CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDYThe problem of management in effectiveness and bad attitudeto work among Nigerians is widespread in government ownedcompanies. There has been growing concern amongNigerians on the poor organisational performance andmanagerial ineffectiveness recorded in these organisations.This concern perhaps is a result of the size of economic andsocial influence of these government institutions on Nigeriandevelopment. (Akpala, 1990:193).Inspite of the huge capital investments in these companies,the results have been extremely poor. As a result ofgovernment, as trustees for the ultimate owners of publicenterprises have appointed tribunals, commissions and panelsto find ways and means to improve the efficiency andeffectiveness of the enterprises (CMD, 1985:5).At the managerial and operative performance levels, theproblem is also a general one. In an attempt to explain andsubsequentlyliniment government owned companies, twoschools of thought emerge. One is of the opinion that theproblem is from ill implication of the known theories and2principles of management in government owned companies.The other holds that the problem stems from not applyingmanagement philosophy that is based on Nigerian culture.This takes us to the meaning of management. Managementcan be defined as the art or science of working in anorganisation through being directed by and by directing andco-ordinating the activities of people to achieve one’s personalgoals in the context of the goals of one’s organisation(Ejiofor,1985:3).Management involves the performance of all the managementfunctions which include planning, organizing, staffing,directing, controlling and co-ordinating of activities to attainoptimum result with organisation resources. Management isconcerned with the achievement of objectives, performancesresult, success, efficiency and effectiveness.The survival of any company in realizing its objectives, dependamong other things in proper management of its human andmaterial resources.No company or organisation can have its activities moving onwithout a manager. Managers and company goes hand inhand. The need for managers arises because companiesexist. One cannot exist without the other.Managers have to perform many roles in an organisation andhow they handle various situations will depend on their style ofmanagement. A management style is an overall method ofleadership used by a manager.There are two sharply contrasting styles that will be brokendown into smaller subsets later.(i) Autocratic(ii) PermissiveEach style has its own characteristicsAutocratic:leaders make all decisions unilaterally.Permissive: leader permits subordinate to take part in decisionmaking and also gives them a considerable degree of autonomyin completing routine work activities combining those categorieswith democratic (subordinates are allowed to participate indecision making) and directive (subordinates are told exactly howto do their jobs) styles gives us four distinctive ways to manage(IEBM, 1998:201).Directive democrat: makes decisions participatively i.e. closelysupervises subordinates.Directive autocratic: makes decisions unilaterally; closelysupervises subordinates.Permissive democrat: makes decisions participatively givessubordinates latitude in carrying out their work.Permissive autocrat: makes decisions unilaterally givessubordinates latitude in carrying out their work.Managers must also adjust their styles according to the situation thatthey are presented with. Below are four quadrats of situationalleadership that depend on the amount of support and guidanceneeded.Telling: work best when employees are neither willing nor able to dothe job (high need of support and high need of guidance).Delegating: works best when the employers are willing to do the joband know how to get about it (low need of guidance and low need ofsupport).Participating: works best when employers have the ability to do thejob, but need high amount of support (low need of guidance but highneed of support).Selling: works best when employees are willing to do the job, butdon’t know how to do it (low need of support but high need ofguidance).The different styles depend on the situation and the relationshipbehaviour (amount of support required and task behaviour(amount of guidance required).1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMThe effect of management style on the efficiency of governmentowned companies cannot be discussed without looking into theproblems militating against these management styles. Theseupsetting difficulties and problems are:a) Poor attitude to work/poor performanceb) No proper accountabilityc) Inefficiencyd) Wrong management stylee) Poor quality service (Norber M. Ile)These problems have attracted incessant criticisms from people.Some managers lack good management capabilities.It is all these that made the researcher to endeavour to determinethe impact of the management style on the efficiency of governmentowned companies.1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDYThe purpose of the study is as follows:1. To find out the impact of the management style on theefficiency of some government owned companies.2. To find out the management style adopted by thesecompanies.3. To find out why there is poor attitude to work in thesecompanies.4. To find out why there is poor performance and improperaccountability in these companies.5. To ascertain the causes of manager’s inefficiency andinstability.6. To make recommendations.1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS1. What is the impact of management style on the efficiency ofgovernment owned companies?2. What management style is adopted in Enugu State WaterCorporation and Enugu State Star Printing and PublishingCompany Limited?3. Why is there poor attitude to work in these companies?