Doctor Trudy Thomas is a leader that served; as a medical doctor and as a public servant over five decades during and after the apartheid era in South Africa. The aim of this qualitative study was to identify the leadership characteristics that are evident in Doctor Thomas, the former MEC for Health for the Province of the Eastern Cape; as a leader and to explore how they developed over five decades, given her role within healthcare in South Africa. The first requirement of a servant-leader according to Robert Greenleaf (the contemporary pioneer of servant-leadership) (Greenleaf, 1977), is that the leader is a servant first and starts with a desire to serve. Doctor Thomas started her professional life as a medical missionary doctor, a profession that by its nature is serving and ultimately healing, in the poor rural communities of the Eastern Cape. Her leadership grew out of her initial concern for her patients and their communities and by the opportunities that she was presented with to apply her skills to serve. She was able to identify the deeper needs within these communities and was able to envision practical solutions to these problems, enlisting the assistance of others. Throughout her leadership journey she exhibited humility, and many other trademarks of a servant-leader. She did not see herself as a leader, believing rather that it was a privilege to serve and help people. This study was therefore able to conclude that the leadership that Doctor Thomas has exhibited is that of a servant-leader and that her leadership journey was unintentional and grew out of her desire and ability to serve. This thesis consists of three separate yet interrelated sections. Section One, The Academic Case Study is a holistic, biographical academic case study on an individual. The outcomes of this research are presented as an academic paper, which includes a condensed literature review, results and discussion, as well as recommendations for future research. It also presents recommendations regarding the application of servant-leadership in service industries like Healthcare in South Africa. The presentation of the results is predominantly qualitative with some quantitative aspects. Section Two, The Literature Review presents an extensive review of literature that relates to the phenomena of leadership; servant-leadership; leader and leadership development; servant-leadership development through service and finally servant-leadership in South Africa. Other aspects like Ubuntu and Unintentional leadership are examined. The literature review conducted serves as a broad foundation for understanding servant-leadership but does not purely focus on the issues of this individual study. Section Three, The Research Methodology is an outline of the research aim and objectives, and the research paradigm that has been adopted. The discussion also details the research methodology; the case study method; an inductive approach; an intersubjective position; the individual researched; data collection techniques and analysis; objectivity; issues of quality; ethics; and the limitations of this research.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Ph.D. / This study is largely comprised of elements stemming from two important approaches to the study of politics ie political leadership studies and political culture studies. The following two assumptions were implicit to this study: 1) The political process largely revolves around the practice of leadership in society, as leaders being part of the elite are directly involved in politics and have to make important decisions. ii) Comprehension of leaders' political beliefs contribute to our knowledge of politics ...

This research aims to provide a theory of enterprise social networking that generates and/or sustains a culture of employee engagement within a chosen South African private sector company. Based on an extensive review of interesting literature and the application of a grounded theory process in a chosen case, this research work provides a theory of enterprise social networking sustaining and growing employee engagement together with an explanatory theoretical framework that makes the theory more practical. Employee engagement is defined as “the harnessing of organisation member’s selves to their work roles; in engagement people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances.” This research regards employee engagement as a three part concept composed of a trait (personality/cognitive) aspect, a state (emotional) aspect, and a behavioural aspect. Research has shown that employee engagement has an unequivocal positive impact on business outcomes, such as profitability, business performance, employee retention and productivity. Employee engagement can be regarded as a culture if it is abundant within the organization’s employee population. Gatenby et al. (2009) propose that employee engagement is fostered by creating the desire and opportunity for employees to connect with colleagues, managers and the wider organisation. This standpoint is supported by Kular et al. (2008) who state that the “key drivers of employee engagement identified include communication, opportunities for employees to feed their views upward and thinking that their managers are committed to the organisation.” Further indicators of employee engagement include strong leadership (particularly in the form of servant leadership), accountability, a positive and open organisational culture, autonomy, and opportunities for development. One of the key facets of employee engagement is connection. A complementary definition of social media, an umbrella under which enterprise social networks fall, is that “(it) is more of a relationship channel, a connection channel. Each and every tweet, update, video, post, is a connection point to another human being. And it’s the other human being who will determine your worth to them.” Social media provides participants with access to a larger pool of resources and relationships than they would normally have access to. This enlarged relationship/resource pool is a result of expanding human and social capital enabled through social media tools. In order to produce a theory of enterprise social networking sustaining and growing a culture of employee engagement a rigorous grounded theory methodology coupled with a case study methodology was applied. The case study methodology was used to identify a suitable research site and interesting participants within the site while the grounded theory process was used to produce both qualitative and quantitative data sets in a suitability rigorous fashion. The corroborative data was then used to discover and define the emergent theory.

From summary:The main objective of this research study was to write up a teaching case study, based on Greiner’s (1998) model of organisational development, outlining what effect the growth of Hardware Warehouse had on the leadership and culture of the organisation. The study is a teaching case study in the form of “a descriptive case focusing on presenting a description of past events and decisions” (Cappel and Schwager, 2002: 289).

Multiple Intelligences (MI) is a theory that has radically challenged the conventional perception of human intelligence. Individuals have different combinations of intelligences (strengths and weaknesses). Teachers who want to achieve success in facilitating the learning of all learners in their classes need to understand and respect the varied learning styles and differences in each individual. In formulating this study, I was interested in how MI is utilised in the classroom, enabling learners to solve problems individually and in society. The aims of the study are to describe and understand the experiences of the Heads of Departments at their schools, in terms of whether teachers facilitate MI practices in their classrooms and how this impacts both on teachers and learners. In this study I followed a qualitative approach and I employed a case study design. Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews that were conducted with four Heads of Department (HODs), in different local school settings in an urban environment. I also used a research diary, observations and visual data collection techniques. It was found that leadership plays a crucial role in how teachers understand and facilitate MI in their schools. There is a basis from which the HODs could be empowered to change the conditions where they manage, teach or facilitate. Teachers can be empowered to meet the challenges of implementing MI in their own planning, preparation and classroom practice. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

Multiple Intelligences (MI) is a theory that has radically challenged the conventional perception of human intelligence. Individuals have different combinations of intelligences (strengths and weaknesses). Teachers who want to achieve success in facilitating the learning of all learners in their classes need to understand and respect the varied learning styles and differences in each individual. In formulating this study, I was interested in how MI is utilised in the classroom, enabling learners to solve problems individually and in society. The aims of the study are to describe and understand the experiences of the Heads of Departments at their schools, in terms of whether teachers facilitate MI practices in their classrooms and how this impacts both on teachers and learners. In this study I followed a qualitative approach and I employed a case study design. Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews that were conducted with four Heads of Department (HODs), in different local school settings in an urban environment. I also used a research diary, observations and visual data collection techniques. It was found that leadership plays a crucial role in how teachers understand and facilitate MI in their schools. There is a basis from which the HODs could be empowered to change the conditions where they manage, teach or facilitate. Teachers can be empowered to meet the challenges of implementing MI in their own planning, preparation and classroom practice. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

The aim of this study was to find the relationships between leadership style, organisational culture and organisational performance and subsequently develop a conceptual framework for enhancing Organisational Performance through the linkage between Leadership style and Organisational Culture in the public sector, in the South African Police Service (SAPS). Many of the previous studies have explored the direct relationship between specific culture domains and a specific performance measure and researchers have paid attention to mediators and moderators of the link between organisational culture and performance only in private sectors. According to the literature, leadership style and organisational culture have been independently linked to organisational performance (Ogbonna & Harris, 2000; Denison & Mishra, 1995; Xenikou & Simosi, 2006; Cameron & Quinn, 2011). All these authors focused on the effect of organisational culture and leadership style on organisational performance in the private sector. In order to achieve the research aim and objectives extensive an intensive literature review of the relevant and current literature was done. The mixed methods approach was applied. Data was collected by the use of self-administered questionnaires for the quantitative data and in-depth interviews and observations for the qualitative data. Regression analysis was used to investigate the relationships between the key study variables and more importantly the mediating and moderating effect on the effect of leadership style on organisational performance. The results of this study indicated that the transformational leadership style does not have a direct effect on organisational performance but rather through organisational culture as a mediating and moderating variable. It was also found that transformational leadership style and organisational culture affect each other. The implication was that leaders should cultivate an organisational culture which is conducive to work in order to enhance organisational performance. / Business Management / D.B.L.

A review of the academic literature related to “strategic leadership” reveals that the performance of an organization will indeed be influenced by the application of this phenomenon. This thesis confines its research to a case study on Ellerine Holdings Limited, a multi-billion rand enterprise that trades in the competitive Southern African furniture retail industry. Following the 2007 acquisition of Ellerine Holdings Limited (EHL) by African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL), a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was appointed to develop and to lead the strategic changes that were envisioned for EHL. The research examines how the performance of EHL has been influenced since the appointment of Toni Fourie as the new CEO in February 2008. Boasting a reputation borne from his previous successes in organizational transformation, Fourie was ABIL’s first-choice leader for this challenge. Fourie displays qualities, attributes, behaviours and traits that are characterized by the phenomenon of “strategic leadership”. He has been the focus of media attention for the aggressive strategic changes that he has introduced within the organization. A quantitative analysis of EHL’s financial performance (between 2007 and 2009) indicated that there was a constant decline in the organization’s PBT (Profit Before Taxation) during the period observed. However, the research determined that turbulent conditions in the macro-economic environment (such as the global economic recession in 2008 and 2009) complemented by mitigating micro-economic factors, would have adversely skewed the conclusions in this document if the research was limited to quantitative analysis alone. Hence, the researcher explored a qualitative research framework by collecting and assimilating data from available documentation, and from formal interviews that were conducted with research participants representing the organization’s new leadership. These participants included the new CEO, Fourie, and the new Director of Strategy, Dr. Louis Carstens. Information was also obtained from informal discussions that were conducted with other senior executives, and with an ex general manager of one of EHL’s business units, who was based in the Eastern Cape region at the time. An examination of all of this data concluded that although Ellerine Holdings Limited was not achieving all of its financialperformance objectives, there was general consensus that the CEO’s strategic choices would yield the desired financial results from the mediumterm (namely, year-03 of his tenure) onwards. The CEO’s optimism and conviction that his strategic interventions will address long-term financial sustainability is shared by both EHL’s internal and external stakeholders. It emerged that EHL’s stakeholders were satisfied with the accelerated progress reflected in the organization’s non-financial performance indices. These indicators included the sowing of a new organizational culture; improved cost-base efficiencies; labour productivity; customer satisfaction; employee empowerment; innovation and creative thinking; collaborative and participative engagement; structural rationalization, and the introduction of new processes and procedures. The research from the EHL case study concluded that the phenomenon of strategic leadership can have a positive influence on various qualitative indicators within an organization. The research also determined that despite unforeseen conditions in both the macro and micro economic environments, an effective strategic leadership will remain committed to its vision, and resilient to its critics and competitors. This research further concludes that successful organizational transformation (within a macro enterprise) is ostensibly dependent on the interventions of a strategic leader who displays a specialist set of skills and behaviours. These strategic leaders have the ability to successfully shift the cognitive paradigms of their employees, thereby creating an enabling environment for the implementation of their strategic choices.

Research studies and the review of academic literature has found that strategic leadership had a direct impact on organisational climate, and that climate in turn accounted for nearly one third of the financial results of organisations (Goleman, 2000). The conclusion from research conducted across 13 industries established that over a 20 year period, leadership accounted for more variations in performance than any other variable (Northouse, 2006). This thesis confines its research to a case study on Famous Brands. Famous Brands is currently one of Africa’s leading Quick Service Restaurant and Casual Dining franchisors and is also represented in the United Kingdom. The Group also has a manufacturing arm and supplies its franchisees, the retail trade and the broader hospitality industry with a wide range of meat, sauce, bakery, ice cream, fruit juice and mineral water products. At the time when the company’s name changed from Steers Holdings to Famous Brand in 2004, Kevin Hedderwick was appointed as Chief Operating Officer. The research examines how Kevin Hedderwick has exercised strategic leadership and thereby influenced Famous Brands’ performance. Hedderwick displays qualities, attributes and behaviours that are characterized by the phenomenon of “strategic leadership”. A quantitative analysis of Famous Brands financial performance (between 2005 and 2009) was undertaken. Further qualitative descriptions were used to further give meaning to the financial results. The success experienced by Famous Brands since Hedderwick’s appointment, seem to suggest that strategic choices and initiatives have been met with great success. The research is presented in the form of a case study that can be developed into a teaching case to be used in the classroom to illustrate the exercise of strategic leadership. The researcher explored a qualitative research framework by collecting and assimilating data from available documentation, and from a formal interview that was conducted with Mr Hedderwick. Information was also obtained from interviews that were conducted with other senior executives and influential personnel. This research concludes that the success of organisations is dependent on the interventions of a strategic leader who displays a specialist set of skills and behaviours. These strategic leaders have the ability to successfully influence their employees, thereby creating an enabling environment for the implementation of their strategic choices.