managers need to be collaborative 

in their ways of communication in a way to create a two-way channel so that employees 

can internalize the vision created as a team. Most of the studies have focused on the 

communication skills of leaders (Northouse, 2016; Bello, 2015), others have also focused 

on the effect of leadership style on communication strategy ( Beyan, 2016). This study 

first fills the issue gap by addressing the role of the level of education and age on the 

relationship between leadership style and effective communication. Again, while most of 

these studies have employed the quantitative approach, the current study thus fills the 

methodological gap by employing the mixed-method approach to research. 

 
 
 

 

1.2 Research Objectives 
 

 

Main Objective 
 

 

To determine the moderating role of the level of education and age in establishing 

effective communication as a pivot of leadership. 

 

Specific Objectives 
 

 

1. To establish effective communication as a pivot of leadership. 

 

2. To identify the relationship between individual leadership styles and communication. 

 

3. To determine how much influence the level of education and age have on effective 

communication. 

 
 
 
 

 

5 



1.3 Research Questions 

 

1. What role does effective communication play in leadership? 

 

2. What is the relationship between individual leadership styles and communication? 

 

3. What is the influence of the level of education and age on effective communication of 

leaders? 

 
 
 
 

1.4 Significance of the Study 

 

The research will provide meaningful information to the management of corporate 

organizations concerning the effectiveness of communication-based on leadership styles, 

which would, in turn, improve employee satisfaction. The study will enable managers of 

various organizations to gain awareness concerning the influence of effective communiqué 

and ineffective communiqué. In the case of ineffective communique, the study will 

suggest strategies towards improving communication to improve employee job 

satisfaction. Besides, the study would aid students studying management to understand the 

theoretical background of effective communication. It would empower students to take off 

well when establishing or managing an enterprise. The study would be beneficial to 

academia, as it would provide empirical findings on communication systems and channels 

in organizations. It would therefore serve as a reference point for future study and at the 

same time, fill a research gap. 

 
 
 
 

1.5   Scope and limitation of the study 

 

The study would focus on the moderating factors of age and level of education specifically. 

Though other moderating factors such as socio-cultural differences and gender are 

acknowledged, they are not the focus of this particular study. The study will also benefit 

 

6 



 
firms in the sense that it will enable the organizations to identify the role demographic 

factors play in the process of communication between leaders and their subordinates 

within organizations. 

 

 

1.6 Organization of the study 
 

 

This study is organized into four chapters. Chapter one deals with the introduction by 

focusing on the background of the study, problem statement, objectives of the study, 

research questions, significance of the study, scope, and limitation of the study as well as 

the study's organization. Chapter two deals with the literature review with the focus on 

reviewing various works of literature on the impact of leadership on effective 

communication. Chapter three deals with methodological procedures and research design, 

which includes data collection, sampling, and the analysis of the data, collected. In chapter 

four, the summary, conclusions, and recommendations of the study are provided. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

7 



CHAPTER TWO 

 

LITERATURE REVIEW 
 

 

2.0 Introduction 
 

 

The chapter reviews the extant literature on leadership and effective communication. The 

review first takes a more eagle-eye perspective and then zeros in more on the specifics 

whiles addressing issues of research gaps that the study seeks to fill. Finally, the 

conceptual framework is also presented. 

 
 
 

 

2.1 Human Relations Approach 
 

 

Around the 1930s, Human-Relations Theory originated and was introduced as a substitute 

perspective to the classical theory (Ainobushoborozi, 2016). The theory originally was put 

to test by Mayo, Roethlisberger, and Dickson's, which became known as the Hawthorne 

Studies (Allen, 2012). The Hawthorne Studies brought to the bare four major phases; the 

illumination studies, the relay assembly test room studies, the interview program, and the 

bank wiring room studies. The human behavior school of thought shifted from the 

prominence on output and work design to the interactions of individuals. The emphasis of 

the Human-Relations Approach dwells more on the needs of individuals in the 

organization, the employee's participation in decision-making, and the opportunity to send 

and receive messages. Human Relations asserted that it is vital to determine the individual 

needs of organizational members and it is achieved within effective organization-worker 

communication. 

 

According to Barker(2019), effective management communication can be best assessed via a 

communication audit. Essentially, communication is fundamental to the work of human 

resources. The importance of the Human Relations Approach is that it highlights the role of 

8 



 
workers and social factors in the effectiveness of internal communication and issues such 

as leadership. In sum, the human relation approach deals with the interaction between 

management and employees, their motivation, and their influence on organizational 

events. This throws more light on what management and employees ought to do to ensure 

effective internal communication. This approach will help the study to determine the 

usefulness of the various communications channels such as memos, circulars, telephone 

conversations, the use of the Internet, and face-to-face interaction. 

 
 
 

 

2.2 Systems Theory 
 

 

The general system theory was originally proposed by Ludwig von Bertalanffy, a biologist in 

1968 in his work, General Systems Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications, was the 

sort to explain the relationship between parts and the whole of living organisms (Cheryl, 

2016). This sort provides a general analytical framework (perspective) for viewing an 

organization. Since then the theory has been used in academic fields such as psychology, 

history, and physiology. Studies conducted by theorists in management studies expose a 

digression from the classical and human relations model. According to Chen (2017), the 

systems theory has a more valid and applicable stance in internal communication. This is 

because the systems approach recognizes the role that communication plays in facilitating 

efficient functioning between the various components of the organizations. In organizational 

communication research, some main components of the systems theory have been identified 

that inform how effective communication leads to employee productivity namely; wholeness, 

hierarchical, and feedback. In systems theory, the whole determines the character and 

functions of parts (Booth, 2016). Wholeness refers to the interdependence of the various 

elements that constitute the system. This means that individual parts of a system 

 
 

9 



 
contribute to the existence of the organization. Conferring to Borman and Motowidlo 

(2017), the concept of an organizational structure indicates that the relations within an 

organism are systematized by order of hierarchy rules. In this regard, components of the 

main systems are designed into subsystems, making up the whole system, which in itself 

operates within a larger environment. 

 

From the findings of Ducharme and Martin (2015), feedback enables decision-makers in 

the organization to strategize to be on top of issues thereby building network relationships. 

Conferring to Dvorak(2016), the systems theory operates from primary principles of inter-

relatedness and interdependence, it can be said that the same basic principles form the 

basis from which communication audit occurs. Banks have a hierarchical structure with 

the various sections functioning as a whole structure and all the staff working towards a 

common goal. The systems theory is therefore appropriate for this study. Given this, the 

researchers would determine the effectiveness of communication leading to employee 

productivity and describe the communication systems at Banks considering that we will 

like to focus on banks as the primary corporate organization for this study. The Authority 

comprises different sections and to achieve organizational goals, these sections or 

departments need to work together. This means that there should be effective internal 

communication between the management and staff of an organization to attain these goals. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

10 



2.3 Theoretical Framework 
 

 

Theoretical Framework Leadership is often defined in organizational theory literature as an 

influential process that guides the behavior of individuals and groups towards the achievement 

of goals (Dwyer, 2016). Dwyer (2016) defined four types of leadership: supportive, directive, 

achievement-oriented, and participative leadership, while Gudykunst (2016) proposed the 

transactional transformational paradigm. Islam and Rasad (2016) created a theory of 

transformational leadership that describes leaders as inspirational guides helping teachers and 

staff to achieve a higher level of morale and motivation at work. These leaders can alter the 

workplace, encouraging collaboration, and raising the role of the follower to leader. 

Transformational leadership refers to those leaders who support or emphasize empowerment 

within their subordinates. Transformational leadership is made up of the following four 

dimensions: idealized influence (charisma), inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, 

and individualized consideration (Korkaew and Suthinee, 2015). Transactional leadership 

refers to a process where there is an evolution between the leader and the follower, and the 

leader is not interested in the follower’s concerns or needs (Kreps, 2016). These leaders have 

certain skills and expect respect when leading an organization. They tend to believe that 

followers are motivated through reward and punishment. Lindlof and Taylor(2015) claim that 

transactional leaders rely heavily on rewards to motivate followers and on negative feedback 

and criticism to prevent poor performance. According to Wang (2016), communication 

competence is believed to be multidimensional as opposed to a one-dimensional construct 

because employees are not merely satisfied or dissatisfied with communication; they express 

varying degrees of satisfaction regarding distinct categories of communication. According to 

Weckowicz (2015), communication competence can simply be defined as how employees feel 

about communication efforts and different aspects of their communication. Similarly, 

Werner(2015) suggests that 

 

11 



 
communication competence presents a single affective response to the desired outcome 

resulting from the communication that takes place within an organization. Wang (2016) uses 

the term communication competence to indicate the overall satisfaction of an employee in his 

communication environment. Since the development of the CSQ (Communication competence 

Questionnaire), these factors have been widely used to assess communication competence 

within organizational contexts (Mount and Back, 1999). Communication competence has 

many implications for organizations because it affects many key organizational outcomes. 

Multiple studies have examined the relationship between communication competence and 

employee productivity (Tsai and Chuang, 2017), job performance (Sostek, 2016), 

organizational effectiveness (Shockley–Zalabak,2016), and organizational performance 

(Salem, 2019). Communication competence has also been shown to influence an employee’s 

level of job satisfaction, commitment, and work motivation (Robbins, Judge, and Campbell, 

2016). Communication dissatisfaction may cause stress, absenteeism, low feedback, burnout, 

and a higher turnover rate for employees. 

 
 
 

 

2.4 Leadership 
 

 

Leadership has been defined in many ways, such as the ability to guide followers toward 

shared goals (Rhoades and Eisenberger, 2016). Specific to the current study, Puth (2016) 

indicated that leaders exhibit task and relational-oriented behaviors. Additionally, Opoku-

Amankwa (2017) indicated that employees are most satisfied when they perceive their 

supervisors as exhibiting both relational and task-oriented behaviors. A conceptualization 

of leadership that is composed of a task and relational behaviors is considered as the style 

approach to leadership. The Ohio State and Michigan studies were strong representatives 

of the styles approach. The Ohio State studies identified two types of behaviors explaining 

 
 

12 



 
what leaders do: Leaders provide structure and nurture subordinates. At nearly the same 

time, the Michigan studies identified the behaviors of effective leaders to contain 

employee-oriented behaviors and production-oriented behaviors. Prior research has 

examined the effects of leadership style concerning group satisfaction, effective 

communication skills, interpersonal communication (Miller,2017), and rapport building 

(Madlock and Booth-Butterfield. 2017). As such, there appears to be a gap in the research 

relative to the examination of the task and relational leadership style and communicator 

competence. This gap in the research also extends to the relationship between task and 

relational leadership style and employee outcomes of job and communication satisfaction. 

Thus, communication satisfaction, as discussed below, was included in the current study. 

 

There are many expert opinions on the importance of communication in leadership. 

According to Salem(2019), leadership is a behavior carried out by communication, in 

which communication clarifies perceptions of a leader's charisma. This is clarified by 

Trahant (2017), saying that the leader’s message conveys affective and cognitive 

strategies. When the leader effectively communicates his/her vision, he/she is more likely 

to gain the employees’ trust, which eventually affects communicating satisfaction between 

the leader and the followers. Vallance (2019) stressed that to be perceived as competent 

communicators, leaders must share and respond to information on time, pay attention to 

others' points of view, communicate clearly and concisely to all levels of the organization, 

and use all existing communication channels and various communicative resources such as 

language, gestures, and sounds. Communication skills also play an important role in 

influencing attitudes, such as employees' satisfaction. It is not only about satisfaction in 

terms of communication with leaders, but also satisfaction with their jobs. Effective 

leadership should not only be seen from how far the leaders' organizational unit succeeds 

in accomplishing the task of achieving their goals. Equally important is the process of 

 

13 



 
leadership itself which then affects the employees' perception of the leadership styles of 

their leaders. Employees perceive their leaders' behavior, mainly based on two categories 

(i.e., related to the purpose of the tasks and related to interpersonal relationships). 

Employees are most satisfied when they perceive their direct leaders to run both behaviors 

(Wang,2016). Nevertheless, Eagly’s study showed no gender differences in terms of 

orientation dimensions in the assignment and assertive behavior such as being ambitious, 

dominating, and competitive (Westat, 2016) on men and women in leadership roles. 

However, the fact shows that there is still a lot of differentiating positions for different 

genders. Women often gain a lower position than male counterparts do, and they do not 

get equal opportunities in career development (Werner, 2015). Although more than half of 

Indonesia's population is women, their underdevelopment conditions may illustrate 

injustice and inequalities between men and women (Werner, 2015). In organizational 

scope, the opportunity for female employees to occupy managerial positions or to become 

a structural leader in an organizational unit is relatively lower than male employees do, 

despite the technical skills required. Surely, the things which will be studied in this study 

are more on the organizational subjective and objective obstacles, regardless of cultural 

and social problems. 

 
 
 

 

2.4.1 Leadership Theories 

 

Different leadership ideal models have been utilized to depict leadership and leadership 

viability. Leadership patterns have changed in the last few decades; it has traveled from the 

traditional leadership to the new points of view. Sostek(2016) classifies trait, behavioral and 

situational or contingency hypotheses under the traditional leadership dimension, and 

charismatic and transformational leadership hypotheses under the new leadership points of 

 

 

14 



 
view. The point of interest of all hypotheses on leadership is to decide organizational 

viability. 

 
 
 
 
 
 

2.4.2 Great Man and Trait Theories 
 

The Great Man hypothesis places that, leaders are brought forth and not made. That is, 

individuals are conceived having some traits which isolate them from others in the field of 

leadership positions. It depends on the sentiment that leaders are right and leadership is 

established in the specialist of their honesty. Trait hypotheses depend on great man 

theories. The trait tactic to deal with the comprehension of leadership sees leadership as 

the center of firm adequacy and execution. Like the colossal man hypotheses, the trait 

point of view expects that awesome leaders are born with recognized traits/traits that make 

them not quite the same as other individuals. As indicated by Saunders, Lewis, and 

Thornhill (2016), in his journey for the mystery of incredible leaders, assess many 

research findings on leadership, in light of the supposition that great leaders are born. 

Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill (2016) show that leaders were more canny, friendly, 

inventive, emphatic, capable, taller, and heavier than normal individuals. Be that as it may, 

these distinctions in traits couldn't answer the pursuit, as the rundown was observed to be 

measurably unimportant. In this way, Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill (2016) reasoned that 

a man does not turn into a leader on account of a mix of traits since the effect of traits 

contrasts as indicated by matter. In this way, the traits of the matter ought to be considered 

before crediting enormity to a person as a leader. 

 

Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill (2016) and different analysts reasoned that ownership of a few 

traits may add to leadership adequacy. This is not quite the same as the first trait supposition 

that leaders are conceived and not made. Although there is no rundown of traits 

 

15 



 
that ensures leadership adequacy, various traits have been as of late distinguished to add to 

leadership accomplishment as it perceives the impact of both traits and matters. Richmond and 

McCroskey (2017), likewise recognize a few traits that are as of now connected with powerful 

leadership as fearlessness, stress resistance, passionate development, and honesty. 

 

 

2.4.3 The Contingency or Situational School 
 

The contingency theory of leadership developed by Richmond and McCroskey (2017) has 

been widely used in conjunction with other leadership theories such as transformational 

leadership. While behavioral theories may help managers create specific leadership 

practices, they give little direction for what constitutes compelling leadership in various 

matters. To be sure, most analysts today infer that no particular leadership style is 

appropriate for a manager under all conditions. Rather, contingency-situational theories 

were created to demonstrate that the style to be utilized is dependent upon such 

components as the matter, the general population, the manager, the firm, and other natural 

factors. The real theories contributing to this school of thought are portrayed underneath. 

 

 

2.4.4 Fiedler's Contingency Theory 
 

Fiedler was the first to build up this leadership hypothesis, which demonstrates that the 

situational variable collaborates with a leader's leadership style and conduct. Fiedler 

(1967) trusts that there is no single most ideal path for supervisors to lead. Matters will 

make distinctive leadership style prerequisites for a manager. The answer to an 

administrative matter is dependent upon the elements that encroach on the matter. For 

instance, in a very standard (unthinking) condition where redundant errands are the 

standard, a moderately mandate leadership style may bring about the best execution. In 

any case, in a dynamic situation, a more adaptable, participative style might be required. 

 
 
 
 

16 



 
Fiedler took a gander at three matters that could characterize the state of an administrative 

task: 

 

i. Leader-worker relations: How well do the manager and the workers get along? 

 

ii. Manager structure: Is the employment profoundly organized, partially unstructured, or 

somewhat in the middle? 

 
iii. Position power: How much mandate does the manager have? 

 
 

Supervisors were evaluated in the matter of whether they were relationship-oriented or 

manager oriented. Manager oriented managers tend to improve in matters that have great 

leader-follower connections, organized tasks, and either feeble or solid position power. 

They do well when the task is unstructured, but position power is solid. Relationship 

oriented managers improve in every other matter (Tumbare, 2017). Therefore, a given 

matter may require a manager with an alternate style or a manager who could go up 

against an alternate style for an alternate matter (Ainobushoborozi, 2016). 

 
These natural factors are joined in a weighted whole that is named "favorable" toward one side 

and "negative" at the other. Task focused style is best at the characterized extremes of "great" 

and "ominous" situations, yet relationship introduction exceeds expectations in the center-

ground. Managers could endeavor to reshape the environmental factors to coordinate their 

style. Another part of the possibility display hypothesis is that the leader part relations, 

manager structure, and position control direct a leader's situational control. Leader part 

relations are the measure of faithfulness, steadfastness, and bolster that the leader gets from 

representatives (Anchor, 2017). It is a measure of how the manager sees himself or herself 

getting along very well with subordinates. In a great relationship, the supervisor has a high 

task structure and can remunerate as well as rebuff representatives with no issues. In an 

ominous relationship, the task is generally unstructured and the leader has constrained 

 
 

17 



 
experts. The explanation (positive) of what is required of subordinates influences task 

structure. Situating power measures the measure of energy or specialist the supervisor sees 

the firm has given him or her with the end goal of coordinating, fulfilling, and rebuffing 

subordinates. The situating energy of supervisors relies on upon the taking of decisions 

without end (positive) or expanding (ominous) the decision-making energy of 

representatives (Anchor, 2017). 

 

The task motivated style leader encounters pride and fulfillment in the errand achievement 

for the firm, while the relationship-roused style looks to assemble relational relations and 

amplify additional assistance for group improvement in the firm. There is no great or 

awful leadership style. Every individual has his or her inclinations for leadership. Errand 

inspired leaders are taking care of business when the gathering performs effectively, for 

example, accomplishing another business record or beating the real contender. 

Relationship-oriented leaders are taking care of business when more prominent consumer 

loyalty is picked up and a positive organization picture is set up. Bertalanffy(2018) holds 

that a great connection between leader and supporter is the most imperative element that 

makes life simple for the leader regarding influencing and practicing control over his/her 

matter. It gives the idea that Fielder's hypothesis recommends that there are two primary 

leadership conduct styles: task-focused and relationship-oriented, something else, there are 

signs that the leader who is high on errand conduct might be high or low on relationship 

conduct. Be that as it may, any blend of those two is conceivable. It has been watched that 

leaders who are individuals oriented make a positive atmosphere in their firms (Beyerlein, 

McGee, Klein, Nemiro and Broedling, 2016). 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

18 



2.5 Communicator Competence 
 

 

Allen's (2012) research indicated that competent individuals must not only achieve their goals 

(be effective) but also do so appropriately. In following with this notion, communication 

competence has been conceptualized to encompass elements of knowledge, motivation, skill, 

behavior, and effectiveness. Barker (2019) stated, Competent interaction can be viewed as a 

form of interpersonal influence, in which an individual is faced with the task of fulfilling 

communicative functions and goals (effectiveness) while maintaining conversational and 

interpersonal norms (appropriateness) (p. 1) Cushman and Bertalanffy (2018) argued that 

communicator competence involves the ability of individuals to display competencies in areas 

such as listening and negotiating. More recently, Anchor (2017) indicated that as a result of 

changing work environments in which employees are more educated and intelligent than past 

generations, leaders are now required to lead by negotiation. Specifically, Anchor (2017) 

noted that for leaders to persuade people to follow their vision, they need to communicate 

effectively by appealing to the interests of the followers. In that, competent communicators 

must employ communicative resources such as language, gestures, and voice (Anchor, 2017)), 

and for supervisors to be perceived as competent communicators, they must share and respond 

to information promptly, actively listen to other points of view, communicate clearly and 

succinctly to all levels of the organization, and utilize different communication channels 

(Shaw, 2005). Despite the vast amounts of research focused on competent communication, 

there appears to be a lack of prior research directly examining the relationship between 

supervisor communicator competence and supervisor task and relational leadership styles. 

However, there does appear to be a limited amount of research examining the influence of 

supervisors' communicator competence on employee outcomes. One such study was that of 

Barker (2019), whose findings indicated that the perceived communicator competence of a 

supervisor was related 

 

19 



 
to their subordinate’s satisfaction with that supervisor. Another example was a study by 

Booth, A. (2016), who examined the relationship between subordinate perceptions of their 

supervisor’s communication skills, including communicator competence, and the 

subordinate’s level of organizational identification. Myers and Kassing’s findings 

indicated that supervisor communication competence was a significant predictor of 

subordinate organizational identification. A more recent example was a study by Borman 

and Motowidlo (2017), who examined the impact of motivational language on many 

outcomes. Specifically, Borman and Motowidlo (2017) found positive relationships 

between a leader’s use of motivational language and their perceived effectiveness, their 

communication competence, and their subordinates’ job and communication satisfaction. 

The current study differs from the prior examples in two significant ways. First, the 

current study examined the influence of a supervisor’s communicator competence, task, 

and relational leadership on subordinates’ job and communication satisfaction. Second, the 

current study also examined the influence that a supervisor’s task and relational leadership 

style has on being perceived as a competent communicator. 

 
 
 

 

2.6 Communication Across Demographic Factors 
 

 

Every individual has differences in his/her communication styles, which is not only 

influenced by his/her personal communication styles, but also by gender and cross-

cultural differences. It is important to understand that all these styles can be learned 

and applied. Each style has its strengths and weaknesses, there is no single style that 

works best among others. Generally, individuals tend to use one style. Effective 

communication begins by recognizing one’s communication style and then that of 

others (Beyerlein, McGee, Klein, Nemiro, and Broedling, 2016). Therefore, when 

 
 

20 



 
someone meets and interacts with others, it is better to try to understand and then, as 

much as possible, to adjust to the other person's style. Men and women are often 

misconstrued because they use different ways of communicating. It is the difference that 

makes them address the problem differently. Men tend to be good speakers, emphasizing, 

and strengthening their status when speaking, unlike women do. Women, on the other 

hand, focus on creating positive social relationships, tending to listen to others, and being 

more emotional. It would be wise for a manager or leader to appreciate and accept the 

differences. When a leader learns to come to terms with the fact that everyone has a 

different way of speaking in terms of putting forward meanings, he or she is more likely 

to gain benefits from a variety of potential employees with different communication 

styles. Education on the other hand plays a key role in communication. Education 

provides us with enough information so that we are equipped with the right materials to 

organize our thoughts clearly to be able to convey them in an effective and intelligible 

way to others. Once our thoughts are clear enough, the next requirement for effective 

communication is good vocabulary which aids in the lucid delivery of our thoughts and 

information. Education offers a helping hand in initiating and enhancing our vocabulary 

continually. The third requirement is grammar. But for education, no one can ever hope 

to get a good grasp of the English language and its principles in grammar and other areas. 

The communication of such people who do not possess adequate knowledge of grammar 

will always be lacking in some important aspects and their message will always be poor 

compared to the communication of educated intelligent individuals (Bertalanffy, 2018). 

Education provides the platform for regular interaction with other educated and informed 

people which enriches one’s practical knowledge. This in turn adds substance and shine 

to one’s expressions. Education supplies the essential impetus which motives one to 

strive 

 

21 



 
for continuous development and desirable evolution, and communication is verily 

one of the important aspects of mankind's evolution. Without education, such a 

desirable growth will severely be hampered. 

 
 
 

 

2.7 Gap Analysis 
 

 

Analysis of Theoretical Gap 
 

 

Extant studies have analyzed communication from the perspective of leaders to 

employees, theoretically, the study seeks to argue out a dyadic relationship between a 

leader’s communication and his or her employees for the fact that the effectiveness or 

lapses from one end of the communication channel will affect the flow from the other. 

 

Analysis of Methodological Gap 
 

 

The methodology is very critical in determining both the validity and authenticity of a 

study. Analysis of empirical literature revealed that most of the studies employed the use 

of the quantitative approach. This resulted in some limitations in terms of in-depth 

information about the field of communication and leadership. This study thus fills the 

methodological gap by assessing this from the mixed-method perspective which will allow 

for more elaborate sets of data, especially from the qualitative perspective. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

22 



2.8 Empirical Literature 
 

 

In the light of this study, there have been many researchers and theorists who have delved into 

it and brought about many findings, which are being used in most of the modern organizations 

as far as effective communication is concerned. Bello (2016) argued in an empirical study that 

communication is an important component of an organization’s project. This is because it was 

assumed the global world had become so widespread that, most organizations’ petition to meet 

their needs with lesser resources through communication. His research tests the substantial 

relationship amid communication and workers' performance in some designated organizations 

in Lagos State, Nigeria. Statistics for the research were gathered through a questionnaire with 

a sample populace of 120 respondents. The outcome of the research revealed the relationship 

between effective communication and workers' performance, productivity, and commitment. 

Per the outcome shown in the study, a recommendation was made for managers to 

communicate with employees consistently and regularly to improve workers' commitment and 

performance. 

 

Bratton, Callinan, Forshaw, and Sawchuk (2016) presented a paper, which sought to 

investigate the functions of socio-emotional-oriented communication and job-related 

communication in augmenting institutional commitment in the People’s Republic of 

China. A statistical methodology was used to analyze data from a questionnaire. A sample 

size of 69 was selected as respondents. The key findings from the study were that social-

emotional-oriented communication among employees is a positive indicator of 

performance. Conversely, the findings failed to establish any unique linkage between 

horizontal and social-emotional communications. The paper concluded that vertical and 

job-related communication helps employees of governmental agencies in China to remain 

focused on the outlined objectives of their organizations. 

 

23 



 
Chen (2017) also highlighted on employee motivations and performance. From his 

analysis, morale, motivation, and performance of employees have a clear reflection on 

how an organization communicates with its members. The study aimed to explore the 

inter-relationship between communication and motivation and its overall impact on 

employee performance. DeRidder (2016), considers the results of a study of organizational 

communication and motivational practices followed at a large manufacturing company, 

Vanaz Engineers Ltd., based at Pune, to support the hypothesis propounded in the paper. 

 

With a focus on employee communication, Dwyer (2016) did research on an internal 

communication assessment of the Lilongwe City Assembly. Her study assessed the 

organizational communication of the Assembly. Explicitly, the effect of internal 

communication at the Lilongwe City was measured. The methodological approach 

measured their current and ideal amounts of information within the organization. These 

are receiving information from others, sending information to others, acting on 

information sent, channels of communication, communication relationships, 

communication and work satisfaction, timeliness of information received from key 

sources, and sources of information. Findings from a sample of 186 respondents of the 

assembly indicated a great need to receive information and to interact with Assembly 

management more frequently than what is happening currently. The communication 

between subordinates and co-workers seems to be satisfactory. However, the majority of 

his respondents expressed the need to engage with the assembly management on some key 

issues, including staff welfare, salaries, and benefits. 

 

Ainobushoborozi (2013), similarly did a study that examined the impact of effective 

communication on labor productivity in civil engineering projects with a case study of the 

Kampala Central division. The multinomial logit (MNL) estimation technique was 

 

24 



 
employed to measure the existing relationship between effective communication and labor 

productivity. Other explanatory variables include work duration spent in a company, 

educational qualifications, timely information on changes at work, cooperation at work, and 

adequate training provided for employees. The findings showed that asking for clarity in 

communication, cooperation at work to get tasks completed and timely information about 

changes affecting work is statistically meaningful to labor productivity in civil engineering 

projects. He stressed that to attain the targeted productivity level, managers should ensure 

clarity of any instruction at work, provide adequate training to employees, ensure cooperation 

at work by providing incentives, and finally develop a good communication plan to ensure 

timely information delivery especially on changes affecting work. 

 

Tersla (2018) analyzed the effects of leadership on the communication satisfaction of 

teachers. The data was obtained by giving questionnaires to 362 teachers from 57 primary 

schools in Serbia. Leadership is shown to have a strong and positive impact on the 

communication satisfaction of teachers in Serbian primary schools. The following 

dimensions of leadership have the strongest influence: Core Transformational Leadership 

Behavior, Contingent Reward Behavior, and Intellectual Stimulation. The moderating 

effect of teachers’ gender and age was examined with the observed relationships. The 

moderating effect of gender was confirmed in three dimensions of communication 

satisfaction: Communication Climate, Horizontal & Informal Communication, and 

Organizational Integration. Any moderating effect of age was not confirmed. Primary 

school principals in Serbia should devote considerable attention to developing leadership 

and communication skills. This would serve to achieve an increase in communication and 

job satisfaction among teachers, which potentially creates the conditions for the improved 

and effective functioning of schools. 

 
 
 

25 



 
Engle (2010) sought to examine the relationship between leadership communication style 

and job satisfaction of faculty in university business schools in Karachi. Also, it 

investigated whether gender had a role in job satisfaction, as well as whether the age and 

years of work experience impact job satisfaction. Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 

(MLQ) by Bass and Avolio (2000) and Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) Spector (1997) was 

used to procure data for the research purposes, while Statistical Package for the Social 

Sciences (SPSS) was used for the analyses. The findings revealed an extremely negative 

relationship between variables when examining the relationship between leadership 

communication style and job satisfaction which could be considered negligible. 

 

Gap Analysis 
 

 

Analysis of the Perspective Gap 
 

 

One of the major perspectives through which this study adds contribution to literature is 

the fact that most studies have assumed a direct effect of leadership on communication. 

This study with its quest to add to knowledge seeks to ride on the assertions of Goldhaber 

(2013) by analyzing the role level of education and age of leaders will play in terms of 

moderating the relationship between leadership style and effective communication. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

26 



CHAPTER THREE 
 

 

METHODOLOGY 
 

3.0 Introduction 

 

This chapter focused on the research methodology and design the study adopted in ascertaining 

the relationship between leadership and effective communication. The chapter further goes to 

identify the research design used to achieve the various objectives set out for the study. Besides, 

the chapter outlines the sample articles as well as the methods for future studies. 

 

3.1 Research Design 

 

The overall aim of this study is to ascertain the effect leadership has on organizational 

effective communication. The study was approached qualitatively using the deductive 

approach. The study adopted a desk research approach. The rationale for this type of design is 

to enable the researcher through a systematic sequence to analyze what other studies have 

found in this field and hence use their findings to arrive at a concrete result in a thematic 

format (Altinay and Parakevas, 2008). Collis and Hussey (2003) opined that survey strategies 

have two main paradigms that are the descriptive and analytical survey approach. For the 

objectives of the current study, the descriptive survey approach was carefully chosen since it 

provides findings that will be well defined and can be explicated and portrayed numerically 

(Collis and Hussey, 2003). The descriptive survey method allows the researcher to obtain an 

illustrative data in a specified population (Collis and Hussey, 2003). 

 

3.2 Sampled Articles 

 

The study selected articles from scholarly journals such as sage, emerald, and other peer-

reviewed journals. The study ensured that the articles selected were within the last five years 

to allow for a more recent analysis of the information therein. Besides, newspaper articles 

written as well as discussions on communication as it pertains to communication within 

organizations were also considered. 

27 



3.3 Proposed Method for Future Studies 
 

 

Future studies could employ the use of a mixed-method approach where data is taken from 

respondents in a sampled organization using both qualitative and quantitative means. Also, 

there is a need for future studies to consider using a correlational design to ascertain the 

relationship between leadership, age, education, and communication. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

28 



CHAPTER FOUR 
 

CONCLUSION 
 

4.0 Findings of the study 
 

The overall purpose of the study was to determine the moderating role of the level of education 

and age in establishing effective communication as a pivot of leadership. Further, the study 

explored different leadership styles and how they determined what kind of communication 

pattern was used by various leaders. Through desk research, the study analyzed extant studies 

that have been done concerning this study. The findings have been grouped based on the 

objectives of the study: 

 
 
 

 

4.1 To establish effective communication as a pivot of leadership 
 

 

The analytical review of extant studies revealed that there is a significant relationship between 

leadership style and effective communication. For instance, Pavitt (2019) revealed that 

autocratic leaders have very low communication competence in the sense that they usually do 

not engage in active communication with their employees and that they do not also express 

themselves openly to be understood by their subordinates. This is however the opposite for 

democratic leaders who would want to be heard and understood by their subordinates in terms 

of explaining things to them due to their relational approach to subordinate engagement. 

Leadership and effective communication are two vital sides of the same coin in every 

organization. Organizations that develop leaders to the extent that they can manage their 

communication very well with their subordinates tend to also be placed in a position where 

they can get the best out of their employees. 

 

A leader is someone who inspires positive, incremental change by empowering those around 

them to work toward common objectives. A leader’s most powerful tool for doing so is 

communication. Effective communication is vital to gain trust, align efforts in the pursuit of 

 
29 



 
goals, and inspire positive change. When communication is lacking, important information can 

be misinterpreted, causing relationships to suffer and, ultimately, creating barriers that hinder 

progress. When this happens, a leader would be said to have failed woefully in the execution of 

tasks or responsibilities. 

 
 
 

 

4.2 The relationship between individual leadership styles and communication 
 

 

Leadership communication is defined as inspiring and encouraging an individual or a group by 

systematic and meaningful sharing of information via excellent communication skills. Leadership 

communication is a complex process that starts from developing a strategy for communicating, 

writing precisely, and then speaking effectively to control difficult situations. Leadership 

communication has three major aspects: Core, Managerial, and Corporate. With an increase in a 

leader’s portfolio, there is the need to improvise communication skills to manage a large horizon 

and to become much more effective in all possible situations. So, complexity increases with an 

increase in the level of leadership. The Core Aspects Approach includes writing and speaking; 

these are the individualized skills and are required to be expanded, to lead and manage bigger 

groups or teams. Expressive cultural understandings, listening patiently, team management and 

team meetings, providing training facilities, and mentoring are the skills that aid to manage huge 

groups and are the Managerial Aspect Approach of leadership communication. The Corporate 

Aspects Approach is the skill required at much higher levels of leadership, and there is the need to 

interact with an external sphere, most needed skills; maintain employee relations, communication 

during change and crises, media associations, and image building. Every organization’s biggest 

challenge these days is to win the trust of its employees, business partners, and customers. An 

organization with leaders who are skillful enough to communicate responsively and frequently with 

perfectly planned and dedicated communication 

 
 

30 



 
policies, help to encourage not only employees but business partners and customers as well to 

trust the organization. Now the question comes, why is a leader required to build trust among 

stakeholders? The answer to this question is; Leaders are the individuals who are followed by 

many people because they trust him. Employees won't follow the leader they cannot trust 

(Gallom, 2018). Trust is an influential tool that can increase reliability, integrity, and gives you 

an added advantage in case of any uncertainty. One cannot build trust as trust cannot be built 

but gained or earned. 

 
 
 

 

4.3 Style According to the Situation 
 

 

The style of leadership is concerned with the practice and use of diverse leadership styles under 

unlike situations according to the need of audiences and personal leadership qualities. In every 

situation, communication gets affected as some situations demand direct and strict 

communication whilst in other situations, the leader has to opt for indirect ways of 

communication. This can sometimes make communication an effective process or may lead to 

miscommunication. 

 
 
 

 

4.4 Goal-Oriented Leadership Style 
 

 

Every leader has a vision or goal for himself and his team. This vision or goals are 

synchronized with organizational aims and objectives. A leader must communicate the vision 

and goals to his team to motivate them to achieve them with efficiency. He communicates in a 

way that he will be able to make others see what he is expecting from them. Team 

Involvement, effective listening, clear and timely communication is the main feature of this 

style. This style of leadership makes communication effective. 

 

 

31 



4.5 Directive Leadership Style 

 

In this style of leadership, the leader helps his teams to achieve their work targets and team 

targets by telling them the appropriate methods and showing the right direction to achieve 

those goals. He acts as a director, who supports and enables his team to follow the path which 

leads them to achieve their goals more easily and perfectly by communicating effectively. 

 
 
 

 

4.6 People-Centric or Employee Oriented 
 

 

According to this, there are two types of employees working in a team: active and lazy. The 

active category includes those employees who are self-motivated and enthusiastic to work hard 

for accomplishing the tasks given to them. Another one is those who need regular motivation 

and encouragement to perform their duties. With this leadership style, a leader must be in 

regular touch and communication with employees to get the work done. The leader must make 

strategies per employee’s interests and strengths to make them attached to their work. 

Communication is an important part of this leadership style. 

 
 
 

 

4.7 Action Based Leadership Style 
 

 

This style recommends that the leader should emphasize three main duties; assignment, group, 

and individual. A leader must have time to concentrate on the assignment given, the team 

working on that assignment and individual issues of the team members and most importantly, 

should try to meet the deadlines by focusing on each one at different times. Here, the main 

objective of the team is to get the work done and the leader must uphold the focus of the team 

to achieve objectives. A leader needs to boost and increase the balance between the needs of 

the tasks, team, and individuals by regularly and effectively communicating with them. 

 

 

32 



4.8 The level of education, age, and effective communication. 
 

 

• Leader’s Level of Education and Communication 
 

 

It is believed that a leader must adjust his leadership style by keeping in mind the intellectual 

level and maturity of the employees. Here maturity does not refer to the sensitivity or age, but 

it means work stability, tendency to handle complex situations, and potential of achieving a 

given target. Effective leaders always try to maintain a good balance by adjusting the 

leadership method which further influences communication. All of these are likely to go in a 

certain direction depending on how much the leader has learned over the years and to what 

extent he has been educated. 

 
 
 

 

• Leader’s Age and Communication 
 

 

With typical aging, communication skills change subtly at least in part because of changes in 

physical health, depression, and cognitive decline. Aging is responsible for physiological 

changes in hearing, voice, and speech processes. A person’s age can be predicted with fair 

accuracy by speech characteristics including voice tremor, pitch, speaking rate, loudness, and 

fluency. Some language skills remain intact, whereas others tend to decline. For example, 

vocabulary, grammatical judgment, and repetition ability are relatively stable with age; 

comprehension of complex utterances and naming may decline. Although changes in 

communication skills such as voice may be subtle and gradual, they have clear life 

consequences such as avoidance of social situations. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

33 



4.9 Recommendations for Future Studies 
 

 

Based on the findings of the study, the researcher suggests that further studies should analyze 

leadership communication styles across several different organizations. This should be done 

across different levels of the organization such as the corporate and operational levels of the 

organization. Further study should also adopt a longitudinal approach to analyze the trend in 

leader and employee communication processes. 

 
 
 

 

4.10 Conclusion 
 

 

As stated in the introduction, ample studies and researches have been done with the same purpose 

of identifying how communication and leadership are interrelated to each other. Why are excellent 

communication skills required to manage a team at a workplace or to manage an organization 

efficiently? How does communication get affected by different leadership styles? What are the 

qualities which make a leader a perfect communicator? In conclusion, it can be stated that effective 

communication and leadership together give effective leadership communication. A leader cannot 

become an effective leader unless he is an excellent communicator and must use this ability to get 

individuals to follow him. He must have the knowledge and the ability to communicate that 

knowledge to others at work. He must have the competencies to motivate his team to achieve what 

may seem impossible for others. Communication contributes largely to making an effective leader 

who develops a better understanding of teams. These understandings bring a sense of trust in 

employees on the leader and each other when working together, which further reinforces congenial 

relations with team members and creates an excellent work atmosphere. While working with such a 

good, healthy, positive, and congenial environment, they get motivated and enthusiastic to work 

much harder. This dedication towards their work makes it easy to achieve their targets quickly and 

hence their 

 

34 



 
productivity increases. There is another point of view that different leadership styles also have 

an impact on communication. As different communication styles have an impact on leadership 

similarly different leadership also influences communication (Moore, 2016). A change in style 

also has an impact on communication. In a situation where the leader has to handle a tough or 

critical situation, he needs to be a little hard and will therefore have to adapt an autocratic and 

authoritative leadership style, but must have control over his communication otherwise it could 

be labeled as miscommunication. Also, when a leader has to deal with a group of people with 

different work attitudes and styles, he needs to be more people-centric and should 

communicate in a way that he will be able to reach individuals across all levels even while 

interacting with a group. In the end, it can be said that both communication and leadership are 

linked deeply and cannot be done individually. However, there still isn’t a clear-cut 

explanation or clarification to these questions, as concepts may vary from person to person and 

every individual has his perception of the things happening around. Based on the above 

discussion and understanding of the concept, the author has designed a Conceptual Model for 

effective leadership communication. According to this model Effective communication and 

leadership together develop a better understanding among team members and the leader or 

manager. More understanding inculcates the trust factor which is very important to work 

together. Trust gives congenial relations which further help to build a good working 

environment where employees feel motivated and enriched with self-confidence and work in 

coordination. This coordination yields the best of their performance by accomplishing the 

given targets; individual as well as team targets. 

 

Effective communication management is a principal leadership skill. Underlisted is some 

communication principles to become an excellent leader: 

 

• A leader must be confident enough while communicating with others. People must believe the 

communications made by their leaders. Lack of confidence while communicating can make team 

 
35 



 
members uncomfortable, and unenthusiastic about their work. Confidence helps a team to 

work together to achieve desired goals. 

 

• True leaders always have to communicate the rules clearly to their teams and should follow 

those rules themselves, which they expect to be followed by others. They must communicate 

indirectly to their team that they are capable of doing what they expect from them. They must 

lead their teams by setting examples. 

 
• A great leader must be energetic and self-motivated while communicating. If the leader is 

doubtful, negative, or disconnected, no one in the team would relate to him. Only highly 

energetic and self-motivated leaders are considered as effective leaders because they have vast 

potential to motivate and to raise the morale of their teams. 

 
• Great leaders must be steady and trustworthy while they communicate. There must be value, 

 

grace, and regularity when they interact with their teams, but can also modify according to the 

listeners. They must upgrade their personality as a trustworthy communicator to develop 

trustworthiness among their team and various business channels. A quick change in attitude is 

not considered as a leader’s best quality. 

 

• A good leader must always be easy to approach without any barriers if the team members are 

left with doubt about the information shared during the communication process. He should be 

readily available to his team and other channels as well. Inaccessibility makes a leader 

unsuccessful and incompetent. 

 
• For a leader to become effective, he must have a clear thought process. There must be clarity 

in opting for communication techniques, channels, and approaches by keeping in mind the 

intellectual level and understanding of the listeners. He must be very competent to manage 

multifaceted things and should be able to convert them into a simpler form to make his team 

understand and to perform extremely well. 

 

36 



 
• Communication by leaders must be clear, brief, and should consider the thoughts, ideas, and 

feelings of others. An excellent leader is required to admire all cultures, knowledge, education, 

moral values, different demographics, and communication inclinations. 

 
• It is a must for a leader to establish a transparent system of communication. There should be 

no space for any grapevine to develop. Unless very confidential, there should be no secret 

between the leader and the team. 

 
• A leader should be very much focused and stable while communicating with his team 

because, during difficult situations, the team depends on the leader's effective communication 

for getting stability and solutions. 

 
• Strong  leaders  should  be  comprehensive  in  communication  and  must  try  to  overcome 

 

differences positively and practically. 
 

 

• A leader must also emphasize effective listening rather than completely focusing on effective 

speaking because to hear patiently is as significant as to say effectively. 

 
• A great leader must always concentrate on communicating with teams rather than simply 

sharing information with them because communication can inspire opinions, approaches, and 

activities whereas information means just to inform. 

 
• For a leader, communicating without fear is very important. he should communicate without 

entertaining the fear of committing blunders or errors. In the case where a leader ends up making 

mistakes, he should admit them openly to gain the trust and respect of the team members. 

 
• A leader must be sure of the messages he sends to his team because a wrong message may 

end up stirring up a conflict or a difference in opinion. The message should be clear, precise, 

and properly written. 

 
 
 

 

37 



 
• A leader must communicate with an open mind and always welcome suggestions and ideas 

for improvement in his style and enhanced learning. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

38 



REFERENCES 
 

Acquaah, M. (2015). Business strategy and competitive advantage in family businesses in 

Ghana: the role of social networking relationships. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 

16(1), 103-126. 

 

Ainobushoborozi Antony (2016), Impact of Effective Communication On Labour Productivity In 

Civil Engineering Projects A Case Study Of Kampala Central Division. Aldakhilallah, K.A., and 

Parente, D.H. (2016) “Redesigning A Square Peg: Total Quality Management Performance 

Appraisals,” Total Quality Management, 13(1), 39-51. 

 
Allen, M. W. (2012): Communication and  organizational commitment: perceived 

 

organizational support as a mediating factor. Communication Quarterly 40 (4): 357-367. Anchor 

Z. (2017): Point Research 2017, Frame-Pattern-Circuits, published by TU Delft Urbanism, 2017 

Barker, R. T. (2019). The department and implementation of a communication audit related to 

selected systems concepts. Michigan: Florida State University. 

 
Bello, A. (2017). Social learning theory. Englewood Clivs: NJ: Prentice-Hall. 
 
 

Bertalanffy, L. von (2018). General Systems Theory: Foundations, Development, and 

 

Applications. New York: Braziller. 

 

Beyan, O.I (2016). Trait names: a psycho-lexical study. Psychological, 47 (211). 
 

 

Beyerlein, M. M., McGee, C., Klein, G. D. Nemiro, J. E., and Broedling, L. (2016); The 

Collaborative Work System Fieldbook: Strategies, Tools, and Techniques. San Francisco: 

Pfeiffer. 

 

Booth, A. (2016). Communication Audits. Aldershot: Gower Publishing Company Ltd. Borman, 

W. C. and Motowidlo, S. J. (2017) Task performance and contextual performance: The meaning 

for personnel selection research. Human Performance, 10(2): 99-109. 

 
Bratton, J., M. Callinan, C. Forshaw, and P. Sawchuk (2016): Work and organizational behavior: 

 

understanding the workplace. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 

 

39 



Business Communication (2015): Types of Communication, Tagged with Advantages, 

 

Disadvantages of Vertical Communication. 

 

Castaneda,  G.,  &Nahavandi,  H.  (1991).  Trait  names:  a  psycho-lexical  study.  Psychological 

 

Monographs, 47 (211). 
 

 

Chen, Ni. (2017). “Internal/Employee Communication and Organizational Effectiveness: a study 

 

of Chinese corporations in transition.” Journal of Contemporary China 17(54) (February), 167- 

 

189. 

 

Cheryl H. (2016), Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions 

Craig, M. L. (2016). Sex differences in business ethics: The importance of perceptions. Journal of 
 

Managerial Issues, 9,454−474. 
 

 

De Ridder J. A., (2016). Organizational communication and supportive 

Ducharme,  L.  J.,  &  Martin,  J.  K.  (2015):  Unrewarding  Work,  Coworker  Support,  and  Job 

 

Satisfaction. Work and Occupations, 27(2), 223-243. 

 

Dwyer, J. (2016): Communication in Business. (5th ed.), Frenchs Forest: Prentice-Hall. Emotional 

 

Intelligence: Implications for Personal, Social, Academic, and Workplace Success (2015), Marc 

 

A. Brackett, et al; Article first published online: 4 JAN 2015. 

 

England: Pearson Education Limited. 
 

Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Appraisal Document (2015) 

Goldhaber, G. M. (2013): Organizational Communication. 6th ed. Dubuque, IA: Brown. 
 

Greenberg. J., Baron R. A. (2017): Behaviour in Organisations. 9
th

  ed. Upper Saddle River, 
 

NJ: Pearson Education. 

 

Gudykunst, W, B. (2016): Journal of logistics information management, Vol 14, No 5/6, pp 421- 

 

426 

 

Hall,  N.  M.,  Lord,  C. A.  (1995).  Bad  apples  in  bad  barrels  revisited:  Personal  factors  and 

 

organizational rewards as determinants of managerial ethical decision-making. Business Ethics 

 

Quarterly, 16, 449−474. 
 
 

 

40 



 
Harris, T. E., & Nelson, M. D. (2017). Applied organizational communication, theory, and 

practice in the global environment. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum. 

 

Hittleman, J., & Simon, B. (2002). Using theory to evaluate personality and job-performance 

relations: A socio analytic perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100-112. 

 

Holladay, Y.U & Coombs, T. J. (1993). Leadership: Current theories, research, and future 

directions. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 421–449 

 

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/10-common-leadership-styles 
 

 

Interscience Management Review (IMR) ISSN: 2231-1513 Volume -2, Issue-2, 2015. 

 

Cornelissen, J. (2017):  Corporate Communication:  A Guide to Theory and Practice. 2nded. 

 

London: SAGE Publications. 

 

Interscience Management Review (IMR) ISSN: 2231-1513 Volume-2, Issue-2, 2015 IOSR 

Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 19, Issue 8, Ver. II 

 

(Aug.2016), PP 75-82 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. Islam R. and Rasad S. M. 

(2016): Employee Performance Evaluation by Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), A Case Study; 

International Islamic University Malaysia and Inter System Maintenance Services S/B, 53100 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

 
Kacmar, K. M., Wilt, L. A., Zivnuska, S. and Gully, S. M. (2016): The interactive effect of 

leader-member exchange and communication frequency on performance ratings, Journal of 

Applied Psychology, 88, 764-772 

 

Korkaew J. and Suthinee R. (2015), Factors Affecting Job Performance: A Review of Literature, 

Silpakorn University Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts, Vol.12 (2): 115-127, 

2015 

Kreps, G. L. (2016), Organizational Communication: Theory and Practice. 2
nd

  ed. NY: 
Lindlof,  T.  R.  and  Taylor,  B.  C.  (2015):  Qualitative  Communication  Research  Methods; 
 
 

 

41 

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/10-common-leadership-styles


Published by Sage Publications Inc. 

 

Longenecker, C.O. and Fink, L.S. (2019) “Creative Effective Performance Appraisals,” 

 

Industrial Management, 18-23. 

 

Longman.  

Macey, W. H., and Schneider, B. (2017): The meaning of employee engagement. Industrial and 

Organizational Psychology, 1(1):3-30. 

 

Madlock, P., and Booth-Butterfield. M. (2017): Annual Meeting of the International 

 

Communication Association, May 2017: The Effects of Coworker Relational 

 

Maintenance Strategies on Employee Outcomes. TBA: Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 1-128 Miller, 

K. (2017). Organizational communication. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. Mowle, J. 2016. 

Local corporate learning center pushes executives out of their comfort zones. Colorado Springs 

Business Journal 30 (January): 2016. 

 

McMillan, R., Schumacher, O. (2006). A review of leader-member exchange research: Prospects 

and directions. International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 25, 35-88. 

DOI:10.1002/9780470661628 

 

Moore, F. (2016). Ethical leadership and Trust: It’s all About meeting expectations. International 

Journal of leadership studies, V (2), 102-123. 

 

Moore, F. O. (2016). Authentic Leadership: Theory Building for Veritable Sustained Performance. 

 

Working paper. Lincoln: Gallup Leadership Institute, University of Nebraska. 
 

 

Muda I., Rafiki A. and Harahap M. R. (2016), Factors Influencing Employees’ Performance: A 

Study on the Islamic Banks in Indonesia International, Journal of Business and Social Science 

Vol. 5 No. 2 

 

Neves P. and Eisenberger R. (2015): The Oxford Handbook of Leadership and Organizations, 

published by Oxford University Press 

 

 

42 



 
Northouse, P. (2010). Ethics, character, and authentic transformational leadership behavior. The 

Leadership Quarterly, 10, 181−217. 

 

Opoku-Amankwa, K. (2017): Social Research Methods, University Printing Press. Kumasi. Pavir, 

J., (2019). Leader distance: A review and proposed theory. The Leadership Quarterly, 13, 

673−704. 

 

Pavit,  A.,  &Nahavandi,  L.  (1991).  Planning  Research  in  Hospitality  and  Tourism.  Elsevier. 
 

published by Van Schaik, 2016 
 
 

Puth G. (2016): The Communicating Leader, The key to Strategic Alignment: 2
nd

 Edition  
Rajhans K. (2015): Effective Organizational Communication; a key to Employee Motivation and 

Performance 

 

Rhoades G. and Eisenberger R (2016): Management in Africa, Macro and Micro Perspectives, 

Published by Routledge, 2016 

 

Rich, B. L., LePine, J. A., and Crawford, E. R. (2016), Job engagement: Antecedents and effects 
 

on job performance. Academy of Management Journal, 53(3): 617-635. Richmond V. P. and 

 

McCroskey J. C. (2017): Organizational Communication for Survival: Making work work 

 

(4
th

 ed), Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon 
 

Robbins, S. P., Judge T. A., and T. T. Campbell. 2016. Organizational Behaviour. Essex, Roberts, 
G.E. (2016) “Employee Performance Appraisal System Participation: A Technique 

 

that Works,” Public Personnel Management, 32(1), 89-98 

 

Roethlisberger, F. J., and W. J. Dickson. (1939)Management a n d the Worker. Cambridge, MA: 

Harvard University Press. 

 

Salem, P. (2019). Organizational communication and change. New Jersey: Hampton Press. 

Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A., (2016), Research method for business students (4th ed). 

Schein, E. (2017): Organizational Culture and Leadership. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 

 
 

 

43 



Shockley–Zalabak, P. (2016). Fundamentals of organizational communication: 

 

Knowledge, sensitivity, skills, value. (2nd ed). New York: Longman. 

 

Skinner, C., Essen, L., & Mersham, G. (2016). Handbook of public relations (6th ed). Cape 

Town: Oxford University Press. 

 

Sostek, A. (2016): Studies Shows a Bit of Office Talk Can Boost Productivity. Pittsburgh Post-

Gazette. 

 

Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (5th ed.). Boston, MA: 

 

Pearson Education, Inc. 
 

 

Ten Common Leadership Styles(2020, May 21). Retrieved from 
 

 

Trahant B, (2017), Six Communication Secrets of Top-Performing Organizations, The Public 

Manager, fall 2017, p68-75. 

 

Tsai,  Ming-Ten,   and  Shuang-Shii  Chuang.”  (2017).  An  Integrated  Process  Model of 

Communication Satisfaction and Organizational Outcomes.” Social Behavior and Personality 

37 (6).   

Tumbare  N.  (2017):  An  internal  communication  assessment  of the Lilongwe  City Assembly 

at Stellenbosch University   

Vallance,  S.  (2019)  Performance  Appraisal  in  Singapore,  Thailand, and  the  Philippines: A 

Culture Perspective,” Australian Journal of Public Administration, 58(3), 78-95. Wallace P. 

(2016),  The  Internet  in  the  Workplace:  How  New  Technology is Transforming Work 

Walumbwa, G. (2016). Personality: A psychological interpretation. New York: Holt Press.  
 

 

Wang, Y. (2016): Procedural justice, participation, and power distance Information sharing in 

Chinese firms, Management Research Review 33(1), pp. 66-78. 

 

Weckowicz T. E. (2015), Child Development: Theories and Critical Perspectives – Chapter 9 

(Sociocultural Influences on Development) revised; published by Routledge 2015. 

 
44 



Welch  M.  and  Jackson  P.  R.,  (2016)  “Rethinking  internal  communication: a  stakeholder 

 

approach”, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol 12 Iss:2, pp.177- 198 

 

Werner, J. M. (2015): Implications of OCB and contextual performance for human resource 

 

management. Human Resource Management Review, 10(1): 245-261. 

 

Westat, R. G-M (2016), Post-School Outcomes: Response Rates and Nonresponse Bias; In 

collaboration with Mike Bullis, Director and Jane Falls, Coordinator, National Post- School 

Outcomes Center, University of Oregon, October 2016 

 

www.iosrjournals.org  
Yorkston, K.M.,& Bourgeois, M.S.,&Baylor, C.R.(2010). Communication and aging. Phys Med 

Rehabil Clin N Am, 21(2), 309–319. DOI: 10.1016/j.pmr.2009.12.011 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

http://www.iosrjournals.org/