ABSTRACT

The study examined the effect of corporate leadership and employee empowerment in performance ofcommercial banks. The study were conducted in five(5) commercial banks, namely, access bank pic, Eco bank pic, diamond bank pic., first bankpic and fidelity bank pic. The specific objectives were to determine the governance style prevalent in Nigeria banking industry, to determine the relationship between Leadership style and employees' performance, to determine the relationship between corporate leadership and organizational performance, to determine the relationship between employee empowerment and organizational performance. The study adopted survey and descriptive design and Random sampling technique were also adopted. Primary data was sourced from distribution of questionnaires to staffofthe five study banks. The data were presented using 5 point Likert scale and analyzed using chi-square and correlation coefficient. The findings revealed that most ofthe respondents 44.7%fell into the 39 - 48 age brackets; majority ofthe respondents 55.9% were married; most ofthe respondents constituting 34.6% ofthe respondents were B.Sc/HND holders; majority, (31.00°/o) ofthe respondent’s says that they have worked in the bank within 6—10 years. The empirical result shows that there is governance style is prevalence in Nigeria Banking industry. These common governance styles were identified to be both democratic and lessez-faire governance style, that there is significant relationship between leadership style and employee performance, there is positive significance relationship between corporate leadership and organizational performance and that there is significant relationship between employee empowerment and organizational performance. It was recommended that the banks should occasionally conduct customer satisfaction surveys so as to establish how best they can serve their clients. It also recommends that the banks conduct employee satisfaction surveys so as to establish ways in which the banks can provide the best working conditionsfor their employees to improve their productivity and that ofthe firm.