The Impact Of Informal Work Groups On Managerial Leadership Styles & Employees' Job Satisfaction

Abstract

The main motive behind this study is that the pace of the world's technological changes is stepping up, and the W.T.O. and other agencies are pressing business organizations to reform their situations for the phenomenon of globalization and free opened markets. In addition; local organizations are facing the challenge of complexity and ambiguity of elements affecting employees' behavior in general and job satisfaction in specific. The major objective of this particular study was to gain an understanding of the external and internal organizational environments which allow business leaders to deal effectively with different kinds and rates of environmental change from the standpoint of a relatively new issue, that is, informal groups. The hypotheses speculated by the study recognize the following relationships: 1. Managerial leadership styles and intensity of informal work groups. 2. Managers' linkage to external informal groups and autocratic leadership styles adopted. 3. Managers' linkage to internal informal groups and participative leadership styles adopted. 4. Employees' linkage to informal work groups and job satisfaction for employees held challenged jobs. 5. Employees' linkage to informal work groups and job satisfaction for employees held unchallenged jobs. Strictly speaking; the study tries to spell out that, the type of informal group that business leaders belong can significantly determine the leadership styles of those leaders, and these styles have significant effect on forming informal groups inside organizations. Also, at the other end of spectrum, as a result of linking with informal groups; employees' job satisfaction was encouraged. The study is conducted on sugar factories in Sudan, and data gathered were analyzed statistically. The first four hypotheses are validated in the study while the fifth hypothesis is rejected and additional correlations analysis concerning job satisfaction as a dependent factor and other independent factors (such as age, qualifications, years of serving, and marital status) were analyzed in the study. Finally; some findings and recommendations concerning the main issues of the study, industrial sector of Sudan and sugar industry of Sudan emerged from this study.