Thesis (MPA. (Industrial Psychology)) --University of Limpopo, 2010 / In recent years, the South African government has put a lot of energy into the
transformation of public sector departments. Effective leadership is a prerequisite in
any effort to transform an organization. However, research findings indicate that
there is a critical need to develop and train managers in the public sector to deal with
numerous challenges in a fast changing world. They do not only need technical
competencies but also soft skills to manage interpersonal relationships. This
means that the public sector in South Africa needs to develop its leaders
effectiveness in dealing with the human side of enterprises.
Research in the first world countries on effective leadership behaviour has indicated
the following: Firstly, leaders with high levels of emotional competence are more
effective in interpersonal situations than those with low levels of emotional
competence. Secondly, transformational leadership behaviour has a significant
positive relationship with a leader s emotional competence. Lastly, a leader s conflict
handling style is associated with his/her effectiveness as a leader.
The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between managers
transformational leadership style effectiveness, their level of emotional competence
(emotional expression and constructive discontent) and their conflict management
skills within the public sector in South Africa.
A survey design was employed to collect data. Questionnaires were completed by
126 managers in a public sector department in the Limpopo Province. The
questionnaires included items to assess transformational leadership, emotional
competence and conflict management skills, and also to siphon demographic
information of the managers. Frequencies for demographic information were
computed, as well as correlations for transformational leadership, emotional
competencies and conflict management styles in order to test out hypotheses about
the relationship between the variables of interest.Findings indicated that the majority of the respondents were Black males under the
age group of 41-50, on job levels 11-12, with managerial experience of 1-5 years.
The main findings of the study showed the following: (a) There is a very weak,significant positive relationship between transformational leadership and emotional
expression, and a negative relationship between transformational leadership style
and constructive discontent; (b) There is a relatively weak but significant positive
relationship between the transformational leadership style and the constrictive
conflict management skills (collaborating and compromising interpersonal conflict
management styles); (c) There is a weak but significant negative relationship
between the compromising interpersonal conflict management style and emotional
expression, and a very weak, non-significant negative relationship between
collaboration interpersonal conflict management style and emotional expression;
and (d) There is a weak but significant negative relationship between the
compromising interpersonal conflict management style and constructive discontent,
but a very weak non-significant negative relationship between collaboration
interpersonal conflict management style and constructive discontent.
These findings led the researcher to believe that the respondents are neither
transformational leaders nor emotionally competent, and thus could not either
compromise or collaborate with others when they are in an interpersonal conflict
situation. It is recommended that managers should be trained to develop their
leadership, as well as emotional and conflict management competencies. Even though small sample size was used in this study, there results will be
generalized to the whole South African population of public service managers.
Further research study with different research methodology is recommended within
other public sector departments and provinces within the country.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ul/oai:ulspace.ul.ac.za:10386/820 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Matjie, Mokgata Alleen |
| Contributors | Pieterson, C. |
| Publisher | University of Limpopo (Turfloop Campus) |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | X, 109 leaves |
| Relation |
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