Abstract
Leadership plays a critical role in shaping employee behavior, organizational effectiveness, and productivity. This study examined the impact of traditional and modern leadership styles on organizational performance among employees of selected organizations in Cavite, Philippines. Specifically, it assessed autocratic, directive, transactional, transformational, participative, and servant leadership styles, identified organizational performance challenges, determined significant relationships and differences among the variables, and provided a basis for an action plan to improve organizational productivity. The study employed a quantitative-descriptive correlational research design involving 160 rank-and-file employees and frontline supervisors from Meralco Cavite Operations, TaskUs Cavite, Samsung Electro-Mechanics Philippines Corporation, and Mocom Philippines, Inc., with 40 respondents selected from each organization through stratified random sampling. Data were collected using a structured and expert-validated questionnaire with a Content Validity Index of 0.92. Pilot testing yielded Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of 0.88 for traditional leadership, 0.91 for modern leadership, and 0.90 for organizational performance. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were applied to analyze the data. Respondents reported awareness of all six leadership styles, with overall means ranging from 2.91 for servant leadership to 3.07 for participative leadership. Traditional leadership styles demonstrated a statistically significant but weak relationship with the outcome variable (p = 0.013). Organizational challenges involving financial performance, operational efficiency, employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and innovation capability were rated serious, with overall means ranging from 3.30 to 3.35. No significant differences were found among respondent groups across these organizational challenges (p > 0.05). Furthermore, neither traditional (p = 0.350) nor modern (p = 0.726) leadership styles showed a significant relationship with the organizational problems encountered. The findings indicate that multiple leadership approaches coexist across the participating organizations, with participative leadership receiving the highest overall assessment. Although traditional leadership demonstrated a statistically significant relationship with the study’s outcome variable, its weak association suggests limited explanatory influence. The consistently serious organizational challenges across companies further indicate the need for interventions extending beyond leadership style alone. Accordingly, the study supports an action plan emphasizing psychological safety, situational leadership, constructive feedback, inclusive decision-making, employee development, operational efficiency, customer responsiveness, and organizational support for innovation.
