Strategic Leadership and Performance of Tea Garden: A Study on Relationship Between Leadership Styles, Organizational Effectiveness and Production Efficiency in Doomdooma Tea Belt of Assam.

Abstract

Tea is one of the major and oldest plantation industries of India and it contributes significantly to the economy of the country. Assam alone contributes a major share of tea production and exports of the country. The long-term competitiveness of tea gardens depends increasingly not only on the agronomic techniques and technical advances but also on the quality of strategic leadership exerted by management. Good leadership has an impact on motivation of employees, organisational commitment, labour relations, operational efficiency, innovation and ultimately production performance. The tea industry of Assam is an economic hub but the studies related to the impact of strategic leadership techniques on organizational performance and production efficiency in the tea plantations’ distinctive socio-economic setting are quite few. The present study attempts to develop an integrated framework for examining the relationship between strategic leadership, leadership styles, organizational effectiveness and tea garden performance in Doomdooma Tea Belt of Assam. This study is based on a quantitative explanatory research approach. The study suggests an empirical framework which has transformational, transactional, participatory and servant leadership as strategic leadership aspects. The organizational effectiveness and production efficiency are considered as important outcome variables. Employee motivation and work satisfaction are suggested as mediating mechanisms. Managers, supervisors, staff and workers in the selected tea gardens were sent a standardized questionnaire based on a five-point Likert scale. The pilot study reported in this publication is a simulated dataset for methodological demonstration and should not be taken as empirical evidence from actual field respondents. 
The suggested approach contributes to the strategic leadership literature by the combination of organizational behaviour theories and plantation management techniques in an under-researched industrial context. The findings are intended to be useful for tea estate managers, policymakers and organizational leaders in planning leadership development efforts to promote workforce engagement, organizational effectiveness and sustainable production performance. The study further provides practical suggestions to enhance the leadership capability in the tea sector of India and also provides a ground for future empirical studies utilizing actual survey data.