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A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Business and Executive Coaching Wits Business School November, 2016 / Despite the substantial investment in leadership development made by corporates around the world, limited research has focussed on the lived experience of leadership development, with the research available typically focussed on specific leadership development interventions. In South Africa effective leadership development is particularly critical given both the emigration of experienced leaders in the past twenty years, and the need to have a diversity of leadership which is representative of the population as a whole. The study explored executive development in South Africa through the lived experience of a sample of senior executives, all of whom had reached “C” suite positions in either a Group or business line capacity. The interview process was inductive in approach, so the narrative was not restricted by assumptions as to what development interventions would be described by the research participants. Eighteen senior executives were invited to participate in the research, and twelve were interviewed, at which point saturation was reached. Whilst no quota was established for racial diversity, the racial mix was representative of senior executives in South Africa corporates. A significant theme in the research findings was the importance of childhood experiences in developing the drive, resilience and ambition that would enable the foundations to be built for adult leadership development. Another key theme was that formal leadership development should be supplemented by experiential learning if it is to have significant impact. Despite mixed feedback on formal leadership development programmes, international executive programmes were seen to provide the participants with the opportunity both to network with others and learn from reflection, developing their life purpose and philosophy. The research participants found that coaching and mentoring were important in supporting the development of their leadership skills, as such interventions could focus on their specific development needs. The power of childhood influencers, workplace informal coaches and mentors and other influential counsellors also appears to have been significant. There was a view that successful leaders “breed” other successful leaders. Another key theme was that of self-confidence leading to self-determination. The self-confidence of the research participants appears to have been balanced by humility and a willingness to listen to and learn from others. All the executives had a strong sense of purpose, often developed initially in childhood, and strong values underpinned their leadership identity. The executives also stressed the importance of work-life balance in developing as effective leaders. A crucial finding of this research was that leaders face unique challenges of diversity and empowerment in South Africa, but that transformational leaders with a South African identity and Anglo-US educational and work experience can be highly successful. The challenge of international leadership development and work experience was found to be particularly beneficial in developing leadership skills which were appropriate for the South African corporate culture. The findings from this research therefore suggest that leadership development is a complex process based on some innate attributes, enhanced through critical childhood influences and trigger events, and developed to full potential through a combination of formal and informal leadership development interventions. Achieving full potential relies on readiness to learn and the opportunities to gain valuable experience, particularly in adversity. In the context of South Africa it appears that “western” leadership development experiences can be adapted by executives to enhance their effectiveness in a South African corporate culture. / MT2017

This dissertation consists of three essays in the field of organizational economics and political economy. The first essay examines the question of mentoring and training in public sector organizations. On the job training is one of the most effective ways of improving productivity. However, managers face a trade-off when allocating time between their own outputproduction and mentoring the juniors, as mentoring takes time that managers could spend on other output production activities. Using the data on bureaucrats from the India Civil Services, I provide evidence of this trade-off. I find that junior bureaucrats in India show better performance in the district training courses when their mentors’ output is imperfectly observed by the supervisors of the mentors. I infer this difference in the performance of junior bureaucrats as an indication of differences in the mentoring efforts of the seniors. I exploit a policy reform to further show that bureaucrats are multi-tasking agents allocating time between mentoring junior bureaucrats and public service delivery. I find evidence that the reform that was introduced to bring greater transparency in the performance evaluation process shifts effort from mentoring to own output production, thereby reducing gaps in mentoring efforts. Overall, this chapter highlights the existence of perverse incentives for mentors that can affect the effectiveness of training and mentoring initiatives. The second chapter focuses on the question of distributive politics and how politicians target resources among their constituents. Using the employment data from the largest workfare program in the world, I study how employment generated under the program varies across constituencies that are represented by politicians from the ruling party. Using a close election regression discontinuity framework, I find that employment is higher in constituencies with ruling party politicians. Further, I document targeted flow of program benefits to specific marginalized groups. In the final chapter of this dissertation, I examine the politicization of bureaucratic appointments in India. Using data from two states of the country, I study appointments to the post of the district collector. I document significant differences in the characteristics of the officers that get appointed to districts with a greater proportion of politicians from the ruling party. I find that districts with greater "alignment" to the ruling party get younger officers who have been recruited through a much more rigorous exam and are less likely to be a native of the state. I find no evidence that caste plays a role in these appointments.

The author presents original research findings on the subject of the impact of a youth mentoring program, Fresh Start, on a group of at-risk adolescents in the United States. The article opens with an introduction and overview of the subject of youth mentoring, and proceeds to a review of the literature that describes types of mentoring and the varied outcomes mentoring programs have been documented to have on target populations. The literature also explains the concept of at-risk adolescents, and explains how and why mentoring programs are believed to be effective interventions for working with this population. The author then presents the methodology, research design, and procedures that were used for the study, and identifies the organization that served as the subject of the study. The researcher explained that data were collected from three distinct participant groups: students, teachers, and parents. The researcher documents the data collection and analysis techniques, and reports the results. Based on the study conducted, the researcher concluded that the Fresh Start mentoring intervention influenced statistically significant positive outcomes for participants with respect to the at-risk students’ behaviour and academic performance. Taking this conclusion into consideration, the researcher reflected upon the components of a mentoring program that are most likely to predict academic and social success for students who have been deemed at-risk, and offered recommendations for future research and program development. / Sociology / D. Phil.(Sociology )

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Technology: Fashion at the Durban University of Technology, 2013. / Due to the high levels of unemployment in Durban South Africa, the New Venture Creation (NVC) groups I coached/mentored were seeking to become self-employed, to find social and economic independence. I have observed that many of the people in my NVC groups seemed to lack, self-confidence and self-esteem in the start-up process of their business. These lacunae pose a problem, as they are all necessary if one wants to create a viable, sustainable and profitable business. The reason that I coach these emerging entrepreneurs is to assist in building their self-confidence and self-esteem so that they have the courage to “go for it”. The problem I have sought to address in this research is: How do I influence emerging entrepreneurs to become sufficiently self-confident to be able to design, establish and sustain their own employment and employment for others? I work on the assumption that most people have the capacity to be self-employed. I have used autoethnography with action research to describe the interventions that I initiated, report on their implementation, as well as the evolution of new perceptions and understandings that developed as a result. By using my own and the participants visual data with still images and video with visual narrative I demonstrate the evidence of my living theory and self-study to influence creative economic independence in others and reflect critically on what has been done and achieved, and critically assess the way forward. I verbally explained the ethical issue of obtaining consent to use names and photographs in my study to the participants. My explanation was followed by obtaining written consent from the five key participants and others in the pictorial data.

The general purpose of this study was to determine the impact that the match of mentor and mentee had on the success of the mentoring relationship. The leadership style of the mentor and the reporting style of the mentee were determined and effectiveness of the match was determined. This was done in order to determine the impact of the match between mentor and mantee on the quality of the mentoring relationship. The study was conducted within a local government milieu with a sample of 34 mentors and 40 mentees, thus a total of 40 mentoring pairs. These participants were all part of a formal mentorship programme within the organisation. The findings indicated that when leadership and reporting styles of mentoring pairs are complementary it will not have a significant effect on the success of the mentoring relationship. It furthermore suggests that careful consideration should be given in selecting participants before initiating mentorship programmes. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)

Thesis (MPhil) -- Stellenbosch University, 2011. / Non-profit organisations (NPOs) play a crucial role in society, largely serving the needs of those members who are most vulnerable. The leaders of these organisations work in challenging circumstances and are often expected to fulfil roles for which they have not been trained. Various leadership development programmes have been designed to equip leaders in this sector with the necessary knowledge and skills to deal effectively with the increasing and more complex demands placed on them. Stand-alone programmes, however, have been shown to have less success in transferring knowledge and skills back to the workplace than blended learning approaches. This means a large proportion of the learning investment is being wasted. Since coaching has proved to be a powerful intervention leading to individual and organisational transformation in many sectors, the main question that this investigation has tried to answer is: To what extent can coaching contribute to enhancing the transfer of learning back into the workplace for NPO leaders who have attended a leadership development programme. Further questions relating to factors influencing the learning transfer process were also addressed during this study, as was the preference for different coaching formats. This investigation involved a case study design and was based on a programme for NPO leaders offered at the University of Stellenbosch Business School, referred to as the NPO Plus programme. The findings of this study are intended to provide insights for trainers on the benefits of using coaching as a component when designing learning interventions, and to shed light on what coaches can expect when coaching NPO leaders. The NPO community, as well as donors, can also get a sense of how coaching can contribute to building and strengthening the overall capacity of leaders in the non-profit sector.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / The majority of the literature on executive coaching available today, gives evidence of the growth and success of executive coaching as an industry. The industry is, however, relatively young and immature and not regulated at all. The number of individuals who position themselves as executive coaches has more than doubled in the past 10 years and the industry is growing rapidly. The question then arises whether all coaching initiatives that are taking place are hundred percent successful in achieving the stated objectives. Very little is said and done about the less successful processes. This study allows us to have insight in an executive coaching process involving an executive team and to consider which factors contributed to the perceived failure of the process. By using a qualitative approach and through a case study of the intervention, in-depth interviews were done to enquire from all the participants how they experienced the coaching process. From these interviews, themes were identified to be used by companies, coaches, service providers and clients to understand what some of the elements are that need to be considered in a team-related coaching intervention to ensure a better chance for success. The literature review investigated the definition and history of executive coaching as well as the application and benefits of executive coaching. The study also explored the concept of team coaching, the importance of the related parties in the coaching process, as well as the fact that the industry is not regulated and still quite immature. The context and background of the case study and all relevant information related to the company, the team, the process and the service supplier were considered. The importance of the coaching triangle between the coach, client and the organisation was emphasised in the literature study, but it was also identified as a critical foundation for the success of the executive coaching process. Given the experience from the team that was part of the process, the following elements should be taken into consideration by all parties to ensure that the objectives of the coaching process are met. Firstly, the importance of leadership as the sponsor is critical and an element that should not be ignored. Secondly, the commitment of the entire team is emphasised as a critical success factor. Another important element identified is the ability to take into consideration the time pressures that executive teams experience. Further to that, the importance to keep the momentum of the process going, the selection of suitable coaches, the importance of taking individual needs of the clients into consideration, as well as the lack of buy-in from participants are all success factors that were identified as part of the analysis. Due to the very limited scope of the study, recommendations were made for future research and ongoing practice in the field.

Thesis (MPhil) -- Stellenbosch University, 2011. / The key objective of this research study is the development of junior leaders in the information, communication and technology (ICT) industry by means of formal leadership development programmes, complemented by the application of coaching principles as part of the facilitation and delivery process. In order to remain competitive in the local ICT sector, a leading listed company in South Africa identified the development of human capital as one of its key success criteria. As a knowledge-intensive industry, this organisation is predominantly reliant on the collective human capital of the company for survival, sustained growth and competitiveness. The objective of the programme evaluation is to establish whether the programme, in the form it has been presented during the past few years, has met the set organisational goals via the application of coaching principles, such as: providing insight into personal and business environments, as a voluntary process in a non-judgemental environment. Relationships are built on respect, ethics and trust. Time for reflection and providing feedback in a non-prescriptive manner are principles that a credible and knowledgeable coach will apply, thus ensuring that learning and development takes place. Coaching contracting must have measurable, set objectives and direct the individual toward a desired outcome. Coaching was not part of the original design and development of the programme, either as an enabler or as part of the content. The literature review positions business coaching as a collaborative partnership to develop the client’s performance and potential, personally and professionally, in accordance with the goals and values of the organisation. Furthermore, developing a coaching competency with line managers, will ensure that an internal coaching capability is established, which will assist delegates both during the programme and in their future career development. To eliminate any possibility of bias, triangulation was included in this programme evaluation study. The qualitative research included semi-structured interviews with all stakeholders, conducted via various means, such as focus groups, individual interviews and self-administered questionnaires. The programme evaluation study established that, although the objectives of this junior leadership programme were met and coaching principles were applied, sub-questions that surfaced during research, raised issues that need to be addressed. Improvements are required in order for the programme to be sustainable and support the growth strategy of the organisation. The recommendations are that development programmes should have an integrated organisational focus, involving all the stakeholders; and that the selection process, for individuals attending these programmes, should not only be more comprehensive, but line managers should be more involved.

Thesis (MPhil) -- Stellenbosch University, 2011. / This research study not only links three important business concepts, namely, leadership development, employee engagement and executive coaching, but is also an important body of research that contributes in a meaningful way to the debate around the role of executive coaching and its impact on leadership effectiveness. It outlines a transformative framework for executive coaching that shows a significant shift in managerial behaviour. This behaviour shift acts as a catalyst for the enhancement of key dimensions of employee engagement. This is an important finding, as the field of professional coaching is undergoing much scrutiny in terms of its return on effectiveness and its ability to accelerate the development of high-potential talent. The reseach findings in this report further serve to reinforce the importance of aligning leadership development, and specifically executive coaching practices, with organisational strategies. The global financial crisis has highlighted the need for organisations to adopt prudent leadership development strategies. The intelligent integration of transformative coaching into talent management practices such as retention, promotion, deployment and development of high-potential leadership, will create the necessary impetus for building sustainble leadership capacity and provide an outstanding return on investment for organisations wherever they might be in their maturity cycle.