Visionary management style and performance of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) in Uganda: A Mixed-Methods Analysis

It is increasingly becoming important to examine the impact that various leadership styles can have on the outcome of organizational performance in development and non-profit fields. Visionary management is one such style, which is distinguished by its future orientation and communication strategy among other aspects. There exist both enablers and barriers to its application in the unique context of the Ugandan INGOs, which is why an exploration of the impact that visionary management has on organizational performance within this context seems appropriate. Thus, this study aims at investigating the link between visionary management style and organizational performance indicators in Uganda INGOs. This research utilized a convergent parallel design that involves both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative method involved collecting information from 240 respondents through structured questionnaires on visionary management practices and performance using validated 5-point Likert scale measures from three purposively sampled INGOs (Catholic Relief Services, Caritas Uganda, and Joint Effort to Save the Environment). These samples represented different departments within each organization using stratified random sampling, which yielded 98 percent of responses. Qualitative information was also collected through 15 interviews with top and middle-level management officials. Analysis methods involved descriptive statistics, multiple regression analysis, correlation analysis, and thematic analysis using NVivo software. Visionary management is moderately exercised by these INGOs (M=2.924; SD=1.09). The involvement of employees in the strategic planning process had the highest mean (M = 3.083), whereas the integration of the visions of employees into the goals of the organization ranked lowest (M = 2.958). Multiple regression analysis indicated that visionary leadership predicts organizational effectiveness (β = 0.65, p < .01, R² = 0.42), accounting for 42% of the variance. Visionary leadership showed a higher correlation with organizational effectiveness (r = 0.65, p < .01) compared to efficiency (r = 0.43, p < .05) and service delivery (r = 0.38, p < .05). Participatory decision making, clear communication strategy, and cultural sensitivity were identified as the enabling factors, while the resource limitation, cultural diversity issues, inconsistent implementation of visionary management practices, and conflicts between the donors' expectations and the INGOs' objectives were identified as barriers to the successful implementation of visionary leadership approaches in Uganda. Though the implementation of visionary management significantly enhances the performance of INGOs in Uganda, this practice is not consistent.