Exploring the impact of managers’ supervisory styles on workers’ performance in private sector building projects in Uganda : a case study of Mbarara city

Abstract

In Mbarara city, construction projects have been characterized by delayed completion and poor-quality projects. This study sought to explore the impact of managers’ supervisory styles on workers’ performance in private sector building projects in Mbarara City. The study was motivated by the fact that an audit by the Government Accountability Office found that while the USMID project achieved an average score of 77.5% there were gaps in contract management and project performance in Uganda. Construction managers, other construction workers, experts, and owners of construction projects constituted the study population. A cross-sectional survey design was used under descriptive research design. Data was collected from a sample size of 246 using questionnaires and interview guides as data collecting tools. The descriptive and inferential statistical analyses of the data made use of the Pearson correlation coefficient and statistics from regression analysis. The results showed that different supervisory styles were in use, mostly reflecting democratic, autocratic, transformational, and to a much lesser extent laissez-faire type. The employees demonstrated excellent achievement by performing to the best of their abilities, starting work consistently, and successfully completing tasks to ensure customer pleasure. The correlation analysis indicated a statistically significant association between a manager's supervisory styles and worker efficiency i.e. (r=0.249**, p=0.000˂0.05), suggesting that managers in Mbarara city's private construction projects should rely on supervisory styles to raise staff performance. Regression analysis results showed that manager’s supervisory styles account for up to 6.2% of the variance in employee performance (adjusted R2 =0.062), implying that to a large extent, manager’s supervisory styles alone have less influence on the workers’ performance, with other factors like; level of motivation, welfare, level of training, remuneration, safety concerns, conflicts among workers, influencing their performance by 93.8%. In conclusion, the majority of employees value democratic supervisory practices, which are represented in managers consulting with employees before making decisions and promoting discussion of sensitive topics