Communication and Leadership Styles for Effective Employee Motivation and Performance Management in Select Secondary Schools in the PostCOVID-19 Era

Abstract

The continued existence of any school organization fundamentally depends on the homeostatic capacity of its management team to maintain balance—a favorable work environment—amid internal and external disruptions, as well as its ability to maximize the efficient use of resources to achieve corporate goals. However, post-COVID-19 business realities have shown that, of the 87% of Nigerian businesses negatively impacted by the pandemic, many failed to recover, while others continue to struggle with slow growth due to a lack of a learning approach to management. Consequently, the communication and leadership styles in some secondary institutions experiencing this setback still rely on a traditional yet rigid modus operandi, emphasizing “output optimization” and “profit maximization” at an exploitative cost, with little consideration for innovative strategies that sustain and motivate employees in the long term. This approach leads to low commitment, high staff turnover, low frustration tolerance, burnout, and other indicators of job dissatisfaction, contributing to low employee performance in these organizations. Against this backdrop, the researchers propose Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership model, which offers a range of leadership styles tailored to employees' readiness or development level in their job performance. Through library research, the study also explores various integrative communication styles aligned with leadership styles to boost employee morale and promote effective performance management, while advocating a learning approach to management for enhanced organizational success.