Despite considerable interest driving prominent studies over many decades' leadership theory and research remains one of the least understood topics. Leadership is still mysterious and complex. This study is a journey of discovery designed to explore the complexities and prominence of leadership as it exists in New Zealand. The journey began with a literature review metaphorically represented as three poles of knowledge. The first pole focused on Māori (ordinary, of this land, native people of New Zealand) and Māori culture where leadership is highly valued. The second explored sport and in particular rugby, which enjoys celebrity status amongst Māori and New Zealanders. The final pole reviewed organisational studies and literature on leadership.The study pursued perceptions of male Māori rugby players concerning leadership, from a Māori, rugby, and New Zealand perspective. The research approach employed by this study is based on the principles of grounded theory, kaupapa Māori methodology and its Western cousin, ethnomethodology. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with nine prominent past and present Māori rugby players. By focusing on this demographic, this study was able to examine Māori and Pākehā leadership styles, similarities and differences; highlight key cultural characteristics and strengthen arguments claiming a relationship exists between the three poles of knowledge. This approach enabled a review of those beneficial and advantageous qualities considered to have an impact on leadership in New Zealand.Findings from interviews revealed relationships do exist between the three poles of knowledge. The values or concepts whānau (family, extended family), responsibility, collectivism, and tuākana/tēina (elder/leaders to younger/novices) relationships were identified as central qualities of Māori leadership. Collectivism is expressed as concerns of whānau. Reciprocity was embodied in relationships of tuākana/tēina with rugby being a vehicle that enhanced both and encouraged leadership development. Findings combined with evidence from literature prompted discussion aimed at three different audiences: leadership theorists; Māori, and; rugby audiences. The study's implications and limitations are taken into consideration.

Despite considerable interest driving prominent studies over many decades' leadership theory and research remains one of the least understood topics. Leadership is still mysterious and complex. This study is a journey of discovery designed to explore the complexities and prominence of leadership as it exists in New Zealand. The journey began with a literature review metaphorically represented as three poles of knowledge. The first pole focused on Māori (ordinary, of this land, native people of New Zealand) and Māori culture where leadership is highly valued. The second explored sport and in particular rugby, which enjoys celebrity status amongst Māori and New Zealanders. The final pole reviewed organisational studies and literature on leadership.The study pursued perceptions of male Māori rugby players concerning leadership, from a Māori, rugby, and New Zealand perspective. The research approach employed by this study is based on the principles of grounded theory, kaupapa Māori methodology and its Western cousin, ethnomethodology. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with nine prominent past and present Māori rugby players. By focusing on this demographic, this study was able to examine Māori and Pākehā leadership styles, similarities and differences; highlight key cultural characteristics and strengthen arguments claiming a relationship exists between the three poles of knowledge. This approach enabled a review of those beneficial and advantageous qualities considered to have an impact on leadership in New Zealand.Findings from interviews revealed relationships do exist between the three poles of knowledge. The values or concepts whānau (family, extended family), responsibility, collectivism, and tuākana/tēina (elder/leaders to younger/novices) relationships were identified as central qualities of Māori leadership. Collectivism is expressed as concerns of whānau. Reciprocity was embodied in relationships of tuākana/tēina with rugby being a vehicle that enhanced both and encouraged leadership development. Findings combined with evidence from literature prompted discussion aimed at three different audiences: leadership theorists; Māori, and; rugby audiences. The study's implications and limitations are taken into consideration.

Thesis (MPhil (Information Science))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The functions of management and leadership are not new to the business fraternity. Whilst these functions are as pervasive and ubiquitous as the corporate organizations themselves, the same cannot be said of the organizational successes emanating from these functions. These functions have been cited throughout literature as pivotal in the successful running of businesses. By the same token, they have also been cited as the major causes of failed businesses within the corporate landscape. This has been established throughout small and big organizations alike. This unfortunate phenomenon has continued to attract significant academic and business research over the years with an overall intent of establishing why it is the case. Whilst there are varied reasons for the successes and failures of most organizations, the quality of both functions of leadership and management seem to take the larger portion of the praise and/or blame. These functions are regarded as key determinants of organizational success and survival into the future. Subsequently, this has culminated in myriad theories, frameworks and approaches around management and leadership as significantly different functions which yield different results in business organizations. At the core of the debate has been that management and leadership functions are different and depending on whether an organization is managed or led determines its future success and overall sustainability. It is therefore the intention of this study to comparatively analyze both functions of management and leadership in as far as they impact organizational sustainability and success. A case study of Jwaneng Diamond Mine in Botswana is used to do this comparative study of the two functions of management and leadership within the Executive team to try and affirm some of the key factors as alluded to within the business landscape. In this comparative study it is noted that whilst management and leadership are two different functions, they are however symbiotic in nature and successful organizations tap into both functions as they develop and build sustainable businesses for the future. The Jwaneng Mine case study showed that in an executive team, it is vital to have a balance between managers (those who provide management capabilities) and leaders (those that provide leadership) if the organization is to be successful going into the future.

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Engaged employees contribute to the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization’s service to their community. Many organizational leaders struggle to engage their employees before, during, and after organizational mergers. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies 9 leaders from 3 merged higher education organizations in the state of Georgia used to encourage employee engagement when their organizations were merging. The conceptual framework for this study was a combination of the transformational leadership theory, the self-efficacy theory, and the acquisition integration approach. After collecting data through semistructured interviews, organizational documentation, and member checking, data analysis through thematic review and triangulation revealed 4 key themes. The major themes for engaging employees during mergers were: strategies establishing a communication plan; strategies creating a cohesive culture, identity, or team; strategies mitigating barriers to employee engagement; and strategies assessing successful implementation for ongoing modification and adjustment of engagement strategies. The implications of this study for social change are that engaged employees might increase the institution’s productivity in educating students to be more successful in the workforce after graduating, and therefore, have a greater capacity to provide for their families and strengthen their communities.

The primary concerns of this study were to describe the most common practices of current college student leadership training programs in the United States and to compare the 1979 and 1997 findings by replicating the 1979 Simonds study. This study provides an overview of related literature on the history of leadership theory and the research on leadership training in higher education, a detailed description of the methodology, results of the survey, a comparative analysis of the 1979 and 1997 findings, and discussion of the current status of leadership training at institutions of higher education. Conclusions are drawn, and implications and recommendations for student affairs professionals are made that may improve the quality of student leadership in higher education.

Swedish executives are in the pursuit of self-improvement. During the last two decades, extreme athleticism, practices like meditation and visiting retreats have been an increasingly common context within this pursuit, despite being costly in terms of time or simply being perceived as extreme. In an attempt to further understand these pursuits, the study seeks to answer the research question: How are the leader’s pursuit of self-improvement influencing leadership and what does it signal? The theoretical point of departure is previous research on athleticism and mindfulness amongst executives, through the perspective of signaling theory and charismatic leadership theory. The study is qualitative in nature with an abductive approach and consists of interviews with ten executives as well as a discourse of Swedish printed press. The data have been coded using the Gioia-methodology. The empirical findings consist of nine aggregated dimensions explaining executive behavior. How they began with their practice, what health benefits they achieved, what attributes were strengthened, the positive effect on leadership, the costs of their practice, how identity is involved, their own awareness of their practice, how they believed it influenced leadership, and what their leadership aspirations were. After analysis of the pursuits, it is concluded that the pursuits signal certain underlying qualities and attributes, an identity, and competence to lead oneself and others. Through actions inspired by their pursuits, signaling is reinforced and become signals of the organization as well as the individual leader and his or her leadership.

Despite a great deal of interest in leadership as a field of study, little research has been conducted on what followers want from their leaders. Furthermore, the relationship between follower ethnicity and their view on leadership has been largely neglected. This study therefore sought to investigate how followers perceive effective leadership and, therefore, what they expect from good leaders. The study also sought to investigate what influence, if any, a follower’s ethnicity has on their understanding of effective leadership. The study adopted a qualitative, phenomenological methodological approach to address the research purposes. Semi structured interviews were conducted with a sample of seven black South African undergraduate students in Gauteng. This sample was selected to avoid including individuals who may have had formal exposure to leadership theory or significant experience as leaders in organizations. The discussions were recorded and transcribed, before being captured in Atlas.ti. Thematic coding was carried out to analyse the data. The findings of the study showed that respondents valued follower-centric leadership, with a particular emphasis on leaders listening to followers. Other good leadership behaviours highlighted by respondents included communication and values. Respondents indicated that their views on leadership were influenced by their cultures. It was not possible to isolate the influence of a specific ethnic identity on perceptions of leadership because respondents were able to identify with more than one ethnic identity, referred to as biculturalism. Biculturalism tended to occur as a result of a respondent having parents from different ethnicities, growing up in a multi-ethnic township or exposure through multicultural institutions such as schools and churches. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

Being the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter and second largest economy, China’s role in international climate negotiations has been the topic of much heated debate over the past 10 years. However, few studies have sought to understand China ́s role in the Global Environmental Governance and Chinese leadership therefore remains a lacuna in need of further investigation. This generates one central question: How does leadership theory bring insight into China ́s role in the international climate change negotiations? The research is designed as a qualitative case study, applying an analytical framework by Young (1991). A content analysis in conjunction with the analytical framework is applied to policy documents, speeches and official reports produced by the Chinese Government, UNFCCC and IISD as a way to understand China ́s negotiation strategies and climate change goals. The findings suggest that China has shown weak leadership during the climate summit in 2009, since there was a huge lack of leadership capabilities applied in their negotiation strategies. However, in 2015 China met all leadership indicators to a certain degree and can therefore be seen to have exercised strong leadership capabilities. It can therefore be argued, that China has become a leading actor in the climate change regime due to their shift in negotiation approach from 2009 to 2015, through their influence and position in shaping the global climate change agenda.

Many university leaders lack the knowledge necessary to retain skilled employees and decrease employee turnover. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that leaders of colleges/universities in the United States used to retain skilled employees. Research participants included 7 leaders in higher education in central Florida who had at least 1 year of managerial experience in academic or human resources administration and were able to provide information on evaluating the effectiveness of approaches to employee retention. The conceptual framework was the behavioral leadership theory of Skinner. Data were collected using semistructured face-to-face interviews, phone interviews, and review of organizational documents. Using the thematic analysis approach, 4 themes emerged from data analysis: open communication, generational gap, work-life balance, and effective implementation of retention strategies. The implications of this study for social change could include the potential for leaders in higher education to improve employee morale and job satisfaction by applying strategies to retain employees and reduce turnover.