Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Despite the fact that local government is nothing like it was several decades ago in terms of the numerous reform changes it has undergone, within the South African context we find that many of the elements of bureaucracy still represent local government institutions. In this regard bureaucratic structures were designed to have compliant employees who make decisions according to specified behaviours and rules. This feature of bureaucracy ensures that its leaders are not encouraged to take risks. In a bureaucracy it is preferable to stick to the tried and tested habits and practices as it is against these metrics that performance is assessed and promotions awarded. Innovative, entrepreneurial leaders run the risk of losing their jobs if they endeavour to either think or step outside of the box. The notion of embedding an innovative culture therefore becomes a challenge within the constraints of the public sector. There is an uneasy tension between the need for a cultural revolution of outdated bureaucracies in order to enhance flexibility and innovation on the one hand, and the desire to maintain the standards and procedures that are necessary for quality, accountable services to a broad range of stakeholders on the other. In effect there is tension between the need to be innovative and compliant. In this regard the adaptive local government organisation might be one that is not too prominent in terms of innovative cultural characteristics. But it might be one that displays both innovative and bureaucratic organisational cultural characteristics as it strives to achieve this dual objective of innovation and compliance. The study aims to see if transformational leadership principles can be applied under the prevailing conditions of policy, laws and strict compliance within local government. This study is based on the belief that leadership can influence organisational culture as it tries to bring about change. Leaders have to be up for the challenge to create an open culture that encourages change. By developing cultures that foster innovation leaders can help their organisations become more responsive to the changes in the external environment and become more effective. In order for their organisations to become more innovative, leaders would have to change their leadership practices and approaches to shape the new culture of their organisations. In this regard the buzzword over the last few decades in public administration has been change. One of the essential elements of leadership is change. Leaders are agents of change, be it at organisational level or at societal level. They represent the catalysts of social movements. Such a context is suitable for a transformational type of leadership. They can fulfil this role by inspiring those around them, setting an example and creating a vision of the future that is both attractive and credible. The transformational leadership theory starts from these premises. The transformational leader asks followers to transcend their own self-interest for the good of the group, organisation, or society, to consider their long-term need for self-development rather than their need of the moment and to become more aware of what is really important (Bass, 2008: 50). Schein (1997:15) reminds us that leadership and organisational culture are two sides of the same coin. The one cannot be studied without consideration for the other. Organisational culture therefore plays an important role in the effectiveness of the reform process. It is within this context of reform and change that leadership and organisational culture become relevant topics of discussion. It is against this backdrop that the study takes a look at the City of Cape Town’s attempts to implement strategies that promotes the type of organisational culture that can advance transformation and change as it strives towards the objective of becoming a world-class city.

The subject of leadership has been explored from different fields by different scholars. The leadership debates and discussion have dominated academia across the globe for decades. The contribution of this thesis to the subject of leadership is threefold. Firstly, it demonstrates a different style of leadership, that is, servant leadership. Secondly, it studies servant leadership from a biblical perspective in general and Philippians 2:5-11 in particular. Thirdly, it applies biblical servant leadership principles to an African context. The historical background of Philippians is studied to understand the world of the text. The different leadership styles are explored and compared with servant leadership. Servant leadership principles are studied in Philippians 2:5-11 and applied in an African context. The thesis concludes with the servant leadership models in South Africa like Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and Frank Chikane. The purpose here is to demonstrate that servant leadership as a New Testament concept is applicable to a contemporary South African context. Consequently, the thesis makes New Testament research available to an African audience. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / New Testament Studies / MA / Unrestricted

Resume Topic of this thesis is leadership. Its aim is to recapitulate theoretical frame of this subject, and to outline to what extent Czech people (for purposes of this thesis Czech internet users) are familiar with leadership concept in similar way which is presented by authors who write about it. This work is based on ideas of so-called classical management schools, and information about leadership takes not only from books of chosen Czech authors, but also from works of foreign specialists like Peter F. Drucker or John Adair. For theoretical frame are used also some management textbooks like works of Koontz and Weihrich or Vodáček and Vodáčková. My hypothesis and initiative for this work is that for Czech environment leadership still is not much usual concept. There was quantitative survey on sample of Czech population carried out. As the interviewing was done online, it is not possible to present it as fully representative however criterions for choosing respondents corresponded with representative sample of Czech population when considered demographical indicators like gender, age, region or size of residence. Aim of the survey was to check on how leaders are perceived in Czech environment, which characteristics are they connected with, and if there are any differences between them and managers. The...

Bakgrund och problemdiskussion: Ökad konkurrens sätter press på företag att vara anpassningsbara och utveckla sina verksamheter vilket har resulterat i att fler företag, framförallt tillverkande, infört Lean Production (LP) på grund av dess potential att stärka produktionseffektiviteten. Tidigare forskning menar att den traditionella verksamhetsstyrningen och ledarskapet inte stödjer användandet av LP och är i behov av att anpassas för att stödja de förändringar som LP-strategin innebär. Tidigare forskning har vidare inte haft svenska företag som sin utgångspunkt vilket skapar intresse om tidigare identifierade effekter på hur LP påverkar verksamhetsstyrning och ledarskap även går att bevittna i svenska tillverkande företag. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva samt analysera de effekter och utmaningar som kan identifieras i en övergång mot LP på verksamhetsstyrning och ledarskap bland några svenska tillverkande företag. Metod: En kvalitativ flerfallsstudie på fyra svenska tillverkande företag: Emballator Lagan Plast, Emballator Växjöplast, Glamox Luxo Lightning och Gårö Plåtprodukter. Teorin underbyggdes av relevant litteratur, vetenskapliga artiklar och sekundärkällor, samt tidigare empirisk forskning. Empirin hämtades in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer på plats samt observationer. Slutsats: Samtliga fallföretag har genomgått förändringar som följd av LP, med vissa genomgående karaktäriserande drag men även förändringar som skiljer sig emellan företagen. Utifrån analysen har det gått att se att LP frambringat flertalet effekter bland fallföretagen på verksamhetsstyrning och ledarskap där de flesta har liknelser med tidigare empiriska studiersresultat. Dock har andra effekter identifierats, bland annat den ökade mognadsgraden hos ledarskapet och hur den påverkat utformningen av verksamhetsstyrningen och de LP principer som införts. Ytterligare har även framtida utmaningar med LP identifierats. / Background and problem discussion: Increased competition on the market puts pressure on companies to be adaptable and develop their operations which has resulted in that more companies, especially within manufacturing, has introduced Lean production (LP) as a way to streamline and improve their operations. Previous research argues that the traditional view of management control and leadership does not support the use of LP and needs to be adapted to support the changes resulting from the LP strategy. Previous research has furthermore not focused on exclusively Swedish companies which makes it interesting to see if previously identified effects on management control and leadership caused by LP also can be identified in some Swedish manufacturing companies. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the effects that can be identified in a transition toward LP on management control and leadership among some Swedish manufacturing companies. Method: A qualitative multi-case study of four Swedish manufacturing companies, Emballator Lagan Plast, Emballator Växjöplast, Glamox Luxo Lightning and Gårö Plåtprodukter. The theory was supported by relevant literature, scientific articles and secondary sources. The empirical data was retrieved through semi-structured interviews and observations. Conclusion: All case companies have undergone changes as a result of LP, with some consistently characterizing traits but also changes that differ between the companies. Based on the analysis, it has been possible to identify several effects regarding the companies leadership and management control due to LP, where some have previously been identified in other empirical studies. However, other effects have also been identified, including the increased maturity of leadership and how it has influenced the design of management and control within the case companies and the LP principles they introduced. Furthermore future challenges regarding LP have also been identified.