A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (Business and Executive Coaching) Wits Business School, Johannesburg February 2017 / The objective of this research is to explore the perceptions and experiences of coaching across cultures among white and black leaders in South Africa. The research thus aims to contribute towards an understanding of the role and the impact of cross-cultural executive coaching, both its implications for the coaching intervention and relationship and its application in the wider South African context. Cross-cultural coaching is a contracted coaching engagement between two people from different race groups. Black people refers to people who are citizens of the Republic of South Africa by birth or descent and are African, Coloured or Indian. The research used a qualitative methodology. 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted with executives and managers who had recently experienced cross-cultural executive coaching. The transcripts of the interviews were analysed, resulting in 12 broad themes. The findings revealed that cross-cultural executive coaching pushed personal boundaries on two levels. Not only did female executives push gender boundaries in their selection process, but both male and female executives pushed the boundaries in experiencing different perspective on issues. The executives who had been exposed to diversity early in their lives appear to have successfully embraced cross-cultural coaching. Furthermore, the greater the exposure to international work or life experience early in the executive’s career development, the more welcoming and enhancing the cross-cultural coaching experience was. Most executives acknowledged the importance of exploiting South Africa’s cultural diversity as a business advantage, so the outstanding results in the performance and development of leaders already brought about by executive coaching can be extended further. The findings on what influenced the cross-cultural relationship pointed to the importance of coaches and clients connecting authentically and personally. When coaches listened well and displayed good questioning skills, the relationship flourished. The levels of understanding between coach and executives were critical for the development of the coaching relationship. These findings provide key insights into what makes a good cross-cultural coaching experience. The broader implications for cross-cultural coaching in South Africa include both benefits and challenges to professional, executive development. They show how an absence of cultural awareness and cultural intelligence in cross-cultural coaching can limit benefits, and reveal the opportunities possible in helping heal the wounds of an historically divided nation. The study recommends a fresh look at how we train and prepare cross-cultural coaches for the South African context. As the coaching intervention experience expands, the goal is to adjust and include the development of cross-cultural competency for effective cross-cultural coaching. / MT2017

A dissertation submitted to the Wits School of Governance, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of Witwatersrand in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Management in the field of Public and Development Management (MM.P & DM), 2016 / This study explored governance and leadership challenges at the Edenridge High School. The report uses a case study as well as an interactive qualitative analysis research methodology. It explores how the School Governing Body provides strategy to the school management team, with their educators, in order to implement the strategy in collaboration with the GDE policies, will ultimately lead to good governance and effective leadership and management in the school. The GDE policies and practices are used to address complex challenges in order to effect change. The researcher argues that despite the challenges which the SGB and SMT, as well as the educators in the school experience, change becomes evident. The stakeholders learn to work together, respect each other and forge ahead. These challenges brought about by insufficient provision of inservice trainings and relevant workshops to be conducted in schools contribute to shaping future developed and professional bodies of SGBs and SMTs in general, in their good governance strategies and effective leadership and management systems. If the systems in place are sustained, they then leave the stakeholders with the potential of becoming public servants of the future. The findings reveal that the Constitution of South Africa Act No. 108 of 1996, South African Schools Act (SASA) No. 84 of 1996, Employment of Educators’ Act (EEA) No. 76 of 1998, and the National Education Policy Act (NEPA) No. 27 of 1996 are not used sufficiently and substantively to influence change that must take place in schools. Discretion and common sense tend to have taken the place of education policies and practices in resolving problems and finding each other. While schools discuss embracing the ten fundamental values of the South African Constitution (Act 108 of 1996), living up to them continues to remain a challenge in practice. ii This study also investigates the role that SGB and SMT, together with the teaching staff (educators) play in governance, leadership and management of teaching and learning. The process takes place through the alternative approach of distributed - and instructional – leadership, in order to promote quality education. As a qualitative case study of only one township Gauteng secondary school, data was collected by means of questionnaires. Perceptions of the SGB, SMT and educators on distributed and instructional leadership embedded within governance, leadership and management were examined, as well as how the concept was applied in the day-to-day running of the school. It was found that the SGB’s, SMT’s and educators’ responses in the questionnaires, despite their extensive teaching and managing experience, related to the situation where the stakeholders were not fully aware of the implications of governance, leadership and management within the new dispensation. They vaguely referred to their roles as governors, leaders and managers without specifying how and what they were governing, leading and managing in their respective schools. Recommendations are that distributed leadership strategies in governance by the SGB could be found in the case study school to optimise the instructional leadership and management of teaching and learning by the SMT and educators, and that time should be granted for HODs and their principals within the SMT structure for the implementation of this instructional leadership and management. Challenges such as the ones mentioned above, including the recent fluctuation of matric results, which dropped by approximately 9% in 2015, (Basic Education Minister’s Speech, January 2015) moving the pass rate from 75,8% in 2014 down to 70,7% in 2015, will obviously be curbed / GR2018

Although more South African women are progressing into managerial positions, they are doing so at a slow pace and continue to face many challenges (Paulsen, 2009; Mckinsey & Company, 2010; Molebatsi, 2009). Therefore, this research set out to investigate South African women managers’ experiences and how they might relate to their perceptions of organisational justice and perceptions of leadership self-efficacy. Perceptions of organisational justice and perceptions of leadership self-efficacy are significant because they have been individually linked to motivation, commitment, satisfaction and performance (Baldwin, 2006; Combs, 2002; Colquitt, et al., 2001; McCormick, et al., 2002; Paglis, 2010). In addition, the research aimed to explore how these two concepts might interplay. The research took a qualitative approach and conducted in-depth interviews with eight senior women managers from different organisations. A tape recorder was used to record the interviews and thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data collected. The women in the study highlighted both negative and positive work experiences in their role as women senior managers. Further, the study revealed that senior women managers are not a homogeneous group as their experiences are also influenced by factors such as their race, marital status and number and/or age their children. The study also showed that the senior women managers’ experiences were related to their perceptions of organisational justice and leadership self-efficacy. The women in this study were vibrant and positive, and reflected high levels of leadership self-efficacy. It was also clear that these women’s experiences placed more emphasis on procedural and interactional justice than on distributive justice as they placed greater emphasis on work relationships, how they were treated and the fairness of work processes. In addition, the research also found a link between perceptions of organisational and perceptions of leadership self-efficacy

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Law, Commerce and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in 50% fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Management (in the field of Public and Development Management) March, 2017 / Literature, which has been drawn for this research, defines talent development as a prime responsibility for leaders in an organisation to help achieve organisational goals and gain a competitive advantage. Further, talent development should be regarded as a collective approach which will encompass the other two parts of talent management, which is talent attraction and talent retention. Also, the integration of processes like change management, organisational culture and performance management has been outlined as beneficial factors to both employees and the company at large. While much has been written about talent management and talent development in particular, this study outlines what leadership can contribute towards a talent enriched organisation for future sustainability. Job satisfaction, visionary leadership and performance management are the three themes which emerged from this research. These themes require organisations to pay attention to them in order to achieve good results. What is also addressed is whether the focus of developing employees should be on the strengths or weaknesses of employees at individual level. However, the point not to be missed when dealing with the development of individuals in the workplace is to focus on TED (Total Employee Development). This helps the organisation to ensure that its workforce is equipped in all areas which is essential to achieve success and excellence. While organisations begin to accelerate talent development matters, they need to further focus on developing teams and this should be guided by the following principles: 1) to continue with the development of talented and experienced individuals to keep up with the changes in their respective fields; 2) paying attention to employees who are absolutely new and inexperienced in the field to help them develop interest in their work. The SRPD model (Specification, Raw Material, Production process and Distribution) has been drawn in as one of the tools which can be applied for the attainment of the desired 100% talent in the workplace rather than anything less which will be inadequate. / MT2017

M.Tech. Business Administration. Business School. / In 1994 with the new democratic Government, South Africa initiated a plethora of changes and transformation in business. South Africa’s management, which was mostly made up of White managers, was joined by a Black, African group of managers. Businesses saw vast differences in the management styles of the White/Westernised leaders in comparison to that of the Black/Africanised leaders. Leaders have the ability to shape South African organisations with regards to how businesses/organisations are managed and the style of leadership adopted, which in turn influences the organisations’ culture. South African organisations not only had White and Black managers to contend with, but the workforce also consisted of very diverse work groups made up of distinguishing factors such as race, gender, age and ethnicity. Furthermore, managers had to change from pre-apartheid management styles to post-apartheid leadership styles, to facilitate the management of a changing political, social and economic environment. The task of management for leaders became extremely complex. The study as a result, focuses on the very Western leadership of White managers, in comparison to the Africanised leadership of Black, African managers.

The central aim of this study was to describe through qualitative inquiry how school principals have dealt with the post-1994 changes in school governance and the change in their leadership roles as leaders and professional managers of public schools, and how these changes have impacted on the construction of their professional identities and redefinition of their leadership roles. The critical research questions that guided the study were: (1) How do principals interpret or understand their roles and functions as leaders in the democratised system which relies on participatory management approaches? (2) To what extent can the principal’s beliefs, personal and cultural values and interests shape or influence his or her leadership style? (3) To what extent has the principal’s socialization into the teaching profession shaped his or her self-definition and professional identity? (4) How do principals transform their personal knowledge into professional practice? A qualitative, interpretive research design that made use of stories, accounts, and narratives was used to investigate different areas of the leadership process in KwaZulu- Natal schools. Six principals were selected to participate in the research process using the purposive or selective sampling procedure. The procedure was judgemental because it was more informed by the researcher’s experience and knowledge of the area of study to select cases that are representative or typical. The selection was based on racial demographics of the province, socialization of the participants into the teaching profession, ex-departments of education of the apartheid era, experience of managing public schools in the old and the new democratic political dispensations, and experienced female principals. The data analysis in this study borrowed from three prominent approaches to life history analysis, namely: the realist, neo-positivist and narrative approaches. The outcomes of this study identified that the selected principals’ socialization into education was shaped and directed by their parents. This challenges the belief that the principals’ social lives, on entering the teaching profession, are determined and shaped by the structured rules and educational policies. The study also shows that the trends towards democracy and participation in work places have caused the situational approaches of leadership to be replaced by structural functional approaches that attempt to respond to current changes in education. The combination of the principals’ experiences with what was expected from them influenced the construction of their professional identities and the way they interpret their professional roles. The principals’ life stories revealed that after twelve years of democracy, they were still struggling with the implementation of the democratic education policies. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.

Teacher leadership is a term that is relatively new to the majority of educators in / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

The political, social and economic history of the Further Education and Training College Sector and that of the communities it serves influences the operation of these institutions. The history of „state aided‟ and the „state‟ technical colleges has resulted in some Rectors and some Campus Managers having different ideas regarding leadership and management. Campus managers who bring with them the style of a state technical college‟s past tends to follow a very rigid and autocratic management, while those who come from the state aided technical college‟s past tends to emphasize teamwork, delegation but autocracy as well. Getting these campus managers to devolve power to other lecturers in the FET College is somewhat a challenging task. With this in mind, the purpose of this dissertation is to determine the enactment of „lecturer leadership‟ by the classroom lecturers at one FET College, and to investigate what hinders lecturers‟ enactment of leadership in this context. Where leadership is enacted, I intend establishing factors that promote the successful enactment. From a theoretical perspective, distributed leadership theory underpins this study. As I have had little choice but to use the literature on teacher leadership within a schooling context, because there is no literature around the concept of lecturer leadership in the context of the FET College both locally and internationally that I came across. I have taken the liberty of adopting a term „lecturer leadership‟ which is most suited for the FET context. My study is situated within an interpretive paradigm because I worked from the premise that there are multiple truths and I wanted to understand the different interpretations of the world through the lecturer leaders‟ lenses. I aligned myself with Cohen, Manion and Morrison who write “the central endeavour in the context of the interpretive paradigm is to understand the subjective world of human experiences” (2007, p.21). Using a descriptive case study methodology allowed me to track the three lecturer leaders for six month period in the FET College where I worked to get a nuanced description of how lecturer leadership was enacted. The lecturers‟ responses were collected both as numerical data, through survey questionnaires, and textual data, through a focus group and individual interviews, journaling process, and observations. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

This dissertation contains three schools used as the sample when conducting the study on curriculum reform implementation. This change in curriculum follows the change in the South African politics in 1994. The year 2006 was the year for implementing the curriculum change in the Further Education and Training band (FET). Learners in grade 10 were the first ones to be taught following the OBE principles in secondary schools with FET. The purpose of this study was to explore how schools are managing the transition and implementation of the National Curriculum Statement. The research design followed the qualitative approach. All three schools are in the deep rural area of Msinga in the Umzinyathi District. The research was informed by two types of leadership theories which are: the Bureaucratic and Collegial theories; these theories helped to find how the principals are using their roles and understanding of the change process to bring about curriculum delivery in their schools. This study built upon the findings of the previous studies conducted by De Jager, Davey and Clark. Their findings revealed complexities and inequalities in the preparation for the curriculum change due to various factors including: lack of proper training and planning for change. My study sought to find how the principals and their school management teams including educators are recontextualising change to make it suitable to their schools' needs. The understanding of their roles in leading and managing change was the yardstick of how change was implemented. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of teachers’ perceptions on teacher leadership and motivational levels to engage in leadership roles at school. The research study was conducted within a qualitative research paradigm and took the form of a single case study in one secondary school in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal. Multi-data collection techniques included semi-structured interviews, a focus group interview, semi-structured and unstructured observations and document analysis. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.