Leadership Styles and Organisational Performance: Case of Small Businesses in Cameroon Size Businesses in Buea Municipality

This study assesses the relationship between leadership styles and organisational performance for small and medium size organisations in Cameroon. Specifically, it examines the effect of authoritarian leadership style on organisational performance, the effect of democratic leadership style on organisational performance and the effect of transformational leadership style on organiational performance. Using a causal research design, the research selected 100 employees in small and medium size organisations through purposive sampling technique. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used through SPSS version 25 to analyse data. Findings reveal that there is a positive and significant relationship between leadership styles and organizational performance in small businesses studied. Results further reveal that democratic leadership styles do not have a positive effect on organizational performance while authoritarian and transformational leadership style has a positive and significant impact on organisational performance. It was recommended that managers in small and medium size organisations use authoritarian and transformational leadership styles in order to increase performance.