The dilemma in South African schools can be attributed to the lack of legitimacy created apartheid system and its policies during the previous dispensation. The apartheid school system was characterized by inequality: racially, regionally and in terms of gender (Department of Education 2000f:l). It was also administered by means of a top-down management system where principals and educators were at the receiving end. This means that the principals were accustomed to receiving instructions from departmental officials. This led to poor management and leadership and to a collapse of the culture of teaching and learning in the majority of schools. The South African Schools Act of 1996 places all South African Schools firmly on the road to a school based system of education management and leadership. Department of Education Task Team Report" Changing Management to Manage Change in Education" (1996), as well as the South African School Act of 1996, proposed that a new approach to leadership and management which is a process of decentralizing decision making about allocation of resources to school level, and a significant process of democratization in ways in which schools are governed and managed. The Department of Education (1996) also emphases that the implementation of these new policy trends require school principals who are able to work in democratic and participative ways to build relations and ensure efficient and effective delivery in schools. In this connection transformational style of leadership is essential as this style of leadership is regarded as being more suitable and appropriate for school effectiveness and improvement (see Coleman 1994). What is attempted is of the principal's leadership and its impact on this school; whether the principal's leadership style corresponds with the processes of transformational leadership advocated in the new education policy trends; and a special focus will be on whether there is any evidence of the existence of transformational leadership in this school. The main findings of this research exhibited that the principal's leadership at this school was transactional rather than being transformational. Although the principal at some stage would feel confident that she is carrying out his duties effectively toward promoting effective teaching and learning at this school, it was evident from the findings that she was not at all prepared to face the challenges of the new paradigm shift. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

This dissertation examines the knowledge and knower practices in the Master’s in Educational Leadership and Management (ELM) coursework programmes at South African public universities. This study was prompted by my growing awareness of problems and tensions in the field of ELM generally, and at the level of programme design of the M Ed degree in particular. Many of these had been identified by a national audit of coursework M Eds in ELM (CHE, 2010), and this study sought to find a way of theorising these with a view to improving both course design and teaching. To this end I employed Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) which enables critical engagement with knowledge and knowers in programmes, how they are positioned, and how this positioning may be problematic. Hence my first research question sought to discover and critique what counted as knowledge in these programmes and why, while the second asked how knowers were positioned, and why this had come to be the case. LCT has its roots in the work of Bernstein and Maton, whose preoccupation with curriculum was/is driven by a sense of social justice: if we can understand how and why the curriculum is organised and presented in a particular way, it becomes possible to re-imagine teaching and learning, making it accessible to a broader, more inclusive body of learners. The study also drew on critical realism as an underlabourer. This philosophy provided a nuanced understanding of ontology, encouraging and enabling me, as researcher, to unearth causal mechanisms driving the status quo. Only seven South African universities currently offer the coursework option of a Master’s degree in ELM, compared to thirteen when the audit was conducted in 2010. Six of the universities agreed to take part in the study. Data was gathered through content analysis of the six course outlines and interviews with individual co-ordinators or academics centrally involved in the programmes. Through the development of a translation device I was able to establishing that a knower code was dominant in the programmes. Using this point as my departure, I interrogated the knowledge practices and found that different types of knowledge were being privileged across the programmes, with some having a practical/professional leaning and others a more academic/theoretical orientation. The resultant tension does, I argue, restrict knowledge building and helps to account for the fact that the field is generally considered to be under-theorised. The fact all of these programme are registered with the same national qualifications authority, ostensibly following the same national guidelines for Master’s degrees is worrying. The study attempts to find underlying, historically significant reasons for this unevenness. An analysis of the programmes revealed a leaning towards supportive pedagogical approaches. While all programmes promote a cultivated gaze their purposes are not always the same. While a hegemonic practices potential for opening counts as knowledge, cultivated gaze can enable transformation, it can also encourage that can impede real change and empowerment. The study has the up much needed debate on what is meant by a Master’s in ELM, what and what kinds of knower are envisaged.

The aim of this research was to develop a substantive grounded theory describing the process of change and the management of organizational inertia, or resistance to change, by strategic leaders transitioning churches from a programme-based to a cell-based model. The grounded theory was developed using the conventions of the Straussian version of the grounded theory method, and relying largely upon the collection of incidents through interviews with leaders of churches that embarked upon the cell-church transition. In all, 38 interviews were conducted with leaders of churches representing a range of denominations located in a number of provinces in South Africa. Based on the premise that substantive theories are contextually bound rather than context free, the contextual characteristics of this study are highlighted. Drawing from organizational theory, it is recognised that churches can be conceptualised as solidary organizations, normative organizations, congregations and voluntary organizations or associations. Viewing churches as solidary organizations highlights the role of solidary rewards in the change process, while viewing them as congregations, emphasises their religious character. Furthermore, the context of the study is embedded in the nature of the specific type of change being embarked upon, as represented by the cell-church transition. Drawing on concepts derived from the change management literature, the type of change I investigated, I classified as intangible, episodic, teleological, second-order change, highlighting the importance of social interaction. The grounded theory that was constructed describes the phases of the change process, and how the actions of leaders interact with the sense of community of the church. Three effective patterns of leadership were identified (i.e. the freewheeler, the focused-pioneer and the reflexive-accommodator) along with their ineffective counterparts (i.e. the static non-leader, the rigid combatant and the popular people pleaser). It was argued that effective leadership involves balancing the three effective patterns over time, and that a failure to achieve this balance produced an ineffective pattern. Furthermore, ineffective leadership damaged the credibility of leaders, as their actions harmed the sense of community. A loss of credibility compromised the leader’s ability to lead change. A number of approaches to understanding organizational inertia or resistance to change were examined in an attempt to locate the grounded theory in the literature and to use the literature to shed light on the findings of this study. While this literature did provide some useful insights and confirmations, no single theoretical perspective seemed to supply a comprehensive explanation. Instead, social capital theory offered a more encompassing explanation, and as such, showed much promise as a body of literature that can be used to develop an understanding of organizational change. Finally, recommendations are made for future research and the value of this research is discussed.

No abstract available / Business Leadership / Ph. D. (Business Leadership)

In this study the problem concerning the contingency approach to the managerial tasks of the Black high school principal was investigated by means of literature study, interviews and observations. As a result the problems and challenges facing the Black principal were identified. The managerial tasks of the principal in the South Africa of the l 990's were identified and defined. It became clear that these tasks are performed under changing situational contingencies. The contingency approach, its basis, what it entails and its importance in the RSA of today was described. When the contingency approach was related to the managerial tasks, it became clear that under one set of circumstances one type of leadership style is effective. Interviews and observations were conducted in certain schools and with certain principals. Research findings revealed that the Black high school principal should be flexible in the face of many contingencies facing him. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Educational Management)

Each chapter has its own summary / Each chapter has own summary / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

This study attempts to assess the level to which effective political and management leadership for contributes to sustainable services. Looking at the past performance of the municipality one can see that around the years of 2003 and 2004, the municipality achieved a financially unqualified report from the Auditor General with just two points raised. However, from that point on the municipality has been on a steady decline. The most decline was from the period 2006 - 2011. The decline in the performance of the municipality has been so rapid in the five year period mentioned above so much that the 2010/2011 Auditor General Report on the municipality ran up to eighty issues over fourteen pages. Noteworthy is the fact that the decline in service delivery and financial management confirmed by the performance decline marked by the Auditor General coincided with several changes at the senior political and management levels. For example under the period of decline, the Municipality operated without a permanent Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for a period of more than four years. Also, during the period of decline the municipality had six municipal managers all in acting capacities and about four executive mayors in the same period. Regarding the issue of leadership in the municipality, the Auditor General made the following observation.

South African universities are embedded in an unequal society. Transformation strategies and interventions in the sector attempt to address this, but arguably, the policies and practices which aim to bring about transformation are merely platforms for potential change and do not guarantee the achievement of their aspirations. This study engages with the notion of transformation in one university, looking at how an organisation for women has contributed to transformation in individuals and in the institution. It explores the idea that vulnerability is the starting point of transformation, and must be recognized and incorporated into how an organisation, institution or individual regards vulnerable groups, in order to build a more equitable society. The reframing of vulnerability is a process of acknowledging the way power works, and arguably, power’s melancholic nature and expression in society and in universities has particular challenges with regard to how vulnerable groups experience their vulnerability. If the framing of an individual as vulnerable does not also provide that individual with the conditions that shelter the vulnerability they experience, leading to a renegotiation of whom they can become, their “vulnerable” status is entrenched. The study explores ways in which an organisation for women uses its legitimized platform for renegotiating subjectivities, norms and performances, and the potential this has for transformativity.

D.Litt. et Phil. (Public Management and Governance) / This study focused on the variables that influence change leadership competencies to strategically manage transformation within the South African public sector. One of the key aims was to develop a competency framework for transformational leaders in senior public management positions. The thesis provided a conceptual description and explanation of appropriate and adequate leadership concepts, theories, approaches and phenomena that influence leadership role competencies for change management. It also contributed to a specific level of understanding of appropriate and adequate change concepts, theories and phenomena regarding the problem of change leadership role competencies. Furthermore, the study also investigated strategic leadership concepts, theories and approaches for addressing the problem of strategic leadership role competencies. A modernist qualitative research methodology was followed, where grounded theory was applied as the research strategy. Furthermore, a qualitative coding paradigm was established to develop an integrated model of strategic and transformational leadership competencies in order to manage organisational change. Importantly, the qualitative coding paradigm was developed to enable public sector employers to develop a competency framework that encompass the key leadership skills, behaviours, attributes and knowledge for senior public managers who have to cope effectively with organisational change within a public sector environment. The study contributed to the development of a substantive theory of the organisational change process. Furthermore, on a practical level, it contributed to the disciplinary and methodological fields of Public Management, Public Leadership and Public Governance.