MBA Dissertation: Leadership Styles and Employee Performance at HSBC

This MBA dissertation investigates the influence of leadership styles on employee performance at HSBC Sri Lanka. It examines transformational, transactional, and contingency leadership theories, utilizing quantitative data and a positivist research approach. The study assesses the effectiveness of different leadership styles within HSBC's organizational context. The research uses reliability and validity testing, demographic analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis to derive findings and conclusions. The results suggest that transformational leadership is most effective in enhancing employee performance at HSBC. Based on these findings, the dissertation provides relevant recommendations for improving leadership capabilities and organizational effectiveness. Desklib provides access to this document and a wealth of study resources for students.

Running head: RESEARCH PAPER
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION DISSERTATION SESSION 2018/9
TITLE
Evaluation of the Role of leadership style for the performances of employees at HSBC
bank in Sri Lanka.
AUTHOR
Dilan Dharmaratne 420296632

1RESEARCH PAPER
MBA Project Declaration
I declare that the work contained in this project has not been submitted for any other
award and that it is all my own work. To the best of my knowledge, the work contains
no material previously published or written by another person except where due
reference is made in the text of the project.
Title of project:
Effect of Role of leadership style for the performances of employees at HSBC bank in
Sri Lanka.
Name (Print): Dilan Dharmaratne
Signature: ______________________________________________
Date: 14th December 2018

2RESEARCH PAPER
Table of Contents
Acknowledgement.................................................................................................................. 4
Abstract.................................................................................................................................. 5
Chapter 1: Introduction...........................................................................................................6
1.0 Introduction...................................................................................................................... 6
1.1 Background of the study...................................................................................................6
1.2 Research Problem............................................................................................................7
1.3 Rationale.......................................................................................................................... 8
1.4 Objective of the research..................................................................................................8
1.5 Research Question...........................................................................................................8
1.6 Research Hypothesis.......................................................................................................9
1.7 Structure of the dissertation..............................................................................................9
1.8 Summary........................................................................................................................ 10
Chapter 2: Literature review.................................................................................................12
2.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 12
2.2 Leadership..................................................................................................................... 12
2.3 Theories on leadership and leadership styles.................................................................13
2.3.1 Trait Approaches.........................................................................................................13
2.3.2 Behavioural Approaches.............................................................................................14
2.3.3 Contingency Theories..................................................................................................14
2.3.4 Situational Theories.....................................................................................................15
2.3.5 Transformational leadership........................................................................................16
2.3.6 Transactional leadership.............................................................................................18
2.4 Employee performance..................................................................................................20
2.5 Conceptual Framework..................................................................................................21
2.6 Literature gap................................................................................................................. 22
2.7 Summary........................................................................................................................ 22
Chapter 3: Research Methodology.......................................................................................23
3.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 23

3RESEARCH PAPER
3.2 Research Philosophy......................................................................................................23
3.3 Research Approach........................................................................................................24
3.4 Research Design............................................................................................................ 24
3.5 Data collection and analysis...........................................................................................25
3.6 Sampling technique........................................................................................................26
3.7 Reliability and validity.....................................................................................................26
3.8 Ethical consideration......................................................................................................27
3.9 Summary........................................................................................................................ 27
Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis.........................................................................................28
4.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 28
4.2 Reliability and Validity testing.........................................................................................28
4.3 Demographic questions..................................................................................................31
4.4 Questions on Transformational leadership.....................................................................34
4.5 Questions on Transactional leadership...........................................................................41
4.6 Questions contingency theory of leadership...................................................................46
4.7 Questions on employee performance.............................................................................49
4.7 Correlation Analysis........................................................................................................52
4.8 Regression Analysis.......................................................................................................58
4.9 Discussion...................................................................................................................... 64
4.10 Summary...................................................................................................................... 64
Chapter 5: Conclusion..........................................................................................................65
5.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 65
5.2 Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 65
5.3 Recommendation........................................................................................................... 66
5.4 Self reflection.................................................................................................................. 66
5.5 future scope.................................................................................................................... 67
References........................................................................................................................... 68
Appendix.............................................................................................................................. 72

4RESEARCH PAPER
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I also would like to extend my sincere thanks to the academic and administrative staff at
BMS institute Colombo and the Edinburgh Napier university for the support given to me in
completing this task, who shared their knowledge and assisted me in many ways to achieve
my academic success in completing this MBA.
My special thanks are due to the participants who spend their valuable time in completing
the questionnaire.

5RESEARCH PAPER
ABSTRACT
This research had examined the impact of leadership styles on the performance of the
employees. HSBC SriLanka was chosen as the case study for the research. Leadership is a
key aspect of modern business as it assists the workforce in striving towards their personal
and professional goals. The analysis of the past literature had shown that there had been
significant contribution in the field of leadership and employee performance. However, very
few literature that had evaluated which of the leadership styles are more effective in modern
organizational context. The research had used a single research design which used the
positivist view and conducted quantitative data to examine the impact of leadership on the
performance of the employees. The findings show that transformational leadership was the
most effective as per the research problem in HSBC. The research had provided relevant
conclusion and recommendation based on the results.

6RESEARCH PAPER
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.0 INTRODUCTION
This research has aimed to examine the impact of leadership styles on the
performance of the employees. HSBC SriLanka has been chosen as the case study for the
research. Leadership is a key aspect of modern business as it assists the workforce in
striving towards their personal and professional goals. It also generates an organizational
culture that is conducive for improving the productivity and team work of employees. Khoza,
Chetty and Karodia (2016) stated that effective leadership can promote excellent
development for the employees within the organization. The theoretical perspective
presented by Fred Fiedler highlighted the contingency model theory of leadership that
proposed that effectiveness of the employee performance depends on ability of the leader to
lead is contingent on situational factor (Matthews, Daigle & Houston, 2018). These factors
include preferred style, behavior, capabilities and competency of the employees. This
signifies that leaders should adapt to the styles that is best to a current situation and use
different styles to stimulate the performance of the employees. However, there has been
arguments in the past literature over the appropriate style of leadership to motivate the
employees and enhance their performance. This research has aimed to highlight the
leadership style which is most significantly effective for improving the performance of the
employees or whether the contingency theory holds true in the context of HSBC SriLanka.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Leadership has been understood as the method of explanation and persuasion along
with the ability to classify, confirm and reintroduce the values of the groups represented by
the leader. Leadership is not bounded by virtues technical skills, managerial expertise,
cultural literacy and other skills (Khoza, Chetty & Karodia, 2016). Effective leaders have the
duty to guide the workforce by sharing knowledge so that they achieve highest quality of
performance. Business entities have been trying to hire the best possible leaders for their
respective organizations. Moreover, past researches show that various researches have
been conducted to understand the ways great leaders operate. This has resulted in the
development of various leadership theories. The significance of leadership styles is known
from the past researches as various investigations has been performed in developing and
developed countries. This research has considered the case of HSBC to understand the
suitable leadership style for the employees within the organization.
HSBC is one of the most renowned international brands and considered one of the
market leaders in the global banking industry. The company is one of the largest operating in

7RESEARCH PAPER
more than 60 countries all over the world (HSBC Sri Lanka, 2019). The company is providing
service to more than 38 million consumers all over the world through their 3900 branches all
across the globe (HSBC Sri Lanka, 2019). HSBC is one of the oldest banks in SriLanka and
has been awarded repeatedly in the past which highlights the performance they have
achieved over the decades. HSBC has been the first movers in the Sri Lankan market in
terms of various services offered to the consumer, such as digital banking (HSBC Sri Lanka,
2019). The company not provides commercial banking services but also personal banking
services consisting of individual and corporate consumers. The target consumers of the
bank are high end consumers having high net worth in the market. Therefore, in order to
maintain sustainable competitive advantage, the organization requires effective performance
levels from the workforce.
1.2 RESEARCH PROBLEM
The organization lost revenue in the year of 2017, when their revenue decreased to
5.275 billion rupees compared to the 5.598 billion rupees. HSBC continued to lose their
funds in the next year and the whole year was a setback for the company. This shows that
the company has failed to hold to their growth and sustain in the Sri Lankan market.
Workforce is one of the major sources of competitive advantage for the company and the
data clearly shows that there is deterioration in the performance of the employees. However,
this can only be confirmed by conducting an extensive study on the employees to
understand the impact of leadership on the loss of the company. Moreover, SriLanka is a
country with high power distance resulting in a hierarchical structure. Therefore, the research
has aimed to examine the leadership style at HSBC Sri Lanka to understand any
irregularities that may affect the performance of the employees and the company. The
company lost revenue at the global level which shows that there are in efficiencies which
needs to be taken care of. HSBC’s inability to grow while keeping their cost intact is one of
the major concerns for the investors and bank has been missing their target income more
frequently than before. The organization also reported expected loss in credit that is much
higher than the expected amount. Moreover, the company has been under the limelight for
the wrong reasons where they had to pay heavy fine due to tax related issues which is also
affecting their performance. Therefore, in this situation of crisis, the organization needs to
develop effective strategies to improve the performance level of the employees. The
research has examined the leadership style of the management in HSBC to understand the
contribution of leadership on the performance of the employees.

8RESEARCH PAPER
1.3 RATIONALE
Leadership has been considered as a necessary component for the developing an
effective organizational culture and motivating workforce. There have been significant
changes in the nature of workforce in different countries so adaptability is the key to
sustainability for the companies in the global market. HSBC has been facing major issues in
the global market where there is steep decrease in their revenue (HSBC Sri Lanka, 2019).
However, there may be various reasons due to which the organization has been losing
revenue but this research aims to measure the impact of leadership on the performance of
the employees and the organization. The employee performance is a key component of
organizational performance so the research aims to develop relevant findings to increase the
awareness of the management in HSBC. The findings can also be used by other companies
in similar setting facing similar issues to improve their organizational culture and employee
performance. This research has also developed a model which aims to understand whether
any particular leadership style is effective or different styles based on the situation needs to
be implemented. Therefore, this research has aimed to understand the implication of
proposed contingency theory and other leadership theories to decide which leadership style
is more effective in HSBC SriLanka.
1.4 OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH
The main objective of the research are as follows:
 To examine the impact of different leadership styles on the performance of the
employees
 To evaluate the leadership style that is more suited to the needs of workforce at
HSBC
 To determine whether the contingency theory hold true or not in this given context
 To provide suitable recommendations to improve the leadership capabilities
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTION
Primary Research Question
What is the impact of different leadership styles on the performance of the employees?
Secondary Research Questions
What is the most appropriate style of leadership at HSBC SriLanka?
What is the implication of contingency theory at HSBC SriLanka?

9RESEARCH PAPER
1.6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
H01: There is no significant impact of transformational style of leadership on the performance
of employees
H11: There is significant impact of transformational styles of leadership on the performance of
employees
H02: There is no significant impact of transactional style of leadership on the performance of
employees
H12: There is significant impact of transactional styles of leadership on the performance of
employees
H03: Favourability of the leadership situation does not have positive impact on the
performance of the employees
H13: Favourability of the leadership situation does have positive impact on the performance
of the employees
1.7 STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION
The dissertation consists of five chapters where the first chapter is introduction which
provides vivid description of the research problem, objective and purpose of conducting the
research. This chapter has also provided details of the research question and reason for
choosing the research topic.
The next chapter of the dissertation is the literature review which critically evaluates
the past literature on leadership styles and identifies the gap in literature. The hypothesis in
the first chapter has been developed based on the evaluation of the literature conducted on
the past literatures. This literature review also has performed synthesis of past data to
understand the difference in results and opinions of different authors.
The third chapter has developed research methods, frameworks and assumptions
based on the research onion. It has provided detailed description of the research philosophy,
approach, design, data collection, data analysis method, reliability, validity and ethical
consideration. This research has provided a systematic description of the way different data
instruments have been used to collect data and analyse it.
The next chapter has performed analysis on the collected data by using statistical
tools and techniques where inferential statistics has been used to draw inference from the
collected data. This chapter has also discussed the findings by linking it with the literature
review.

10RESEARCH PAPER
The final chapter in the dissertation provides a significant conclusion linking the
objectives of the research with the key findings. It has provided suitable recommendations
that can be implemented by HSCBC bank in Sri Lanka. The research has provided scope of
future research and limitation of the current study. The final conclusion drawn with a
personal reflection on the learning from the overall research project.
Figure 1: Structure of the dissertation
Source: (As created by author)
1.8 SUMMARY
This chapter has provided the outline of the overall research project which describes
the purpose of conducting the research and what it aims to achieve. The research context
has been described to understand the research and its significance to the chosen topic of
research. The objectives, research questions and hypotheses have been stated to provide
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Research methodology
Chapter 4: Analysis and Findings
Chapter 5: Conclusion and
recommendation

11RESEARCH PAPER
an understanding of the direction in which the research is expected to move. The next
chapter has conducted a critical analysis of past literatures to highlight the gap in past
studies.

12RESEARCH PAPER
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter has described the different theories on leadership and its impact on the
performance of the employees. The key terms and concepts has been described in detail but
mainly focuses on transformational, transactional theory and contingency model by Fred
Fiedler to understand which of the theories is more appropriate in modern organizational
setting (Matthews, Daigle & Houston, 2018). The importance and significance of leader in
gaining competitive advantage is not unknown as multiple studies have been conducted in
developing and developed countries. Various studies have focused on the Lewin’s
leadership theories but this study has tried to take a different approach all the studies in the
past. Leadership has been considered as the most important aspect of management as it
contributes to general wellbeing of the organization (Asrar-ul-Haq & Kuchinke 2016).
Several theories have been put forward in the past to understand the effectiveness of
leadership. Transactional and transformational leadership are two of most prominent
theories that has been proposed by various theorists. Authors are of the opinion that there is
vast difference between the concept and their practical implication in organizations. The next
section has evaluate leadership concepts to provide better synthesis of the past literature.
2.2 LEADERSHIP
A stated by Mulki, Caemmerer and Heggde, (2015), leadership is the method of
influencing employees to work freely to reach the goals of any organization. It has also been
defined as the process of persuading people so that they can direct their efforts towards
some particular goal. Saleem, (2015) opined that leadership can be defined as the exchange
of interpersonal influence directed through the process of communication to achieve specific
organizational goals. According to Dunne et al., (2016), leadership is to provide direction to
group or individual for accomplishing chosen goals. Popli & Rizvi (2016) defined leadership
as the way leaders communicate, relates and motivates their subordinates to provide
direction so that they can perform their tasks effectively. Most empirical studies on
leadership has emerged from social and organizational psychology which has evaluated
various dimensions of leadership construct.
Masa'deh, Obeidat and Tarhini, (2016) argued that even though leadership has been
conceptualised in different, several components within the leadership theories have
remained constant at the core. In the past five decades, it can be seen that leadership has
been classified into 65 different dimensions. The focus of all group process is leadership
which signifies that leaders are central to changes in groups’ motivation. Harwiki, (2016)

13RESEARCH PAPER
defined leadership in terms of personality perspective where it has been considered as the
combination of traits, characteristics that enables other to accomplish their objectives. On
the contrary, Yahaya & Ebrahim, (2016) defines leadership as the act of bringing about a
change within the group. Leadership has been also been defined in terms of power
relationship between the leaders and their followers. This perspective considers it as the
leadership style that transforms subordinates or followers through role modeling,
individualized attention and vision setting. On the contrary, defining leadership as a process
means that it believes that there are no existing characteristics or trait within a leader but as
a transactional event occurring between the subordinates and their leaders (Alonderiene &
Majauskaite 2016). This implies that leaders are affected and affects their followers. This
facilitates in addressing all the group of leaders and is not restricted to only the formally
designated leader.
Leadership involves influence and is concerned with the ways leaders are affecting
their followers. In terms of leadership, influence is the sine qua non and leadership does not
exist without it (Arnold et al. 2015). Leadership occurs in group and it can be small group, a
community or an entire business entity. Leadership requires attention to goals and it has to
be executed by directing group of people towards specific goals.
2.3 THEORIES ON LEADERSHIP AND LEADERSHIP STYLES
2.3.1 TRAIT APPROACHES
The traits approach was one of the first systematic approach of studying leadership
in early part of the 20th century (Barling, Akers & Beiko, 2018). The trait approaches were
studied to understand the traits that made people great leaders. This theories have been
named as great man theories as it focuses on examining and highlight the innate
characteristics and qualities of great leaders in military, social and political aspects (Guhr,
Lebek & Breitner 2019). This theory considered that people were born with these traits and
the trait approach was challenged in the mid-20th century that questioned the universality of
the leadership traits (Russell et al., 2018). Amin et al., 2018) argued that no consistent set of
traits differentiate leaders from the non-leaders. Individuals with leadership traits in a
particular situation may not be the same in other situations. This concept was
reconceptualised as the relationship among personnel in asocial situation instead of focusing
on the quality individual possess. Para-González, Jiménez-Jiménez and Martínez-Lorente,
(2018) found out that the individual perception of leaders is strongly associated with the
personality traits. Guhr, Lebek and Breitner (2019) have claimed that that leaders have
distinct characteristics and capabilities in different aspects. This shows that even though the

14RESEARCH PAPER
trait approach began with the emphasis on the quality of the great leader but it moved to
include the influence of situations on leadership. However, it again moved back to
understanding the critical part of traits in efficient leadership.
2.3.2 BEHAVIOURAL APPROACHES
This approaches focuses on the actions of the leaders and not the innate traits they
possess. The behaviour expanded the study on leadership by examining the actions of the
leaders towards their subordinates in various situations. Buil, Martínez and Matute, (2019)
conducted a study to investigate the behavioural approach to leadership which showed that
considering this approach to leadership is important in understanding the different
dimensions of leadership. Hui & Sue‐Chan, (2018) conducted another study to highlight that
leadership functions in small groups. On the other hand, Torlak and Kuzey, (2019) explored
the way management used relationship and task behaviour in any organizational setting.
Karia and Abu Hassan Asaari, (2019) categorize the behaviour of leaders into two attributes,
initiating structure and consideration. Initiating structure comprises of accomplishing and
organizing tasks and consideration includes behaviour that reflect concern for other people,
their relationship and their needs with other people (Guhr, Lebek & Breitner, 2019).
However, it is essential to know that both these attributes are uncorrelated. This implies that
a leader can demonstrate both, either or none of these attributes. This means that action of
the leaders are either relationship or task related based on the situation and needs of their
subordinates.
Mohd Adnan & Valliappan, (2019) states that behaviour approach to leadership has
been able to provide positive contribution to understanding the process of leadership. It
made a major shift from the general focus of leadership personality traits and broadened the
scope by including the behaviour of the leaders and their actions into consideration
(Manzoor et al., 2019). Moreover, a wide range of studies in the past have provided
credibility and validity to the behavioural approach to leadership. Lastly, the behavioural
approach is heuristic which provides a broad conceptual map to be used in understanding
the complexities in leadership. Leaders can learn about themselves by analysing their
behaviour in light of relationship and task dimension.
2.3.3 CONTINGENCY THEORIES
There have several approaches to leadership which can be considered as the
contingency theory but Fiedler’s theory of contingency is the most prominent. In this theory,
the leaders are matched to appropriate situations which means that it is a leader match
theory. The theory has been defined as contingency theory as the effectiveness of the

15RESEARCH PAPER
leader’s style depends on the situations (Jansen et al., 2016). Therefore, it is essential to
understand the situation in which a leader leads to highlight the effectiveness of the
leadership qualities. Fiedler’s (1971) interactionist perspective that effective model of
leadership is dependent on situational factors and not only on the general dimensions. On
the other hand, other models dealing with interaction argued that dyadic relationship exist
between the followers and leaders (Jansen et al., 2016).
The contingency theory hypothesized that effective performance of group is
dependent on the appropriate match of the personality of the leader and the situation.
According to the fielder, effective leaders have personality orientation that focused on
interpersonal style or task matched to the situation. The various situational factors that affect
or influence the effectiveness of the leader are task degree, power position and member
relations (Jansen et al., 2016). On the other hand, the contingency theory suggests that
situations can be characterised by evaluating three factors, task structure, position power
and leader-member. Member-relation refers to the degree of confidence, loyalty, follower’s
attraction towards leader and group atmosphere (Meirovich & Gu, 2015). A leader-member
can be defined as good if the group atmosphere is positive and the subordinates like and
trust their leaders.
Task structure has been defined the clarity to which the goals and methods were
stated and understood by the members. The leaders influence over the group increases with
the complexity of the task (Reiche et al., 2017). Power position defines the control of the
leader over sanctions and rewards, organizational support and authority over the members
of the group. The influence of the leader is directly proportional to the power possessed over
the members by the leader.
2.3.4 SITUATIONAL THEORIES
The situational approach has been revised multiple times and has been used
extensively in organizational training and development program. It focuses on leadership in
different situations which states that different situations require and demand different types
of leadership (Meirovich & Gu, 2015). This means that leaders need to be flexible and
adaptive in nature to change their leadership style based on the demand of the diverse
situations. As per the theory, leadership is composed of both supportive and directive
dimensions which has to be applied appropriately to different situations. In order to
determine, the leadership style required in a particular situation, leader needs to assess the
competency and commitment level of the employees to understand the ability of the
employees to complete the task.

16RESEARCH PAPER
As stated by Hersey and Blanchard’s (1977) theory of situational leadership, leaders
need to vary their behaviour based on the maturity of the members. It also classified
leadership behaviours into two dimensions, consideration and initiating structure. Initiating
structure can be considered as the one way communication from the leaders to their
members. Consideration has been considered as two way communication which results in
social and emotional support to the members within a group (Reiche et al., 2017). This can
be termed as relationship behaviour.
2.3.5 TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
As stated by Masa'deh, Obeidat and Tarhini, (2016), transformational leader inspires
and stimulates subordinates to achieve outcome that is extraordinary. These leaders pay
attention to the development needs and concerns of the individual followers. They also help
the followers in increasing their awareness of different issues by looking at old issues with a
new perspective. These leaders are able to inspire and excite the followers to put in extra
effort to achieve group goals within the organization. As stated by Alonderiene &
Majauskaite, (2016), transformational leadership is all about invoking positive change within
the organization by taking care of each other’s interest which acts in the interest of the
overall group. This leadership style is part of a new leadership paradigm which gives more
importance to the affective and charismatic aspect of leadership. It is concerned with the
emotions, values, ethics, long term goals and standards that facilitates in assessing the
motives of the followers and satisfying their needs (Arnold et al., 2015). Transformational
leadership requires an influence of exceptional level which moves the members to achieve
goals that is beyond the expectation of the organization. It often incorporates visionary and
charismatic leadership.
According to Amin et al., (2018), in transformational leadership more attention is
given to the needs of the followers than the leaders by proposing that transformational
leadership could be applied to situations where the outcome is negative. The author also
described the transformational and transactional leadership as a single continuum rather
than being mutually independent continua (Para-González, Jiménez-Jiménez & Martínez-
Lorente, 2018). More importance has been given to the emotional elements of charisma
which suggested that even though charisma is necessary it is not sufficient from performing
transformational leadership. Bass (1985) argued that transformational leadership can be
used to motivate the employees to perform at level more than they are expected to by
increasing the level of consciousness of the followers regarding the value and importance of
idealized and specific goals (Amin et al., 2018). It can also be achieved by transcending
self-interest for the sake of the organization and the team and by motivating followers to

17RESEARCH PAPER
address needs of higher levels. Transformational leadership can be used to define a vivid
range of leadership from specific aspect to influence an individual to the broad aspect of
influencing the whole organization.
Transformational leadership enhances the morale, performance and motivation of the
followers through different types of mechanisms. These consists of connecting the sense of
self and identity of the followers to the projects and develop collective identity of the
business entity. The purpose of being a transformational leader is to be role model for the
subordinates that invokes inspiration (Buil, Martínez & Matute, 2019). It also includes
challenging the subordinates to take superior ownership of their own task along with
understand the weaknesses and strengths. Warrilow (2012) identified four major
components of transformational leadership style, intellectual stimulation, inspirational
motivation, personal and individual attention and charisma (Para-González, Jiménez-
Jiménez & Martínez-Lorente, 2018). Charisma or idealised influence has been defined as
the degree to which various leaders behave in ways that are admirable, take stands and
display their convictions. These facilitate the followers in identifying the clear sets of values
that the leader possess which makes them role model for their subordinates (Torlak &
Kuzey, 2019). Intellectual stimulation is the degree to which various leaders have
challenged assumptions, encourages and stimulates creativity among the followers by
providing them with a framework that facilitates them to connect. Therefore, by invoking
creativity within the subordinates, it would be easier for the organization to over any obstacle
through creativity (Karia & Abu Hassan Asaari, 2019). Inspirational motivation defines the
degree to which leaders are able to articulate a vision which creates optimism among the
followers and inspires them regarding the future goals adding meaning to the current task.
Personal and individual attention is the degree to which the leaders are able to attend to
needs of their followers by acting as a mentor. It also includes appreciation and respect
towards individuals for their contribution towards the team goals. The need of self-fulfilment
is fulfilled by this and inspires the subordinates to achieve more growth and achievement.
The encircling approach to transformational leadership shows that it can be used to
describe different types of leadership. Even though, transformational leadership can be used
to play a pivotal role in triggering change, leaders and followers are inextricably bound
together in the process of transformation.
Karia and Abu Hassan Asaari, (2019) examined and highlighted major weaknesses
of using transformational leadership. Ambiguity is the first weakness which is an underlying
factor in processes and influences. The theory has failed to explain the interacting variables
between positive work outcomes and transformational leadership. The theory could have

18RESEARCH PAPER
been made stronger if the processes were identified to explain the way each of the
behaviour affects the outcome and meditating variables. The theory also overemphasises at
the dyadic level which has failed to explain the ways leaders influence group processes and
is more focused on individual influence (Manzoor et al., 2019). Even though, leadership has
been considered as one of the major determinants of organizational effectiveness but the
causal impact of the behaviour of the leaders on the organizational processes have been
seldom addressed. Moreover, the theoretical rationale for using different behaviours has not
been explained in detail. This means that the content is partially overlapped which affects
the construct validity. The author also stated several transformational behaviours which has
not been included into the theory and has been identified from empirical studies. The theory
also has not been able to identify situations where transformational leadership is detrimental
in nature which means that there is insufficient specification of all the situational variables in
transformational leadership.
2.3.6 TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP
As stated by Barua et al., (2019), transactional leadership is also considered as
managerial leadership which focuses on the role of organisation, group performance and
supervision. It is the leadership style where the leader aims to promote compliance from
their followers through punishment and rewards. Dartey-Baah, (2015) stated that unlike
transformational leadership style, leaders using transactional leadership does not look to
promote change in the future and they want to keep things same. These leaders aim to find
deviations and faults within followers work and is most effective in emergency and crisis
situations. Referring to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, transactional leadership works at the
very basic level of satisfying the needs focusing on only the lower level of hierarchy
(Masa'deh, Obeidat & Tarhini, 2016). Transactional leaders use an exchange model where
rewards are given for good performance of the employees and vice versa. This means that
penalties and punishment are common factors in transactional leadership style where
leaders focus on specific task performances by managing each portions individually
(Alonderiene & Majauskaite, 2016).
Transactional leaders are more focused on the processes rather than being
concerned with forward thinking ideas. This results in focusing on contingent rewards or
penalisation. Contingent rewards are given to the subordinates for completing job on time
and similarly, they are punished for deviating from their actual task goals (Amin et al., 2018).
This implies that transactional leaders exhibit behaviour which is associated with corrective
and constructive transaction. Transactional leaders are known for defining their expectations
and promoting performances that can achieve higher levels.

19RESEARCH PAPER
Masa'deh, Obeidat & Tarhini, (2016) opined that transactional leadership can be
considered as contingent reinforcement. The followers and leaders come to an agreement to
develop terms and conditions which defines the performance they need to achieve to avoid
punishment or be rewarded. Buil, Martínez & Matute, (2019) states that constructive
transaction has been evaluated and found out that it is effective in motivating the followers to
reach high levels of performance and development. Contingent reward leadership includes
the leader obtaining agreement of the follower for satisfactorily fulfilling the task by making
sure that the followers are aware of the reward they are going to receive. Transactional
leaders specify conditions, requirements and conditions for accomplishing the task. The
transactional managers have the characteristics of contingent penalisation and reward and
unlike the transformational leader are more concerned with the effectiveness of the
processes than on the substantive ideas (Buil, Martinez & Matute, 2019). This means that
transactional leaders use flexible tactics to develop suitable reward or punishment for
improving the quality of the processes within the organization.
Barua et al., (2019), states that management by exception can be defined as the
leadership that deals with corrective criticism, negative reinforcement and negative
feedback. There are two forms to management by exception, passive and active. The
leader that uses the active form of management by exception monitors the subordinates
closely for violations or mistakes and takes corrective actions based on it. On the contrary,
the leaders following passive form interferes only when problems have increased or
standards have not been met. Mohd Adnan and Valliappan, (2019) opined that leaders
exclusively or primarily using management by exception provide contingent aversive
reinforcement or negative feedback if anything goes wrong. The servo control remains silent
as long as the performance standards are being met. The mechanism is triggered if the
performance of the subordinates falls below a certain threshold. Leaders, believing in
contingent reward provide positive feedback and encouragement and vice versa.
Negative feedback along with positive support can provide the new subordinates with
direction and advice on the quality expected of them. On the contrary, when leaders using
management by exception are using negative feedback as their exclusive contribution to the
leadership relations and it is expected to have to ineffective impact in comparison to the
contingent rewards (Dartey-Baah, 2015). Corrective transaction has been considered to be
more ineffective when compared to contingent reward by taking into account the
components of transformational leadership.
In context to transactional leadership, Amin et al., (2018) states that absence of
leadership is known as laissez faire where the leader gives up responsibility, does not

20RESEARCH PAPER
provide feedbacks, delays in decision making and does not assists the followers in achieving
their goals. These leader prefer no interaction with the followers and does not assist the
subordinates in growing. There is lack of initiative behaviour and does not make any attempt
to understand the needs of the subordinates. It represents a non-transaction which is
completely opposite to the transactional leadership.
Figure 1: Leadership suboptimal profile
Source: (Dartey-Baah, 2015)
2.4 EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE
Masa'deh, Obeidat and Tarhini (2016) conducted a research on analysing the
relationship between transactional leadership and transformational leadership style on the
performance of the employees which used a multifactor leadership questionnaire based on
the Slovin Theory method. The results showed that there has been positive relationship
between the transactional and transformational leadership on the performance of the
employees partially or concurrently. Harwiki, (2016) performed a study on the leadership
behaviour and its impact on the organizational performance in Pakistan using a sample size
of 1000 where correlation analysis shows that there is correlation between the variables and
leadership behaviour has positive impact on the performance of the employees. Alonderiene
and Majauskaite, 2016) study on the impact of leadership styles on the performance of
organization in Nigeria found 23% variance of employee performance in leadership style

21RESEARCH PAPER
that predicts the performance of the organization. The study concluded that democratic and
transformational leadership is responsible for improving the performance of the employees
and has been highly recommended.
As stated by Amin et al., (2018), the study on the impact of leadership style
effectiveness to the job satisfaction and performance of the employees with a sample size of
150 respondents showed that leadership style positively influences the performances of the
employees. This study was conducted in Philippines through random sampling which used
the Slovin formula. Para-González, Jiménez-Jiménez and Martínez-Lorente, (2018)
conducted another study on the relationship of leadership styles on organizational
performance among academic leaders in Malaysia showed that leadership behaviours are
interrelated and has high positive impact on the performance of the organization. The
research used the Posner leadership practice inventory-individual contribution self-survey
and Multifactor leadership questionnaire to collect the data from 200 academic leaders.
Arnold et al., (2015) did research on the impact of leadership styles on employee
commitment which showed that there is significant positive impact of leadership styles
towards commitment of the employees.
Matthews, Daigle and Houston (2018) conducted a research on the relationship
between leadership style, employee performance and emotional intelligence in a Malaysian
organization. The research used three instruments, ECP, parastatal performance evaluation
and multifactor leadership questionnaire to collect data from 180 respondents. The resulted
revealed that there is significant relationship between work performance, emotional
intelligence and leadership styles. Asrar-ul-Haq and Kuchinke, (2016) worked on a research
titled interaction between the followers and leaders as an Antecedent of Job performance.
The sample size for the study was 200 which used cross sectional method to collect data
from in-depth interviews and survey data. Standardized coefficient of stepwise regression
was used which confirmed that the interaction between the followers and leaders does not
act as a full antecedent of performance in job.
2.5 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Transformational
style
Leadership
Style
Contingency
theory
Transactional style Employee
performance

22RESEARCH PAPER
2.6 LITERATURE GAP
This research has evaluated past literature on the role of leadership styles on the
performances of the employees. The critical analysis showed that majority of the literature
have focused on examining whether leadership styles have influence on the performance of
the employees. However, there are very few literature that have evaluated which of the
leadership styles are more effective in modern organizational context. None of the literature
have taken contingency theory into account to understand whether contingency theory is
more appropriate in the modern organizational setting. This research would evaluate
whether specific leadership styles are effective or application of the contingency theory
proposed by Fiedler’s is more effective in improving the performance of the employees.
2.7 SUMMARY
The critical analysis of the literature shows that different leadership styles have
different advantages in improving the performances of the employees. The empirical
analysis of the past researches shows that there has been significant relationship between
leadership styles and employee performance and they are positively related. Few literature
suggested that transformational leadership is more effective while there are others that
opined that both transactional and transformational leadership positively effects the
performances of the employees. The literature gap has been identified based on the past
researches and the conceptual framework has been developed. The next chapter has
developed the research methods based on the evaluation in this part.

23RESEARCH PAPER
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter has described the different research methods, instruments and
frameworks used to collect and analyse data. Methodology is a philosophical framework
which acts as a foundation for conducting the research. Research methodology consists of
set of paradigmatic assumptions that are used for conducting the research (Kumar, 2019).
Research methodology has been developed based on the Saunders research onion. The
research onion has been used to unfold the method used in every stage of the research
which has described the research philosophy, approach, design, data collection method,
data analysis method, sampling techniques, reliability, validity and ethical consideration
(Shahab et al., 2019). There are mainly three main purposes of research, one is description
of behaviour, second is prediction from one variable to another variable and third is
explanation of the cause and effect relationship between the variables. The research
methods are chosen based on the goal and consists of methods like observational method,
case study, method, survey method, correlation method, quasi-experimental method and
experimental method (Kumar, 2019). In this research, the main purpose is evaluate and
understand the cause and effect relationship between the different leadership styles and
employee performances so experimental method has been used. The research has used a
single research design where the data collected by using different research has been used
to conduct a quantitative study.
3.2 RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY
As stated by Saunders et al., (2015), research philosophy consists of the
assumptions and beliefs used for developing knowledge in a research. Even though, the
process seems profound but knowledge is developed while embarking on the research.
Every research makes assumptions during the different stages within the research. These
assumptions include assumptions about the encountered realities, human knowledge and
extent of understanding on values. These assumptions are named as ontological
assumptions, epistemological assumptions and axiological assumptions. A credible research
philosophy is developed from a consistent and well thought assumptions (Quinlan et al.,
2019). There are mainly four types of research philosophies and they are realism,
positivism, interpretivism and pragmatism. In this research, positivism has been chosen as
the research philosophy as it facilitated in conducting primary quantitative analysis.
Positivism focuses on the scientific empiricist method design that can yield pure facts and
data uninfluenced by bias or human interpretation. Extreme positivist position uses real

24RESEARCH PAPER
social entities as physical objects. Epistemologically, it will focus on discovering facts that
are measurable and observable that leads to the development of meaningful and credible
data. Positivism has also facilitated in measuring the casual relationship between the
leadership styles and the performance of the employees. It has assisted in predicting and
explaining behaviours within organizations.
3.3 RESEARCH APPROACH
Research approach consists of two parts, one is reasoning and second is data
collection. Research approaches are of two types, deductive and inductive approach. The
difference between the deductive and the inductive approach can be understood by the
significance of hypothesis in the research. Deductive approach is concerned with the
development of hypothesis based on the existing theories discussed in the literature review
section (Sekaran & Bougie, 2016). Deductive approach deals with reasoning from specific to
generalisations. Deductive approach is used for measuring the causal relationship between
two variables in the research. This implies deductive approach aims to test theories from
known propositions or premises. On the contrary, inductive approach starts with
observations and theories are proposed at the end of the process (Jackson, 2015). The
inductive approach facilitates in altering the direction of the study at any point of time after
the research has been commenced. Inductive approach is used for developing new theories
and paradigms. However, as the research follows the research onion, every stage is linked
with its previous stages and in this study, deductive approach best suits the needs of using a
positivist view. Deductive approach has facilitated in developing hypothesis based on the
existing and performed test on it to evaluate the link to the literature review and past
literatures. The deductive approach also facilitates in performing quantitative data analysis
using statistical techniques and use predictive modelling.
3.4 RESEARCH DESIGN
As stated by Abdulkadiroğlu et al., (2017), research design has been defined
differently by various authors where some consider it as the method of selecting between
quantitative and qualitative data. On the contrary, others argue that it is the method of
choosing the process of data collection and performing analysis on it. Research design can
be defined as the general plan of developing results based on the research question. There
are mainly three types of research design, explanatory, exploratory and descriptive
(Kratochwill & Levin, 2015). The exploratory research design as the name suggest aims to
explore data in specific areas which lacks research. It does not aim to provide specific
conclusion to the research but develops content for further conclusive research in future.
Descriptive research aims to cast light on issues and problems by collection data using

25RESEARCH PAPER
quantitative methods to provide a complete description of the situation. It provides insights
on the various aspects of the phenomenon. Descriptive research requires only one variable
to conduct a research and can be explained as explaining, describing and validating the
findings in the research.
On the other hand, explanatory research is used to evaluate the nature and direction
of cause and effect relationship between two variables. Causal research focuses on specific
issues to examine and highlight the pattern within the relationship. In this research, the
nature of relationship between the variables can be examined using the causal or
explanatory research design so it has been chosen as the appropriate research design
(Patten & Newhart, 2017). Explanatory research has facilitated in developing a quantitative
research method for collecting data and analysing it using inferential statistics. This research
design is highly structured and facilitates in identifying causes behind a wide variety of
issues faced by an organization. This research has facilitated in understanding the impact of
leadership styles on the performances of the employees and the leadership style that is most
effective as per the given study of HSBC SriLanka.
3.5 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Data collection is the process of collecting relevant information from authentic
sources to develop findings that addresses the research problem, evaluates the outcome
and tests the hypothesis. There are mainly two types of data collection methods, one is
primary and second is secondary data collection method. The secondary data collection
method has been used to collect peer reviewed journals and articles for the critical literature
review. On the other hand, primary data has been collected where survey questionnaire has
been used as the instrument for collecting data (Palinkas et al., 2015). Survey questionnaire
consists of close ended questions asked to the employees working at HSBC SriLanka. The
survey questionnaire consists of demographic questions developed on nominal scale and
question of different types of leadership based on ratio scale. The questionnaire consists of
both multiple choice questions and other questions developed on five point Likert scale
which facilitates in performing scale measurement on the data. The questionnaire has been
developed by using the Multifactor leadership questionnaire used by Bass and Avolio (1991).
The questionnaire consists of 15 items for transformational and transactional leadership. The
questionnaire also consists of elements of Fielder’s contingent and situational model for
comparative analysis.
The data collected has been analysed using statistical tools such as SPSS (statistical
package for social sciences) and Ms Excel. The collected data has been represented in the
form of frequency tables and charts. Inferential statistics has been used to generate findings

26RESEARCH PAPER
based on the research problem (Palinkas et al., 2015). Pearson’s correlation has been used
to measure the degree, nature and direction of relationship between the items within the
research. The research has used multiple linear regression to develop a predictive model
that establishes a relationship between leadership style and employee performance. It also
facilitated in testing the hypotheses by measuring the F-value in the research. The results
have been linked with the literature review to discuss and conduct analysis on the research
problem.
3.6 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
Sampling is the specific process of choosing members of a population to be included
in the research. There are various population that are considerably large to perform direct
analysis, sampling has been used to choose population from large populations. This implies
that due to the large sample size of the target population, the researchers are forced to
choose elements from the whole population that represents them (Yang et al., 2018). The
process of sampling starts with defining the target population in the research and in this
current study, the employees working in SriLanka are the target population. Sampling frame
consists of the list of respondents that can effectively contribute to the research and in the
current study, the employees working HSBC has been chosen as the sampling frame. The
next part is determining the sample size in the research and in this research, 200 employees
working in HSBC SriLanka has been chosen for the research. The next part is the most
crucial part which determines the sampling method to be chosen in the research.
There are mainly two types of sampling methods, probabilistic and non-probabilistic
sampling. Probabilistic sampling can be further divided into cluster sampling, systematic
sampling, stratified sampling and simple random sampling. Non-probabilistic sampling can
be divided into quota, purposive and haphazard sampling. In this research, stratified
sampling has been used to divide the population in various groups and sample populations
are selected each group using random sampling. Random sampling provides equal
opportunity to all the participants of being chosen which reduces the bias in the research.
This facilitates in choosing respondents from each department in HSBC SriLanka.
3.7 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY
Reliability is the ability of the research to develop same results more than once using
the same instruments. It defines the ability of the research to replicate the results using
different sets of data. Kooiman et al., (2015) defined research reliability as the degree to
which the methods in research generate consistent and stable results. Cronbach’s Alpha has
been used in this research to measure the internal consistency and scale reliability of the

27RESEARCH PAPER
data. The internal consistency measurement is used to understand whether the data
collected is reliable or not. The value of alpha should be greater than 0.6 to be acceptable
for the research and negative value of determines that there is negative inter correlation
between the items (Heale & Twycross, 2015).
Validity refers to the appropriateness of the instruments used in the research and
determines the ability of the research instrument to fulfil its purpose. In this study, pilot
testing has been conducted initially with 20 respondents to check whether the questions are
able to address the research problem or not. It also facilitated in restructuring questions and
removing questions that are significant to the research. Construct validity has been used to
assess the leadership competency within HSBC by asking them questions on their
motivational level.
3.8 ETHICAL CONSIDERATION
This research has adhered to the ethical guidelines by developing an informed
consent form. The consent form consisted of all necessary information regarding the
purpose of conducting the research. The informed consent had provided options to the
respondents of leaving the survey at any point of time and voluntary participation is the key
to the success of this survey. On the other hand, the research has protected the privacy of
the respondent by maintaining their anonymity and none of the personal data of the
respondents have been shared (Wallace & Sheldon, 2015). The research participants have
not been subjected to any harm and dignity of the respondents have been considered as
one of the top priority. The research has managed adequate level of confidentiality of the
research data. The research data collected has not been used for any other purpose and
has been stored securely. In this research, none of the aims and objectives have been over
exaggerated. The three cardinal sins of research are plagiarism, fabrication and falsification.
The research has made sure that none of the content plagiarised and the authors have been
credited for their contribution to the research. None of the data has been falsified or
fabricated to develop results that are significant to the research.
3.9 SUMMARY
This chapter has described the different research methods, instruments and
frameworks used in generating significant results in the research. This research has chosen
positivism as the research philosophy so deductive approach is the most suitable approach.
The research has used a single research design which means a mono method where data
has been collected using survey questionnaire as the research instrument. The research has
used a sample size of 200 to collect data which means that the margin of error in the

28RESEARCH PAPER
research is 7.1%. The respondent consisted of the employees working in different
departments in HSBC SriLanka. The next chapter has conducted analysis based on the
methods, instruments and frameworks generated in this chapter.

29RESEARCH PAPER
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
4.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter has performed quantitative analysis on the collected data to examine
the impact of the leadership style on the performance of the employees. This chapter has
initially checked for the reliability and validity of the data collected. The next part of the
research has generated frequency tables and charts to provide analysis on the opinion of the
respondents. The study has also performed Pearson’s correlation and multiple linear
regression to test the hypotheses mentioned in the first chapter of the research.
4.2 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY TESTING
The research has used Cronbach’s alpha test to measure the internal consistency of
the collected data. The internal consistency of the collected in this given research is
moderate and acceptable as the value is .664 which is greater than 0.6. The item total
statistics shows that the value of alpha decreases if one of the items are deleted from the
research. This means that the internal consistency of all the data is dependent on the
chosen items.
In order to check the validity of the given data, the research has used the KMO &
Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity. These tests have been used to measure the sampling
adequacy and inter variable correlation. The value of KMO is .985 which is greater than 0.5
and the value of Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity is .000 which is less than 0.05 which means that
it is significant at the given level. The validity and reliability of the data has been confirmed
by using these tests that has facilitated in establishing significant findings in the research.
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's
Alpha N of Items
.664 17
Item Statistics
Mean Std. Deviation N
Pride 3.94 1.174 200
respect 3.95 1.153 200

30RESEARCH PAPER
sense of confidence and
power
3.95 1.179 200
Values and beliefs 3.96 1.173 200
Optimistic view on future 3.98 1.219 200
Seek different perspective 4.02 1.160 200
treats everyone as
individuals and spents time
coaching subordinates
3.93 1.171 200
Contingent rewards 2.02 1.105 200
Track of all mistakes 2.07 1.224 200
Does not interfere unless
problem is chronic
2.01 1.121 200
clear expectation 2.11 1.202 200
works out agreements 2.02 1.132 200
Behaves differently based on
situations
3.97 1.149 200
Different ways of
accomplishing tasks
3.97 1.162 200
control over situations 3.94 1.263 200
perform to fullest potential 3.96 1.160 200
Team performance and
resolving conflict
3.93 1.169 200
Item-Total Statistics
Scale Mean if
Item Deleted
Scale Variance if
Item Deleted
Corrected Item-
Total Correlation
Cronbach's
Alpha if Item
Deleted
Pride 53.75 46.661 .889 .564
respect 53.74 47.148 .872 .568

31RESEARCH PAPER
sense of confidence and
power
53.74 46.565 .891 .564
Values and beliefs 53.72 46.894 .873 .567
Optimistic view on future 53.71 46.119 .886 .561
Seek different perspective 53.66 46.817 .890 .565
treats everyone as
individuals and spents time
coaching subordinates
53.75 46.829 .879 .566
Contingent rewards 55.67 78.534 -.892 .766
Track of all mistakes 55.62 81.001 -.917 .779
Does not interfere unless
problem is chronic
55.68 78.823 -.894 .768
clear expectation 55.57 80.607 -.916 .777
works out agreements 55.67 78.172 -.858 .765
Behaves differently based on
situations
53.72 47.288 .866 .570
Different ways of
accomplishing tasks
53.72 47.057 .871 .568
control over situations 53.75 45.568 .887 .557
perform to fullest potential 53.72 46.904 .884 .566
Team performance and
resolving conflict
53.76 46.676 .892 .564
KMO and Bartlett's Test
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .985
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 5165.108
df 136
Sig. .000

32RESEARCH PAPER
4.3 DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS
This section deals with the demographic data of the respondents taking part in the
research. This data provides valuable information on the type of respondents that have
participated whether any of these variable can act as control variables in the research.
Age
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 44 22.0 22.0 22.0
2 38 19.0 19.0 41.0
3 41 20.5 20.5 61.5
4 43 21.5 21.5 83.0
5 34 17.0 17.0 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0
This question evaluates the age of the respondents participating in the research. The
findings of the research shows that 22% of the respondents are below the age of 24years,
21.5% respondents are between the age group of 45-54 years, 20.5% respondents are
between the age group of 35-44 years, 19% respondents are between the age group of 25-

33RESEARCH PAPER
34years and the remaining are above the age of 55 years. This shows that there is diversity
within the respondents and it is expected to provide significant results in the research.
Gender
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 105 52.5 52.5 52.5
2 95 47.5 47.5 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0
This question evaluates the gender of the respondents in the research and the
results show that 52.5% respondents are male and remaining are female. Gender can be
control variable as the opinion of the respondents may vary based on their gender as needs
of both the genders is different.
Rank
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 49 24.5 24.5 24.5

34RESEARCH PAPER
2 52 26.0 26.0 50.5
3 41 20.5 20.5 71.0
4 58 29.0 29.0 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0
This question evaluates the rank of the respondents participating in the research.
The findings of the research shows that 26% of the respondents are junior officers, 29%
respondents are senior officers, 20.5% respondents are middle management employees and
24.5% respondents are trainees. This shows that there is diversity within the respondents
and it is expected to provide significant results in the research.
Experience
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 58 29.0 29.0 29.0
2 51 25.5 25.5 54.5
3 43 21.5 21.5 76.0
4 48 24.0 24.0 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

35RESEARCH PAPER
This question evaluates the experience and tenure of the respondents participating in
the research. The findings of the research shows that 29% of the respondents have been
working in the industry for less than a year, 25.5% respondents are working for 1-5 years,
21.5% respondents have been in the industry between 6-10 years and 24% respondents
have been working for more than 10 years in the industry. The opinion of the employees
working in the industry for less than a year is expected to vary from the employees working
in the industry for more than 5 years.
4.4 QUESTIONS ON TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
This section of the question determines whether transformational leadership has
been used by the leader at HSBC Sri Lanka. The data has been interpreted to understand
the opinion of the employees and determine the opinion of the majority.
Pride
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 14 7.0 7.0 7.0
2 13 6.5 6.5 13.5
3 21 10.5 10.5 24.0
4 76 38.0 38.0 62.0
5 76 38.0 38.0 100.0

36RESEARCH PAPER
Total 200 100.0 100.0
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the leader has been able to instil
pride within the employees or not. The results show that 38% have strongly disagreed to the
survey question, 38% have disagreed to the survey question and 10.5% are indifferent. On
the contrary, 7% have strongly agreed and 6.5% have agreed to the question. This indicates
the leader at HSBC SriLanka is not following the transformative style of leadership.
respect
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 12 6.0 6.0 6.0
2 15 7.5 7.5 13.5
3 21 10.5 10.5 24.0
4 76 38.0 38.0 62.0
5 76 38.0 38.0 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

37RESEARCH PAPER
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the leader has been able to
develop respect within the employees or not. The results show that 38% have strongly
disagreed to the survey question, 38% have disagreed to the survey question and 10.5% are
indifferent. On the contrary, 6% have strongly agreed and 7.5% have agreed to the question.
This indicates the leader at HSBC SriLanka is not following the transformative style of
leadership and has not been able to gain the respect of the employees at work. This may be
due to the power distance gap within the society in Sri Lanka that results in high level of
bureaucracy within the organizations.
sense of confidence and power
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 14 7.0 7.0 7.0
2 13 6.5 6.5 13.5
3 21 10.5 10.5 24.0
4 74 37.0 37.0 61.0
5 78 39.0 39.0 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

38RESEARCH PAPER
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the leader has been able to
display sense of power and confidence in front of the employees or not. The results show
that 39% have strongly disagreed to the survey question, 37% have disagreed to the survey
question and 10.5% are indifferent. On the contrary, 7% have strongly agreed and 6.5%
have agreed to the question. This indicates the leader at HSBC SriLanka is not following the
transformative style of leadership.
Values and beliefs
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 13 6.5 6.5 6.5
2 14 7.0 7.0 13.5
3 21 10.5 10.5 24.0
4 72 36.0 36.0 60.0
5 80 40.0 40.0 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

39RESEARCH PAPER
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the leader talks about values and
beliefs to develop strong sense of purpose within the employees or not. The results show
that 40% have strongly disagreed to the survey question, 36% have disagreed to the survey
question and 10.5% are indifferent. On the contrary, 6.5% have strongly agreed and 7%
have agreed to the question. This indicates the leader at HSBC SriLanka is not following the
transformative style of leadership. This an issues for the organization as the leader has not
been able to motivate the employees and provide them with proper sense of direction.
Optimistic view on future
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 16 8.0 8.0 8.0
2 11 5.5 5.5 13.5
3 21 10.5 10.5 24.0
4 65 32.5 32.5 56.5
5 87 43.5 43.5 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

40RESEARCH PAPER
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the leader talks optimistically
about future and articulates a compelling vision or not. The results show that 43.5% have
strongly disagreed to the survey question, 32.5% have disagreed to the survey question and
10.5% are indifferent. On the contrary, 8% have strongly agreed and 5.5% have agreed to
the question. This indicates the leader at HSBC SriLanka is not following the transformative
style of leadership as the leader is not focused on instigating a change within the processes
of HSBC.
Seek different perspective
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 10 5.0 5.0 5.0
2 17 8.5 8.5 13.5
3 21 10.5 10.5 24.0
4 63 31.5 31.5 55.5
5 89 44.5 44.5 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

41RESEARCH PAPER
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the leader seeks different
perspectives while solving problems or not. The results show that 44.5% have strongly
disagreed to the survey question, 31.5% have disagreed to the survey question and 10.5%
are indifferent. On the contrary, 5% have strongly agreed and 8.5% have agreed to the
question. This shows that the leader does not have the mind set of using innovative ways of
problem solving and make changes to revolutionize the work environment.
treats everyone as individuals and spends time coaching
subordinates
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 14 7.0 7.0 7.0
2 13 6.5 6.5 13.5
3 21 10.5 10.5 24.0
4 77 38.5 38.5 62.5
5 75 37.5 37.5 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

42RESEARCH PAPER
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the leader treat everyone as
individuals and spends time coaching subordinates or not. The results show that 37.5% have
strongly disagreed to the survey question, 38.5% have disagreed to the survey question and
10.5% are indifferent. On the contrary, 7% have strongly agreed and 6.5% have agreed to
the question. This question definitely points that leader at HSBC Sri Lanka has not been
following a transformation leadership as majority of the employees are not being treated as
individuals and leader has not spent any time on coaching subordinates to prepare them for
the future.
4.5 QUESTIONS ON TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP
This section of the questions aims to determine whether the organizational leader
has been following transactional leadership or not. The opinion of the respondents have
been evaluated to develop significant results.
Contingent rewards
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 79 39.5 39.5 39.5
2 73 36.5 36.5 76.0
3 21 10.5 10.5 86.5
4 20 10.0 10.0 96.5
5 7 3.5 3.5 100.0

43RESEARCH PAPER
Total 200 100.0 100.0
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the leader provides rewards when
performance goals are achieved or not. The results show that 39.5% have strongly agreed to
the survey question, 36.5% have agreed to the survey question and 10.5% are indifferent.
On the contrary, 7% have strongly disagreed and 10% have disagreed to the question. This
question talks about contingent which shows that the leader is using transactional leadership
to reward employees based on their performances.
Track of all mistakes
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 80 40.0 40.0 40.0
2 72 36.0 36.0 76.0
3 21 10.5 10.5 86.5
4 9 4.5 4.5 91.0
5 18 9.0 9.0 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

44RESEARCH PAPER
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the leader keeps track of all
mistakes to make sure that employees meet standards or not. The results show that 40%
have strongly agreed to the survey question, 36% have agreed to the survey question and
10.5% are indifferent. On the contrary, 9% have strongly disagreed and 4.5% have
disagreed to the question. This question showed that the leader is using management by
exception to keep track of the mistakes of the subordinates so that immediate action can be
taken to improve the quality and performance of the process.
Does not interfere unless problem is chronic
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 81 40.5 40.5 40.5
2 71 35.5 35.5 76.0
3 21 10.5 10.5 86.5
4 19 9.5 9.5 96.0
5 8 4.0 4.0 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

45RESEARCH PAPER
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the leader does not interfere
unless the problem becomes chronic or not. The results show that 40.5% have strongly
agreed to the survey question, 35.5% have agreed to the survey question and 10.5% are
indifferent. On the contrary, 4% have strongly disagreed and 9.5% have disagreed to the
question. This question showed that the leader is using management by exception but in this
case, the leader is using passive method to make sure that interference is not necessary
unless the problem becomes chronic.
clear expectation
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 71 35.5 35.5 35.5
2 81 40.5 40.5 76.0
3 21 10.5 10.5 86.5
4 9 4.5 4.5 91.0
5 18 9.0 9.0 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

46RESEARCH PAPER
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the leader makes clear
expectation from the subordinates or not. The results show that 35.5% have strongly agreed
to the survey question, 40.5% have agreed to the survey question and 10.5% are indifferent.
On the contrary, 9% have strongly disagreed and 4.5% have disagreed to the question. This
results show that the leader has been clear about the expectation from the employees which
means the desired quality and performance have been defined.
works out agreements
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 78 39.0 39.0 39.0
2 77 38.5 38.5 77.5
3 21 10.5 10.5 88.0
4 12 6.0 6.0 94.0
5 12 6.0 6.0 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

47RESEARCH PAPER
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the leader works out agreements
with the subordinates or not. The results show that 39% have strongly agreed to the survey
question, 38.5% have agreed to the survey question and 10.5% are indifferent. On the
contrary, 6% have strongly disagreed and 6% have disagreed to the question. This means
that leader is clearly showing traits of transaction leader where the conditions for rewards
and punishment are conveyed beforehand.
4.6 QUESTIONS CONTINGENCY THEORY OF LEADERSHIP
This section deals with the contingency theory and identifies whether the leader at
HSBC has been using contingency and situational models to improve the performance of the
employees.
Behaves differently based on situations
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 11 5.5 5.5 5.5
2 16 8.0 8.0 13.5
3 21 10.5 10.5 24.0
4 73 36.5 36.5 60.5
5 79 39.5 39.5 100.0

48RESEARCH PAPER
Total 200 100.0 100.0
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the leader behaves differently
based on the situation or not. The results show that 39.5% have strongly disagreed to the
survey question, 36.5% have disagreed to the survey question and 10.5% are indifferent. On
the contrary, 5.5% have strongly agreed and 8% have agreed to the question. This indicate
that the leader is not using contingency theories to deal with the issues and improving the
performance of the employees.
Different ways of accomplishing tasks
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 12 6.0 6.0 6.0
2 15 7.5 7.5 13.5
3 21 10.5 10.5 24.0
4 72 36.0 36.0 60.0
5 80 40.0 40.0 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

49RESEARCH PAPER
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the leader thinks that there are
various ways of accomplishing a task or not. The results show that 40% have strongly
disagreed to the survey question, 36% have disagreed to the survey question and 10.5% are
indifferent. On the contrary, 7.5% have strongly agreed and 6% have agreed to the question.
The results indicate that the leader does not have the mind set of using various ways of
accomplishing a task.
control over situations
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 21 10.5 10.5 10.5
2 6 3.0 3.0 13.5
3 21 10.5 10.5 24.0
4 68 34.0 34.0 58.0
5 84 42.0 42.0 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

50RESEARCH PAPER
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the leader has control over the
situations at all times or not. The results show that 42% have strongly disagreed to the
survey question, 34% have disagreed to the survey question and 10.5% are indifferent. On
the contrary, 10.5% have strongly agreed and 3% have agreed to the question. This means
that the leader is not capable enough to take control the situation at all times.
4.7 QUESTIONS ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE
perform to fullest potential
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 12 6.0 6.0 6.0
2 15 7.5 7.5 13.5
3 21 10.5 10.5 24.0
4 73 36.5 36.5 60.5
5 79 39.5 39.5 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

51RESEARCH PAPER
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the employees are able to
perform to fullest potential within the organization or not. The results show that 39.5% have
strongly disagreed to the survey question, 36.5% have disagreed to the survey question and
10.5% are indifferent. On the contrary, 6% have strongly agreed and 7.5% have agreed to
the question. This shows that majority of the employees feel that they are motivated enough
to work at their full potential or they are not being offered the required support to do so.
Team performance and resolving conflict
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 14 7.0 7.0 7.0
2 13 6.5 6.5 13.5
3 21 10.5 10.5 24.0
4 78 39.0 39.0 63.0
5 74 37.0 37.0 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

52RESEARCH PAPER
The purpose of the question is to evaluate whether the employees are focused on
team performance and take initiatives to resolve conflict or not. The results show that 37%
have strongly disagreed to the survey question, 39% have disagreed to the survey question
and 10.5% are indifferent. On the contrary, 7% have strongly agreed and 6.5% have agreed
to the question. This shows that the leader has not been able to motivate the employees to
work as a group and manage conflict within the workforce.
Most suitable style
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1 153 76.5 76.5 76.5
2 26 13.0 13.0 89.5
3 21 10.5 10.5 100.0
Total 200 100.0 100.0

53RESEARCH PAPER
The purpose of the question is to evaluate the most suitable style of leadership as
per the respondents. The results show that 76.5% have considered transformational
leadership as the best style of leader when compared to the other forms of leadership. This
may be due to the fact that transformational leadership can be used as a measure to
implement different styles of leadership.
4.7 CORRELATION ANALYSIS
Correlations
Pride
respe
ct
sense of
confiden
ce and
power
Values
and
beliefs
Optimist
ic view
on
future
Seek
different
perspect
ive
treats
everyon
e as
individu
als and
spents
time
coachin
g
subordin
ates
Conting
ent
rewards
Track of
all
mistake
s
Pride Pearson
Correlation
1 .814** .858** .816** .859** .839** .845** -.821** -.836**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200

54RESEARCH PAPER
respect Pearson
Correlation
.814** 1 .815** .831** .847** .842** .823** -.832** -.845**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
sense of
confidence and
power
Pearson
Correlation
.858** .815** 1 .809** .863** .839** .842** -.821** -.847**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Values and
beliefs
Pearson
Correlation
.816** .831** .809** 1 .836** .843** .832** -.837** -.838**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Optimistic view
on future
Pearson
Correlation
.859** .847** .863** .836** 1 .831** .850** -.835** -.858**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Seek different
perspective
Pearson
Correlation
.839** .842** .839** .843** .831** 1 .844** -.831** -.861**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
treats everyone
as individuals
and spents
time coaching
subordinates
Pearson
Correlation
.845** .823** .842** .832** .850** .844** 1 -.822** -.859**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Contingent
rewards
Pearson
Correlation
-.821*
*
-.832*
*
-.821** -.837** -.835** -.831** -.822** 1 .809**

55RESEARCH PAPER
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Track of all
mistakes
Pearson
Correlation
-.836*
*
-.845*
*
-.847** -.838** -.858** -.861** -.859** .809** 1
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Does not
interfere unless
problem is
chronic
Pearson
Correlation
-.832*
*
-.832*
*
-.818** -.841** -.853** -.839** -.822** .832** .835**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
clear
expectation
Pearson
Correlation
-.857*
*
-.844*
*
-.851** -.824** -.879** -.816** -.855** .801** .852**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
works out
agreements
Pearson
Correlation
-.794*
*
-.797*
*
-.783** -.810** -.808** -.792** -.795** .799** .779**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Behaves
differently
based on
situations
Pearson
Correlation
.814** .845** .856** .812** .839** .818** .805** -.831** -.834**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Different ways
of
accomplishing
tasks
Pearson
Correlation
.838** .831** .817** .829** .829** .850** .833** -.825** -.867**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000

56RESEARCH PAPER
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
control over
situations
Pearson
Correlation
.845** .857** .852** .850** .864** .831** .850** -.849** -.859**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
perform to
fullest potential
Pearson
Correlation
.840** .822** .829** .845** .849** .848** .834** -.807** -.841**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Team
performance
and resolving
conflict
Pearson
Correlation
.850** .817** .832** .845** .835** .838** .826** -.816** -.836**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Correlations
Does not
interfere
unless
problem
is
chronic
clear
expectati
on
works
out
agreeme
nts
Behaves
differentl
y based
on
situation
s
Different
ways of
accompli
shing
tasks
control
over
situation
s
perform
to fullest
potential
Team
performa
nce and
resolving
conflict
Pride Pearson
Correlation
-.832** -.857** -.794** .814** .838** .845** .840** .850**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
respect Pearson
Correlation
-.832** -.844** -.797** .845** .831** .857** .822** .817**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000

57RESEARCH PAPER
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
sense of
confidence and
power
Pearson
Correlation
-.818** -.851** -.783** .856** .817** .852** .829** .832**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Values and
beliefs
Pearson
Correlation
-.841** -.824** -.810** .812** .829** .850** .845** .845**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Optimistic view
on future
Pearson
Correlation
-.853** -.879** -.808** .839** .829** .864** .849** .835**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Seek different
perspective
Pearson
Correlation
-.839** -.816** -.792** .818** .850** .831** .848** .838**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
treats everyone
as individuals
and spents time
coaching
subordinates
Pearson
Correlation
-.822** -.855** -.795** .805** .833** .850** .834** .826**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Contingent
rewards
Pearson
Correlation
.832** .801** .799** -.831** -.825** -.849** -.807** -.816**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200

58RESEARCH PAPER
Track of all
mistakes
Pearson
Correlation
.835** .852** .779** -.834** -.867** -.859** -.841** -.836**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Does not
interfere unless
problem is
chronic
Pearson
Correlation
1 .827** .788** -.819** -.852** -.852** -.831** -.797**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
clear
expectation
Pearson
Correlation
.827** 1 .793** -.874** -.810** -.860** -.851** -.845**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
works out
agreements
Pearson
Correlation
.788** .793** 1 -.776** -.825** -.812** -.796** -.770**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Behaves
differently
based on
situations
Pearson
Correlation
-.819** -.874** -.776** 1 .812** .854** .821** .821**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Different ways
of
accomplishing
tasks
Pearson
Correlation
-.852** -.810** -.825** .812** 1 .851** .842** .834**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
control over
situations
Pearson
Correlation
-.852** -.860** -.812** .854** .851** 1 .818** .831**

59RESEARCH PAPER
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
perform to
fullest potential
Pearson
Correlation
-.831** -.851** -.796** .821** .842** .818** 1 .836**
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Team
performance
and resolving
conflict
Pearson
Correlation
-.797** -.845** -.770** .821** .834** .831** .836** 1
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
4.8 REGRESSION ANALYSIS
Hypothesis 1
Model Summaryb
Model R R Square
Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of the
Estimate Durbin-Watson
1 .903a .815 .808 .512 1.906
a. Predictors: (Constant), treats everyone as individuals and spents time coaching
subordinates , respect , sense of confidence and power , Values and beliefs, Pride , Seek
different perspective , Optimistic view on future
b. Dependent Variable: Team performance and resolving conflict
ANOVAa

60RESEARCH PAPER
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 221.621 7 31.660 120.962 .000b
Residual 50.254 192 .262
Total 271.875 199
a. Dependent Variable: Team performance and resolving conflict
b. Predictors: (Constant), treats everyone as individuals and spents time coaching subordinates ,
respect , sense of confidence and power , Values and beliefs, Pride , Seek different perspective ,
Optimistic view on future
Coefficientsa
Model
Unstandardized Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.B Std. Error Beta
1 (Constant) .095 .138 .688 .493
Pride .237 .073 .238 3.241 .001
respect .083 .070 .082 1.178 .240
sense of confidence and
power
.124 .073 .125 1.697 .091
Values and beliefs .246 .068 .246 3.588 .000
Optimistic view on future .073 .074 .076 .976 .330
Seek different perspective .142 .074 .141 1.923 .056
treats everyone as
individuals and spents time
coaching subordinates
.064 .072 .064 .886 .376
a. Dependent Variable: Team performance and resolving conflict

61RESEARCH PAPER
Residuals Statisticsa
Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation N
Predicted Value 1.34 4.93 3.92 1.055 200
Residual -.932 .912 .000 .503 200
Std. Predicted Value -2.448 .954 .000 1.000 200
Std. Residual -1.822 1.782 .000 .982 200
a. Dependent Variable: Team performance and resolving conflict
Hypothesis 2
Model Summaryb
Model R R Square
Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of the
Estimate Durbin-Watson
1 .898a .806 .801 .517 1.912
a. Predictors: (Constant), works out agreements , Track of all mistakes , Contingent
rewards, Does not interfere unless problem is chronic , clear expectation
b. Dependent Variable: perform to fullest potential
ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 215.756 5 43.151 161.222 .000b
Residual 51.924 194 .268
Total 267.680 199

62RESEARCH PAPER
a. Dependent Variable: perform to fullest potential
b. Predictors: (Constant), works out agreements , Track of all mistakes , Contingent rewards, Does
not interfere unless problem is chronic , clear expectation
Coefficientsa
Model
Unstandardized Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.B Std. Error Beta
1 (Constant) 5.938 .080 74.317 .000
Contingent rewards -.123 .069 -.117 -1.782 .076
Track of all mistakes -.212 .066 -.224 -3.208 .002
Does not interfere unless
problem is chronic
-.193 .072 -.186 -2.690 .008
clear expectation -.287 .067 -.297 -4.289 .000
works out agreements -.149 .061 -.145 -2.429 .016
a. Dependent Variable: perform to fullest potential
Residuals Statisticsa
Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation N
Predicted Value 1.39 4.97 3.96 1.041 200
Residual -.975 .989 .000 .511 200
Std. Predicted Value -2.465 .975 .000 1.000 200
Std. Residual -1.884 1.911 .000 .987 200
a. Dependent Variable: perform to fullest potential

63RESEARCH PAPER
Hypothesis 3
Model Summaryb
Model R R Square
Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of the
Estimate Durbin-Watson
1 .878a .771 .767 .560 2.006
a. Predictors: (Constant), control over situations, Different ways of accomplishing tasks,
Behaves differently based on situations
b. Dependent Variable: perform to fullest potential
ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 206.248 3 68.749 219.344 .000b
Residual 61.432 196 .313
Total 267.680 199
a. Dependent Variable: perform to fullest potential
b. Predictors: (Constant), control over situations, Different ways of accomplishing tasks, Behaves
differently based on situations
Coefficientsa
Model
Unstandardized Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.B Std. Error Beta

64RESEARCH PAPER
1 (Constant) .334 .149 2.247 .026
Behaves differently based on
situations
.319 .070 .316 4.569 .000
Different ways of
accomplishing tasks
.428 .068 .428 6.245 .000
control over situations .169 .071 .184 2.385 .018
a. Dependent Variable: perform to fullest potential
Residuals Statisticsa
Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation N
Predicted Value 1.57 4.91 3.96 1.018 200
Residual -.997 1.004 .000 .556 200
Std. Predicted Value -2.349 .935 .000 1.000 200
Std. Residual -1.780 1.793 .000 .992 200
a. Dependent Variable: perform to fullest potential
4.9 DISCUSSION
The regression analysis of the collected and the Anova shows that all the three
hypotheses has been tested and null hypothesis has been rejected in all the cases. This
shows that transformational, transactional and contingent leadership has significant impact
on the employee performance. However, the study also showed that transformational
leadership has been considered as the most significant form of leadership within the
organization. The employees within the organization expects their leaders to have
transformational characteristics. On the contrary, the management in HSBC has been using
transactional leadership to manage processes and performances of the employees. This is
the reason that the organization has been losing on their revenue as the organization has

65RESEARCH PAPER
been unable to bring about positive change that would motivate the employees to perform
effectively.
4.10 SUMMARY
This chapter has performed analysis on the collected data to understand the reasons
due to which the organization has been facing issues in generating revenue and increasing
their growth. The results have clearly showed that the employees prefer transformational
leaders and they have been receiving transactional behaviour which has stopped their
growth and prevented any positive changes within the organizational processes.

66RESEARCH PAPER
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter has provided detailed conclusion by linking the objective of the research
to the results and literature review. The research has been successful in understanding the
impact of leadership style on the performance of the employees which showed that
transformational, transactional and contingency model has significant impact on the
performance of the employees.
5.2 CONCLUSION
Objective 1: To examine the impact of different leadership styles on the performance
of the employees
The results from the research has shown transactional, transformation and
contingency theory of leadership has significant impact on the performance of the
employees. In this scenario of HSBC, transformational leadership has positive impact on the
employees’ performance. Transactional leadership and contingency theory have negative
impact as majority of the coefficients in regression model are negative. This means that with
1 unit increase in behavioural changes negatively impacts the performance of the employees
in HSBC SriLanka. On the contrary, transformation leadership has significant positive
impact on the performance of the employees.
Objective 2: To evaluate the leadership style that is more suited to the needs of
workforce at HSBC
The results in the research showed that majority of the employees have chosen
transformational leadership as the most suited for the needs of the workforce at HSBC Sri
Lanka. The results show that 76.5% have considered transformational leadership as the best
style of leader when compared to the other forms of leadership. This may be due to the fact
that transformational leadership can be used as a measure to implement different styles of
leadership.
Objective 3: To determine whether the contingency theory hold true or not in this
given context
Contingency theory does not hold true in the given situation as the research shows
that as per the predictive model, the employee performance increases with the
implementation of the model. Moreover, there are few respondents that are in favour of

67RESEARCH PAPER
implementing contingency theory and use different styles based on the needs of the
situation.
5.3 RECOMMENDATION
Objective 4: To provide suitable recommendations to improve the leadership
capabilities
The results from the analysis has developed following recommendations for
improving the leadership and management within the organization:
 HSBC needs to appoint a transformational leader that brings about a change within
the organizational workforce
 The existing leaders needs to be motivating and promote change by helping out
subordinates to fulfil their tasks.
 The organization should aim to reduce the power distance gap existing in HSBC
SriLanka and reduce the bureaucracy by implementing flat organizational structure to
facilitate change
5.4 SELF REFLECTION
This study or research has helped the researcher to cultivate and develop knowledge
and skills. The focus of the researcher was on the role of the leadership style, and its impact
on the performances of the employees. The researcher was able to gain a higher and
excellent knowledge in the area of leadership, leadership styles and the importance of the
leadership style for better performances of the organisations since the researcher had to
consider over 100 academic papers and research articles in the area to conduct this
research and to write the literature review.
The researcher has to complete the study within a limited period by collecting data from a
sample of 200 whereas such required a considerably higher time management skill since
with the research the researcher had to attend for the rest of the professional and personal
commitments as well. Thus, this has helped the researcher to develop time management
skills as well as report writing skills where the project consisting of 14,000 words.
The researcher had to conduct a survey with a developed questionnaire and collect data
from a sample of 200 whereas the researcher was able to enhance the knowledge in
research methodology and conducting a primary study we well as to improve the research
leading skills. The data were analysed through SPSS whereas the researcher was able to
cultivate the knowledge in how to use the software as well as different analytical techniques

68RESEARCH PAPER
of a data set to collect information from the data set while enhancing the skills of data
analysis and usage of the software to analyse the data.
5.5 FUTURE SCOPE
In future, the research can collect sample size of more than 1000 to reduce the
sampling error within the organization. The research in future can also use mixed method
analysis where triangulation can be used to collect data from both qualitative and
quantitative method to avoid the limitation of using a single research and addressing other
dimensions of the research.

69RESEARCH PAPER
REFERENCES
Abdulkadiroğlu, A., Angrist, J. D., Narita, Y., & Pathak, P. A. (2017). Research design meets
market design: Using centralized assignment for impact
evaluation. Econometrica, 85(5), 1373-1432.
Alonderiene, R., & Majauskaite, M. (2016). Leadership style and job satisfaction in higher
education institutions. International Journal of Educational Management, 30(1), 140-
164.
Amin, W., Akram, U., Shahzad, F., & Amir, M. (2018). Impact of Transformation Leadership
on Affective Employee’s Commitment. European Online Journal of Natural and
Social Sciences: Proceedings, 7(1 (s)), pp-48.
Arnold, K. A., Connelly, C. E., Walsh, M. M., & Martin Ginis, K. A. (2015). Leadership styles,
emotion regulation, and burnout. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 20(4),
481.
Asrar-ul-Haq, M., & Kuchinke, K. P. (2016). Impact of leadership styles on employees’
attitude towards their leader and performance: Empirical evidence from Pakistani
banks. Future Business Journal, 2(1), 54-64.
Barling, J., Akers, A., & Beiko, D. (2018). The impact of positive and negative intraoperative
surgeons' leadership behaviors on surgical team performance. The American Journal
of Surgery, 215(1), 14-18.
Barua, B., Muchiri, M., Muenjohn, N., & Burgess, J. (2019). A Model Exploring Relationships
Between Positive Leadership, Meditation, Flow and Task Performance. The Journal
of Developing Areas, 53(2), 229-238.
Buil, I., Martínez, E., & Matute, J. (2019). Transformational leadership and employee
performance: The role of identification, engagement and proactive
personality. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 77, 64-75.
Dartey-Baah, K. (2015). Resilient leadership: A transformational-transactional leadership
mix. Journal of Global Responsibility, 6(1), 99-112.
Dunne, T. C., Aaron, J. R., McDowell, W. C., Urban, D. J., & Geho, P. R. (2016). The impact
of leadership on small business innovativeness. Journal of Business
Research, 69(11), 4876-4881.

70RESEARCH PAPER
Guhr, N., Lebek, B., & Breitner, M. H. (2019). The impact of leadership on employees'
intended information security behaviour: An examination of the full‐range leadership
theory. Information Systems Journal, 29(2), 340-362.
Guhr, N., Lebek, B., & Breitner, M. H. (2019). The impact of leadership on employees'
intended information security behaviour: An examination of the full‐range leadership
theory. Information Systems Journal, 29(2), 340-362.
Gulseren, D. B., Thibault, T., & Kelloway, E. K. (2019). 9. The role and importance of
leadership in creating psychologically healthy workplaces. Creating Psychologically
Healthy Workplaces, 197.
Harwiki, W. (2016). The impact of servant leadership on organization culture, organizational
commitment, organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and employee performance
in women cooperatives. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 219, 283-290.
Heale, R., & Twycross, A. (2015). Validity and reliability in quantitative studies. Evidence-
based nursing, 18(3), 66-67.
HSBC Sri Lanka, (2019). About HSBC. [Online]
Available at: http://www.about.hsbc.lk/
Hui, R. T. Y., & Sue‐Chan, C. (2018). Variations in coaching style and their impact on
subordinates' work outcomes. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39(5), 663-679.
Jackson, S. L. (2015). Research methods and statistics: A critical thinking approach.
Cengage Learning.
Jansen, J. J., Kostopoulos, K. C., Mihalache, O. R., & Papalexandris, A. (2016). A Socio‐
Psychological Perspective on Team Ambidexterity: The Contingency Role of
Supportive Leadership Behaviours. Journal of Management Studies, 53(6), 939-965.
Karia, N., & Abu Hassan Asaari, M. H. (2019). Leadership attributes and their impact on
work-related attitudes. International Journal of Productivity and Performance
Management.
Khoza, N., Chetty, N., & Karodia, A. M. (2016). Impact of Leadership Style on Employee
Performance in the Forensic Science Laboratory of the South African Police Service
in Amanzimtoti. Kuwait Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management
Review, 33(3492), 1-27.

71RESEARCH PAPER
Kooiman, T. J., Dontje, M. L., Sprenger, S. R., Krijnen, W. P., van der Schans, C. P., & de
Groot, M. (2015). Reliability and validity of ten consumer activity trackers. BMC
sports science, medicine and rehabilitation, 7(1), 24.
Kratochwill, T. R., & Levin, J. R. (Eds.). (2015). Single-case research design and analysis
(psychology revivals): new directions for psychology and education. Routledge.
Kumar, R. (2019). Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. Sage
Publications Limited.
Manzoor, F., Wei, L., Nurunnabi, M., Subhan, Q. A., Shah, S. I. A., & Fallatah, S. (2019).
The impact of transformational leadership on job performance and CSR as mediator
in SMEs. Sustainability, 11(2), 436.
Masa'deh, R. E., Obeidat, B. Y., & Tarhini, A. (2016). A Jordanian empirical study of the
associations among transformational leadership, transactional leadership, knowledge
sharing, job performance, and firm performance: A structural equation modelling
approach. Journal of Management Development, 35(5), 681-705.
Matthews, B., Daigle, J., & Houston, M. (2018). A dyadic of employee readiness and job
satisfaction: does there exist a theoretical precursor to the satisfaction-performance
paradigm?. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 26(5), 842-857.
Meirovich, G., & Gu, J. (2015). Empirical and theoretical validity of Hersey–Blanchard’s
contingency model. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 20(3),
56-73.
Mohd Adnan, S. N. S., & Valliappan, R. (2019). Communicating shared vision & leadership
styles towards enhancing performance. International Journal of Productivity and
Performance Management.
Mulki, J. P., Caemmerer, B., & Heggde, G. S. (2015). Leadership style, salesperson's work
effort and job performance: the influence of power distance. Journal of Personal
Selling & Sales Management, 35(1), 3-22.
Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K.
(2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed
method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and
Mental Health Services Research, 42(5), 533-544.

72RESEARCH PAPER
Para-González, L., Jiménez-Jiménez, D., & Martínez-Lorente, A. R. (2018). Exploring the
mediating effects between transformational leadership and organizational
performance. Employee Relations, 40(2), 412-432.
Patten, M. L., & Newhart, M. (2017). Understanding research methods: An overview of the
essentials. Routledge.
Popli, S., & Rizvi, I. A. (2016). Drivers of employee engagement: The role of leadership
style. Global Business Review, 17(4), 965-979.
Quinlan, C., Babin, B., Carr, J., & Griffin, M. (2019). Business research methods. South
Western Cengage.
Reiche, B. S., Bird, A., Mendenhall, M. E., & Osland, J. S. (2017). Contextualizing
leadership: A typology of global leadership roles. Journal of International Business
Studies, 48(5), 552-572.
Russell, Z. A., Steffensen, D. S., Ellen III, B. P., Zhang, L., Bishoff, J. D., & Ferris, G. R.
(2018). High performance work practice implementation and employee impressions
of line manager leadership. Human Resource Management Review, 28(3), 258-270.
Saleem, H. (2015). The impact of leadership styles on job satisfaction and mediating role of
perceived organizational politics. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 172,
563-569.
Saunders, M. N., Lewis, P., Thornhill, A., & Bristow, A. (2015). Understanding research
philosophy and approaches to theory development.
Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (2016). Research methods for business: A skill building approach.
John Wiley & Sons.
Shahab, S., Rashidi, N., Seddighi, F., & Yamini, M. (2019). Peeling the Onion: A Textual
CDA of Research Articles in Humanities and Basic Sciences. Research in Applied
Linguistics, 10(1), 108-131.
Torlak, N. G., & Kuzey, C. (2019). Leadership, job satisfaction and performance links in
private education institutes of Pakistan. International Journal of Productivity and
Performance Management, 68(2), 276-295.
Wallace, M., & Sheldon, N. (2015). Business research ethics: Participant observer
perspectives. Journal of Business Ethics, 128(2), 267-277.
Yahaya, R., & Ebrahim, F. (2016). Leadership styles and organizational commitment:
literature review. Journal of Management Development, 35(2), 190-216.

73RESEARCH PAPER
Yang, T. Z., Chen, M. Y., Read, T. R., Needleman, R., Bradshaw, C. S., Fortune, R., ... &
Chow, E. P. (2018). Sampling technique and detection rates of oropharyngeal and
anorectal gonorrhoea using nucleic acid amplification tests in men who have sex with
men. Sex Transm Infect, 94(4), 287-292.

74RESEARCH PAPER
APPENDIX
Survey Questionnaire
1. Age?
a) Less than 24 b) 25-34 c) 35-44 d) 45-54 e) 55 and above
2. Gender?
a) Male
b) Female
3. Your Rank?
a) trainee
b) Junior officer
c) Middle management
d) Senior officer
4. Your experience in Banking Industry?
a) Less than a year
b) 1-5 years
c) 6-10 years
d) Over 10 years
Questions on Transformation style of leadership
3. How far do you agree that your leader instils pride within subordinates?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
4. How far do you agree that your leader act in a way that builds respect among
subordinates?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
5. How far do you agree that your leader display a sense of confidence and power?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree

75RESEARCH PAPER
6. How far do you agree that your leader talk about values and beliefs to develop
strong sense of purpose among employees?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
7. How far do you agree that your leader talks optimistically about future and
articulates a compelling vision?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
8. How far do you agree that your leader seek different perspectives while solving
problems?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
9. How far do you agree that your leader treat everyone as individuals and spends
time coaching subordinates?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
Questions on Transactional style of leadership
10. How far do you agree that your leader provides rewards when performance goals
are achieved?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
11. How far do you agree that your leader keeps track of all mistakes to make sure
that employees meet standards?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
12. How far do you agree that your leader does not interfere unless the problem
becomes chronic?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
13. How far do you agree that your leader makes clear expectation from the
subordinates?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
14. how far do you agree that your leader works out agreements with the
subordinates?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
Questions on Contingency theory of leadership

76RESEARCH PAPER
15. How far do you agree that your leader behaves differently based on the situation?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
16. How far do you agree that your leader thinks that there are various ways of
accomplishing a task?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
17. How far do you agree that your leader has control over the situations at all times?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
Question on employee performance
18. How far do you agree that you are able to perform to fullest potential within the
organization?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
19. How far do you agree that you are focused on team performance and take
initiatives to resolve conflict?
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Indifferent d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree
20. Which is the most suitable style of leadership out of the mentioned three?
a) Transformational b) Transactional c) Contingent