M.A. (Leadership, Performance and Change) / In order to become leaders, we need to develop ourselves from within. Often the inner dimension of leadership is undervalued as a ‘soft’ skill and ignored by organisations intent on bottom line results. Nevertheless, a profound understanding of the need for personal leadership is evolving in the 21st century ‒ an understanding which acknowledges that, in order to be a powerful leader, one needs to win, firstly and most importantly, the battle over one’s own mind. In this study the two extremes, the worrier and the warrior, are introduced as a metaphor in terms of which to explore the contrast between a dysfunctional and a highly functional mindset. In order to gain both traction and credibility in the leadership field, the worrier and the warrior ways of thinking are explained and analysed through the dual lens of the relevant literature on leadership and the field of neuroscience with the latter offering a brain based perspective of personal development. The study was designed as a means of exploring the beliefs, thoughts, emotions, behaviours and strategies that underpin a mastery level of leadership. I chose a qualitative methodological approach, specifically reflecting the interdisciplinary and positivist postmodernistic nature of this research type. My ontology is mirrored in the narratives that the warriors shared ‒ subjective truths that are unique ‒ while acknowledging the constructionist view that we evolve continually within a social context, in other words, I believe that social reality does not exist outside people, but that it is created by individuals. I engage an interpretivist epistemological position where the researcher interprets these narratives from the warrior’s viewpoint as well as adding his or her own interpretations of their experiences and views in a social-science perspective . I also used elements of the intrinsic, as well as the instrumental, case study with the aim of gaining an insight into and knowledge of the warrior mindset. The data was described and analysed until key themes emerged which were then integrated meaningfully with the relevant literature on both leadership and neuroleadership. Drawing from this, the key themes that emerged through the process are described as the five swords of the warrior mind. These include consciousness, connection, confidence, control and choice. A further common thread that connected the warriors’ voices was the concepts of mindfulness and emotional regulation. Together with the five swords these concepts of mindfulness and emotional regulation provide the ‘what’ of the warrior experience. This provides the basis for developing a potential future intervention, which may address the ‘how’ of warrior functioning. A strong implication of what leadership mastery means, may be found in the mindset and not in the actions of the leader. In view of what is required for a master’s degree, the mini dissertation is of limited scope while its implications and applications are, at best, modest. Nevertheless, the mini dissertation did provide an opportunity to explore the principles of both neuroleadership and Personal and Professional Leadership (PPL) in order to establish whether they could be used as a means for understanding the transformation potential from worrier pathology to warrior empowerment. It appears that transformation is possible and this research may provide a framework to facilitate such transformation. In addition, it is hoped that the study has enhanced the understanding of warrior thinking through the linking of the neurological and human sciences in explaining this development. I endeavoured to enhance the principles of credibility, dependability and transferability through rigorous auditing, peer debriefing with my supervisors, intermittent reflexivity through engagement with the relevant literature and triangulation. This was further enhanced by my close relationship with the warriors and also by being able to present quite extensive realist tales. However, on reflection, I would have benefitted from an even richer understanding of the warriors’ worlds, as well as a deeper engagement with my supervisors. I believe that this study has made a modest contribution to existing scholarly knowledge and also that it provides a useful framework in terms of which to begin the conversations about the rich and open topic of leadership mastery.

Leadership is a richly researched ana widely covered topic, attracting the attention of virtually every discipline within the human sciences. Research which focuses on leadership within an educational context is, however, a relatively recent development. Most of the leadership research conducted in this century has been driven by the needs of industry. Consequently, leadership theories have tended to emphasise the instrumentality, measurability and effectiveness of leadership. Leadership models, intent on being prescriptive and 'learnable', have been inclined to oversimplify the complexity of the leadership phenomenon. Another factor which accounts for these features is the research approach adopted by researchers, which has largely been positivistic. This study is an attempt to investigate the underlying dynamics of educational leadership. It is an in-depth study of five educational leaders' perceptions of themselves as leaders, of the people with whom they interact, and of the organisations within which they work. The study is conducted along the lines suggested by phenomenology, a highly qualitative, anti-positivistic research approach, which encourages the researcher to set aside pre-conceived notions of the phenomenon, and to describe what is found exactly as it presents itself. My findings have highlighted a wide and richly varied range of psychological, emotional and cultural factors which seem to play significant roles in how leaders perceive themselves, others and their environments. Most of these factors have been either entirely ignored or very scantily covered in mainstream leadership literature. Educational leadership emerges as a complex, virtually undefinable phenomenon; new and challenging research approaches and methods have the potential for increasing our understanding of how leaders lead, which in turn will have implications for leadership education and selection.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This assignment seeks to demonstrate that transformational leadership development programs that focus on teaching leaders the various transformational behaviours, fall short of their goal of changing leadership practice. Given the post-industrial context and the challenges posed by various world crises, the timely development of effective leaders is of the essence. It is essential to recognise why current methods of leadership development are inefficient. Most development programs intervene to change behaviour. However, changed behaviour that does not reflect a leader's true motives and values will soon be identified by followers as manipulative efforts. The behaviour will be exposed as superficial and inauthentic. It is maintained that a more profound level of intervention is needed to bring about authentic leadership development. Leaders who need to change from an autocratic leadership style to the extreme opposite of transformational leadership style must change more than just their behaviour. They need to examine their view of life, the world, themselves and other people to identify their attitude and basic belief system. If this is not congruent to the values proposed by transformational leadership such as the empowerment of all people, it will be impossible to elicit authentic transformational leadership behaviour. Transformational leadership development programs will achieve greater success if they facilitate personal change within leaders. A change of view regarding themselves and other people will promote a true shift in values that encompass empowerment, support and advancement of all employees, will naturally yield behaviours consistent with these values. The person-centred approach of the well-known American psychologist Carl Rogers, proves to be an effective tool to provide leaders the opportunity to explore their beliefs, their experience and their attitudes. Various similarities between transformational leadership theory and person-centred psychotherapy principles exist. The conditions of personal growth echo the transformational leadership behaviour and the personal growth objective of Rogers resembles the transformational leadership objective of empowering all employees. It is maintained that leaders who gain self-knowledge and self-acceptance through the experience of a person-centred relationship can grow into a transformational leader. It will not only affect the organisation and its employees. Such a process can unlock human potential that can facilitate vision and meaning far beyond the organisation's linear objectives of increasing shareholder's value. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie werkstuk probeer aantoon dat die huidige praktyk van transformasionele leierskapsontwikkeling nie in die doel slaag om leierskappraktyk beduidend te verander en te verbeter nie. Gegewe die post-industriele konteks en die uitdagings van 'n verskeidenheid weretdkrtsisse, is dit van groot belang om tydig sterk leiers te ontwikkel wat hierdie uitdagings die hoof kan bied. Dit is ook essensieel om redes te identifiseer waarom transformasionele leierskapsontwikkeling tot dusver nie effektief was nie. Die meeste ontwikkelingsprogramme fokus daarop om gedrag te verander. Veranderde gedrag wat egter nie 'n leier se ware motiewe en waardes weerspieel nie, sal gou uitgeken en geetiketteer word as manipulerende gedrag. Die gedrag sal as oneg en oppervlakkig ervaar word. Daar word aangevoer dat 'n dieper intervensievlak toegepas moet word om ware transformasionele gedrag te bewerkstellig. Leiers wat van 'n outokratiese na 'n transformasionele leierskapstyl moet oorskakel, sal meer as net hul gedrag rnoet aanpas. Hulle sal selfondersoek moet instel om helderheid en begrip in te win aangaande hul selfkonsep, lewensbeskouing en mensbeskouing om sodoende hul persoonlike houdings en waardes identifiseer. Indien hul persoonlike waardes nie kongruent is aan die waardes wat voorgestel word deur transformasionele leierskap nie, sal dit onmoontlik wees om outentieke transformasionele leierskap te ontwikkel. Transformasionele leierskapontwikkelingsprogramme sal groter sukses behaal indien dit ware persoonlike verandering in die leier meebring. 'n Verandering in 'n leier se selfkonsep en mensbeskourng wat 'n ware skuif meebring in die waardes wat die leier aanhang, sal 'n natuurlike verandering in 'n leier se gedrag ten opsigte van bemagtiging, ondersteuning en bevordering van aile werknemers teweeg bring en wat kongruent is aan die leier se persoonlike oortuiginge. Die persoonsgesentreerde benadering van die bekende Amerikaanse sielkundige, Carl Rogers, bied 'n werkbare alternatief vir die proses van leierskapsontwikkeling. 'n Rogeriaanse verhouding wat leiers 'n geleentheid bied om hulself te verken en te leer ken, fasiliteer die natuurlike groei na transformasionele leierskap. Die persoonsgesentreerde benadering van Rogers het 'n aantal raakpunte met die transformasionele leierskapsteorie. Die voorvereistes vir persoonlike groei uiteengesit deur Rogers refiekteer die gedrag voorgeskryf deur transformasionele teorie. Die verwagting van Rogers dat hierdie voorvereistes sal lei tot persoonlike groei stem ook ooreen met die vereiste gestel aan transformasionele leiers om al hul werknemers te bemagtig. 'n Leier wat blootgestel word aan 'n ontwikkelingsproses wat as basis 'n persoonsgesentreerde verhouding bied, ontwikkel verder as bloot tot voordeel van die individuele organisasie. Die proses sal ook meebring dat 'n leier se potensiaal ontsluit word om visie en betekenis te ontwikkel en te kommunikeer wat verder strek as die onmiddellike organisatoriese doel van verhoging in waarde van aandeelhouersbelang.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Johannesburg, November 2015 / The purpose of this research is to explore the role of courage in leadership. A review of the relevant literature showed that leadership has been widely studied but is still not well understood while courage has scarcely been studied and is still diversely defined. It has been found that courage rarely has a place in leadership and management frameworks. Leaders in Mauritius were interviewed on their experiences of courage. As this research is of exploratory nature, a qualitative design was adopted and unstructured interviews were used. A Narrative Analysis of the transcripts was carried out in a two-step process: Stories were extracted from the interview transcripts in a deductive manner using a three-dimensional approach consisting of personal, social and temporal dimensions. The stories were then inductively analysed to derive meaning from them using thematic and performative analysis. This research has three main contributions. First, the manifestation of courage follows a cycle of four stages, starting from the Trigger Stage, followed by the Barrier Stage, Thoughts & Actions Stage and Ending Stage. Throughout the life of the leader, one cycle feeds the next cycle and so on. Furthermore, the contexts under which courage were displayed were: Change, Pro-Active Vision, Identity Tensions and Response. Second, the following drivers of courage were identified: the external drivers Greater Cause, Support, and Sacrificing Something, and the internal disposition courage drivers Positive & Forward Looking, Self-Consciousness, Calculated Risk-taking, Values & Beliefs, Emotional Balance & Control, Prior Experience, Perseverance & Focus, and Ownership & Independency. The internal courage drivers activated in the transition between the Trigger and Barrier stages were equivalent to “Courage to Be” while the external courage drivers activated between the Barrier and Thoughts & Actions stages were equivalent to “Courage to Act”. Furthermore, it was found that leadership skills act as mere facilitators of courage and courage drivers need to be present to drive courageous acts. It was also seen that some of the drivers of courage are very close to qualities of authentic leadership. Third, the research has made a methodological contribution in terms of the development of a systematic approach to the use of narrative analysis in management research. The implications from the findings are that courage development cannot be excluded from leadership development and can start in schools as well as in organisations as an on-going process, and that the methods of analysis developed in this research can be applied. / MB2016

Not available / text

M.A. / Despite the growing evidence that suggests psychologists’ religious and spiritual convictions influence their work and the renewed interest in the role of spirituality in the context of psychotherapy over the past two decades, psychologists’ own spirituality is often avoided by psychologists in the South African context for personal and professional reasons. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe psychologists’ experience of their own spirituality in psychotherapy as part of personal and professional leadership, and to develop guidelines as a framework of reference to assist psychologists when integrating their own spirituality into psychotherapy ...

This dissertation explored a type of qualitative case study based on the experiences of 11 graduates from Leadership Collier, a Naples, Florida-based leadership program, who had run for public office after completing the program. The researcher assessed the program goals, participant experiences and motivation with regard to community involvement and running for elected office. It was the belief of the researcher that there was a need for more qualified and effective leaders to run for public office at the local, state, and national levels of government. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation study was to understand what leadership experiences gained through participating in a leadership training program could empower and motivate a person to run for public office. Information provided in this dissertation includes an introduction, the study’s purpose and research questions, methodology, critical terms, an examination of the literature review, study findings, researcher reflections, and recommendations for future studies. Data analysis codes in this study include sense of community, social capital, program design, confidentiality, diversity, bonding, empowerment, and motivation. Research findings showed that Leadership Collier has motivated and empowered select citizens to run for public office by providing experiences that have enabled individuals to develop leadership skills, become aware of community issues, develop confidence and a sense of community, expand social capital, and increase engagement in the community. Keywords: leadership, public office, empowerment, motivation / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

The goals of the current study were to document the effects of leaders’ relational authenticity on follower impressions, and to explore gender as a boundary condition of the positive effects of this leadership quality. Authentic leadership theory outlines the individual and organizational benefits that result from leaders who judiciously process information through a filter of self-knowledge, and who bring their authentic selves to their actions and relationships. However, research on gender stereotypes demonstrates that as opposed to approaching leadership roles with authenticity, female leaders may need to engage in a certain amount of acting in order to attain legitimacy in spaces traditionally inhabited by men. This work reconsidered authentic leadership theory, and specifically relational authenticity, to take the gender dynamics within existing organizational structures into account. Leader relational authenticity and leader gender were experimentally manipulated in order to test whether some advantages of authentic leadership, in this case favorable impressions and evaluations, apply equally to male and female leaders. Results indicated that those who led with relational authenticity were viewed as more likeable and desirable as a boss than those who did not, and were perceived as more trustworthy for their benevolence and integrity than those who did not. Results of moderated mediation models revealed that relational authenticity can hinder evaluations of women leaders, and that the source of adverse consequences is the enhanced association with gender stereotypes that occurs when women lead with relational authenticity. This was demonstrated by a penalty in judgments of competence and ability exacted from female but not male leaders who were relationally authentic. Further research is required to understand the complex interaction of leaders’ relational authenticity and gender to influence followers’ impressions and outcomes.

The present study examined leadership effectiveness in the Chinese work setting using the behavioral complexity model derived from Quinn's (1988) Competing Value Framework. Four hypotheses were generated for empirical testing. Hypothesis 1 studied the underlying construct of leadership behaviors and organization effectiveness. Hypothesis 2 examined the impact of Behavioral Complexity on effectiveness perceptions. Hypothesis 3 investigated the differential expectations among executives themselves, their subordinates and superiors on leadership effectiveness. Hypothesis 4 studied the personality correlates of Behavioral Complexity, specific leadership behaviors, and leadership effectiveness. / Two pilot studies were first carried out to prepare the survey protocols for the Main Study. In the Main Study, completed survey questionnaires were analyzed on a valid sample of 152 senior executives, their immediate superiors (N=111), and at least two immediate subordinates (N=334). First, confirmatory factor analysis identified a five-factor model for both leadership behaviors and organization effectiveness. The five leadership dimensions were Leading Change, Producing Results, Managing Processes, and Relating to People as in the original complexity model, with the additional dimension of Exhibiting Moral Behavior. The five dimensions of organization effectiveness were Open Systems, Rational Goals, Internal Processes, and Human Relations as in the original complexity model, with the additional dimension of Corporate Reputation. Second, Behavioral Complexity was found to have a direct effect on Leadership Effectiveness and Organization Effectiveness. Third, executives themselves, subordinates, and superiors were found to associate different leadership dimensions with leadership effectiveness. Fourth, results indicated that the Social Potency and Interpersonal Relatedness (IR) factors from the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI-2) had a direct effect on Behavioral Complexity in both self- and subordinate-perceptions, but not in superior-perception. Social Potency and IR also explained specific leadership behaviors in both self- and subordinate-perceptions, but not in superior perception. / To Yuen Weun. / "August 2005." / Adviser: Fanny M. Cheung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-01, Section: B, page: 0589. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 134-143). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / School code: 1307.

Mindfulness has recently gained attention within work contexts. Mindfulness training interventions (e.g., mindfulness-based stress reduction; MBSR) are commonly implemented for employees within organizations. Mindfulness has been associated with multiple employee performance, relational, and well-being outcomes. Although mindfulness has become a popular practice within organizations, empirical research falls behind and has not explored many potential research avenues. As leaders play influential roles within organizations, mindfulness may influence leader behaviors, to an extent that leader mindfulness affects employees. This study examined the relationship between supervisor mindfulness and leader-member exchange (LMX), which entails quality of mutual support, trust, and respect within supervisor-subordinate relationships. In addition, the proposed study sought to empirically support proposed theoretical frameworks by examining affective, cognitive, and behavioral mechanisms of empathic concern, perspective taking, and response flexibility, as mediators in the supervisor mindfulness-LMX relationship. Supervisor workload was also examined as a moderator to assess conditions under which the supervisor mindfulness-LMX relationship exists. A sample of 202 individuals who currently supervise employees was collected using the online survey platform, Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Two approaches towards mediation provided support for the mediating roles of empathic concern and response flexibility in the relationship between supervisor mindfulness and LMX. Theoretical and practical contributions, as well as limitations and future directions are discussed.