Thesis (MTh (Practical Theology and Missiology))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / This research was motivated by my various involvements as a teacher, pastor and a leader in the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA). It was also based on the assumption that the quality of a society’s future leaders is found in the church. Africa’s future leaders are today’s youth. The church needs future leaders who will help unleash its potential to accomplish the purpose of its existence. However, since the year 2002 there has been a mass exodus of youth from the ECWA to other churches and denominations due to leadership incompetence and lack of ministry opportunities. In response to the declining interest, participation and the exodus of youth in the Evangelical Church of West Africa, this study investigates mentoring as a means of developing the youth into leadership positions as an avenue for sustainable leadership development and retention of youth in the church. The Evangelical Church of West Africa, just as other churches in Africa, have forgotten that the role of leadership is to transform the adverse circumstances that people face by inspiring hope and empowering them to achieve the desired results, which ensures stability and sustainable growth. The purpose of this research was to explain the importance of leadership development and mentoring for the church, and to also evaluate the current situation of leadership development using the ECWA as a case study for the church in Africa. Africa is a continent with vast resources and countless opportunities. But currently it is the continent with the worst socio-economic conditions, and this could be attributed to the kind of leadership we have in Africa. The church unfortunately is not making any recognizable difference to set the pace for leadership in the African continent. The ECWA for example, has more than 70 district leaders, but many of them do not finish their three or six-year terms well. Those who manage to finish well do so without any legacy of preparing the future generations for effective leadership. The need to develop young people with proven character and integrity into leadership is a need of the hour; therefore, the church needs to invest in the youth through effective mentoring for leadership. One question guided this research: Can participation in meaningful mentoring relationships and/or creating a mentoring culture make an important and observable contribution to leadership development and retention of young people in the Church? More precisely – can it do so in the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA)? This also provides the methodological framework from which the study will be organized. Through this study, I hope to sensitize the church of the need for leadership and mentoring and for the need not just to develop young leaders through mentoring, but to develop young leaders who will follow the 2 Timothy 2:1-2 principle. It is also aimed at helping the church to maximize the leadership potentials found in the youth through mentoring and leadership development.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze how leadership is constructed as a narrative to explain what happens in organizations. Research on young co-workers in organizations has shown how young people are socialized into managerial and organizational cultures. At the same time these cultures and practices are changing. In addition, the younger generation is often expected to express new values or ideals in management. This thesis is developed from a social constructionist view on organization. The main research question is: How do young leaders construct leadership narratives in terms of their personal experience within organizations? The empirical material consists of interviews with 22 young leaders, 11 women and 11 men between 19 and 35 years old, encompassing 19 different organizations. Three of the young leaders were interviewed over a time period between one and two years. The remaining 19 were interviewed once. Leadership is constructed as the power to influence events and decisions in the organization and the responsibility for the outcome. Leadership is also constructed as an interpersonal power relationship. Leadership is analyzed as both construction and ordering of power and responsibility in interpersonal interactions. The analysis shows how the professional identity as a leader is constructed through a process of creative imitation. Emotions play an important role in the performance of the professional identity. Emotional experiences such as fear or vulnerability are often excluded or repressed in order to maintain competent professional appearances. Managers are expected to handle emotionally difficult situations. Prevailing responses– to ignore the situation or not to see at all vs. to acknowledge, act and react – are discussed. The latter category of responses is further analyzed as: to heal and to transform, to set boundaries and to react under stress. Fear or anxiety in these situations may activate survival strategies in interpersonal interactions. The underlying implication of the construction of leadership as an asymmetrical power relation may be that manipulation and codependency are plausible outcomes. / QC 20110909

Leadership is developed by experience and grows with time (Ohnstad, et al, 2019). However, being a young leader many times relates to having less experience. This can add to the already existing obstacles that a leader encounters, making it more challenging for a young leader to fulfill their position. Therefore, the following study investigates what perceptions young leaders experience, and what strategies they adopt to gain legitimacy and respect in their position, and thereby influence their employees. The study's findings provide a greater understanding of the underlying reasons why young people may experience difficulties in being leaders, and what strategies they therefore use to be perceived as more suited for their position A qualitative research approach was chosen to conduct the study. The collected data consists of semi-structured interviews with 14 respondents. The findings in the study indicate that prejudices among young leaders can vary. This depends on how long one has been involved in an organization or if the leader is the creator of the company. Also engaging in emotional labor can be a way of fitting into the norm to be perceived as more suitable for a certain position, which is a way to avoid prejudices. The findings of the study resulted in four strategies that the young leaders use to be considered serious leaders: 1) being present, 2) tailor-made workplace, 3) personalized leadership and 4) non-hierarchical environment. Finally, in terms of leading efficiently, emotional intelligence is exercised as a part of a young leader's strategy to gain trust, influence and meet the needs of the employees. Keywords: young leaders, leadership, emotional labor, emotional intelligence, strategies, leaders, subordinates, followers.

Depuis l'indépendance du Mexique (1821), deux groupes politiques se disputent le contrôle du pays. Pendant tout le XXe siècle, le système de parti hégémonique a rendu impossible l'observation de clivages dans le pays et, bien au contraire, a stimulé l'idée d'un État-Parti « au-dessus de la mêlée ». Nous exploitons le concept de clivage en tant qu'outil qui permet de voir où se trouvent aujourd'hui les lignes qui divisent les sociétés. Nous étudions le cas des principaux partis politiques au Mexique : le Parti Action Nationale (PAN), le Parti de la Révolution Démocratique (PRD) et le Parti Révolutionnaire Institutionnel (PRI). Les amendements constitutionnels survenus pendant le gouvernement Salinas ont placé à nouveau le conflit entre l'État et l'Église Catholique au centre du débat national. Nous remarquons que le conflit s'est institutionnalisé et s'est poursuivi jusqu'à aujourd'hui, laissant apparaître un important clivage historique déjà perçu à l'époque de l'indépendance. Pour parvenir à notre but, nous présentons une série d'entretiens réalisés avec les jeunes leaders des partis politiques. Nous analysons leurs réponses à partir du clivage État/Église catholique. Des questions croisées à propos des sujets dits « sensibles » (l'avortement et le mariage gay) nous permettent d'observer la reproduction du clivage. Nous élaborons et proposons une typologie (Weber) pour guider et conduire la recherche / Since the independence of Mexico (1821), two political groups have been competing for the control of the country. Throughout the twentieth century, the hegemonic party used the entire state apparatus system to make it impossible to observe the cleavages in the country and on the contrary it stimulated the idea of a party-state above all social conflict. We have studied and exploited the concept of cleavage as a tool. This concept allows us to examine where the lines that divide the society lie. The case of mayor political parties has been studied: the National Action Party (PAN) the Party of Democratic Revolution (PRD) and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The constitutional amendments that occurred during Salinas's administration have put the State and the Catholic Church in confrontation again. Indeed, this conflict has become the center of a national debate. We can see that the conflict has been institutionalized and has continued until today. To reach our goal we present a series of interviews with the young leaders from political parties. We analyze their answers from the State - Catholic Church cleavage. Crossed questions about the “sensitive” subjects (abortion and gay marriage) let us detect the reproduction of cleavage. We develop and propose a typology (Weber) to guide and lead this research

German text / Die vorliegende Arbeit versucht die Bedeutung des Begriffs Autokybernetik im theologischen Umfeld zu ergründen und ihre Auswirkung in Bezug auf die Persönlichkeit junger Leiter im kirchlichen Rahmen. Der Blick fällt besonders auf Leiter in der Entwicklungsstufe der sog. Emerging Adulthood (18 bis 28 Jahren). Durch die zunehmend gesellschaftlich geforderte Selbstorganisation und Selbstorientierung mit vielen Entscheidungszwängen kommt der Selbststeuerung im Leben des jungen Leiters eine besondere Bedeutung zu. Im ersten Teil der Arbeit werden die Grundlagen zur Autokybernetik innerhalb der Praktischen Theologie gelegt. In einem zweiten Teil werden Faktoren der Autokybernetik anhand verschiedener Modelle erfasst und gebündelt. In einem dritten, empirischen Teil, sollen die ermittelten Faktoren in der Praxis überprüft werden. Dabei steht die Relevanz von Autokybernetik in der Praxis junger Leiter im Mittelpunkt. Es soll festgestellt werden, inwieweit junge Leiter diese Selbststeuerung bereits umsetzen und mit welchem Erfolg sie das tun. / The study tries to clarify the meaning of “auto-cybernetics” in the theological environment and to explore its impact in relation to the personality of young leaders in the church context. The view is especially noticeable in the stage of development of the so-called Emerging Adulthood (18-28 years). Due to the increasing self-organization and self-orientation required by the society with many constraints self-regulation becomes more and more important to the life of young leaders. In the first part of the work the fundamentals of auto-cybernetics within the Practical Theology are stated. In a second part factors of the auto-cybernetics are seized and bundled using different models. In a third empirical part the identified factors are to be tested in practice. The relevance of auto-cybernetics in the practice of young leaders is in the centre. It will be determine how young leaders do practice this self-regulation and in which extension. / Practical Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology)

German text / Die vorliegende Arbeit versucht die Bedeutung des Begriffs Autokybernetik im theologischen Umfeld zu ergründen und ihre Auswirkung in Bezug auf die Persönlichkeit junger Leiter im kirchlichen Rahmen. Der Blick fällt besonders auf Leiter in der Entwicklungsstufe der sog. Emerging Adulthood (18 bis 28 Jahren). Durch die zunehmend gesellschaftlich geforderte Selbstorganisation und Selbstorientierung mit vielen Entscheidungszwängen kommt der Selbststeuerung im Leben des jungen Leiters eine besondere Bedeutung zu. Im ersten Teil der Arbeit werden die Grundlagen zur Autokybernetik innerhalb der Praktischen Theologie gelegt. In einem zweiten Teil werden Faktoren der Autokybernetik anhand verschiedener Modelle erfasst und gebündelt. In einem dritten, empirischen Teil, sollen die ermittelten Faktoren in der Praxis überprüft werden. Dabei steht die Relevanz von Autokybernetik in der Praxis junger Leiter im Mittelpunkt. Es soll festgestellt werden, inwieweit junge Leiter diese Selbststeuerung bereits umsetzen und mit welchem Erfolg sie das tun. / The study tries to clarify the meaning of “auto-cybernetics” in the theological environment and to explore its impact in relation to the personality of young leaders in the church context. The view is especially noticeable in the stage of development of the so-called Emerging Adulthood (18-28 years). Due to the increasing self-organization and self-orientation required by the society with many constraints self-regulation becomes more and more important to the life of young leaders. In the first part of the work the fundamentals of auto-cybernetics within the Practical Theology are stated. In a second part factors of the auto-cybernetics are seized and bundled using different models. In a third empirical part the identified factors are to be tested in practice. The relevance of auto-cybernetics in the practice of young leaders is in the centre. It will be determine how young leaders do practice this self-regulation and in which extension. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology)