| Abstract [eng] |
The aim of the master’s thesis is to investigate how changes in leadership styles affect the quality culture and performance effectiveness in youth non-governmental organisations (YNGOs). The thesis consists of a theoretical part, a research methodology on the impact of changes in leadership styles on quality culture and performance effectiveness in YNGOs, an analysis and interpretation of the research results, conclusions, and suggestions. The thesis uses the methods of scientific literature analysis, individual semi-structured interviews, focus group discussion and qualitative content analysis. The qualitative data were processed using “MAXQDA Analytics Pro 2022 (Release 22.4.0)” software and “Microsoft Excel” for “Microsoft Office 365”. The theoretical part of the thesis discusses the concept of quality culture, the characteristics of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and performance effectiveness, leadership styles and their evaluation, and the peculiarities of NGO leadership. The research was carried out in Lithuanian YNGOs, which are distinguished by the rapid change of their managers and, consequently, of their leadership styles. The results of the research showed that the concept of quality culture in YNGOs consists of a set of structural/managerial and cultural/psychological elements. During the study, the lack of a boundary definition of quality in the YNGOs made it difficult to identify the normative elements of quality assurance. As a result of the additional research objective, it was found that quality in the YNGOs is perceived as stakeholders’ satisfaction and process quality. The influence of quality culture on the performance effectiveness of the YNGOs was identified: a) the pursuit of quality in the YNGOs’ objectives is mainly manifested through the organisation of targeted activities, which is linked to the prevailing perception of process quality in the YNGOs; b) the influence of the quality assessment on the performance effectiveness of the YNGOs is not always positive; c) the cultural/psychological elements of the quality culture of leadership, human resource management and communication (internal communication) are the main elements that can contribute to a high level of performance effectiveness in the YNGOs. The reserach identified 13 changes in leadership styles, which were classified into 5 cases of changes in leadership styles: 1) from servant to transformational; 2) from servant to transactional; 3) from transformational to servant; 4) from transactional to servant; 5) from transactional to transformational. No case of transformational to transactional leadership style change was identified. The case studies identifiec the impact of changes in leadership styles on: a) the quality culture: responsibility for the quality of the YNGO’s activities is (or may be) not only assumed by the manager but also delegated to other members/volunteers/structures of the YNGO or remain solely assumed by the manager; as the leadership style changes, the methods of quality assurance may remain the same or may change with the introduction of more or the abandonment of previous methods for ensuring quality; some of the cultural/psychological elements of the quality culture are maintained or changed; b) the performance effectiveness: objectives may be refocused or adjusted in areas with a change in the number of objectives; the degree of achievement of the objectives may remain unchanged, be higher in the areas of emphasis or be lower in the areas of focus of the YNGO’s objectives as a result of the change in the leadership style of the YNGO. The conclusions of the thesis summarise the results of the analysis of the scientific literature and the results of the study. It also provides suggestions to the YNGOs and stakeholders on the impact of changes in leadership styles on the quality culture and performance management in YNGOs. |
