Leadership Ethos and Culturally Oriented Strategic Management: A Conceptual Framework and Research Propositions

This paper identifies the importance of Leadership Ethos (LE) as a backbone for Culturally Oriented Strategic Management (COSM). The paper begins by presenting the concept of LE, it then briefly discusses vision and values, two amongst the attributes of LE. This is followed by discussion of the relationship between LE and COSM. The discussion arrives at four testable propositions. The paper offers four action steps for the practice of LE aiming at establishing COSM before concluding with a summary of its contributions, calling for scholars and practitioners to invest in exploring the understanding and practice of LE. This is an approach to leadership that promotes and sustains COSM in organisational management. The findings suggest that LE, as a means for articulating right and wrong, can create cultural values that align organisational systems to build trust, value employees, focus objectives, and engage participants. Based upon vision and values, LE assists decision-makers by establishing criteria for the strategic governance of organisations that enable them to function both efficiently and effectively. This paper provides significant implications by offering an understanding of LE as a backbone for COSM. This is done through a behavioural foundation based upon ethical and moral obligations to create organisational wealth, serve society, and honour relationships owed to stakeholders

Leadership Ethos and Culturally Oriented Strategic Management: A Conceptual Framework and Research Propositions

This paper identifies the importance of Leadership Ethos (LE) as a backbone for Culturally Oriented Strategic Management (COSM). The paper begins by presenting the concept of LE, it then briefly discusses vision and values, two amongst the attributes of LE. This is followed by discussion of the relationship between LE and COSM. The discussion arrives at four testable propositions. The paper offers four action steps for the practice of LE aiming at establishing COSM before concluding with a summary of its contributions, calling for scholars and practitioners to invest in exploring the understanding and practice of LE. This is an approach to leadership that promotes and sustains COSM in organisational management. The findings suggest that LE, as a means for articulating right and wrong, can create cultural values that align organisational systems to build trust, value employees, focus objectives, and engage participants. Based upon vision and values, LE assists decision-makers by establishing criteria for the strategic governance of organisations that enable them to function both efficiently and effectively. This paper provides significant implications by offering an understanding of LE as a backbone for COSM. This is done through a behavioural foundation based upon ethical and moral obligations to create organisational wealth, serve society, and honour relationships owed to stakeholders

Human Resource Professionals as Strategic Leaders — A Behavioral Opportunity for Improving Information Management

Human Resource Management is an often overlooked and underutilized strategic tool that has the potential to shape organizational objectives. Authors Caldwell and Ndalamba attempt to identify when, where, and in what fashion HR sources can be more fully utilized to coordinate and fully develop an entity’s interlinking structure to achieve a successful, common purpose

In search of an appropriate leadership ethos: a survey of selected publications that shaped the Black Theology movement

Magister Theologiae - MThThe understanding and practice of leadership in Sub-Saharan Africa, in all spheres, is at the heart beat of this work. Questions and concerns over the quality of leadership in most countries in this particular region are reasons which have led to revisit and investigate the formative training of the current cohort of African leadership with a special focus on the ethical aspect of leadership. It is an assumption, in this thesis, that the contemporary cohort of African leadership received their formative training especially in the 1960s and 1970s and that they were deeply influenced by the black consciousness movement and, in association with that, by the emergence of black theology. In this respect, this research project explores the notions of ethics and leadership with a view to determine ways in which an appropriate leadership ethos was portrayed and articulated in the writings of selected exponents of the black theology movement, namely ML King (Jr), Desmond Tutu and Allan Boesak. The purpose of this work is therefore mainly descriptive: to map discourse on a leadership ethos in the context especially of black theology.South Afric

An exploration into the understanding of Leadership Ethos and Critical Success Factors in public management: The case of the Department of Trade and Industry, South Africa and the Ministry of National Economy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThis dissertation assumes an explorative and descriptive approach rather than a comparative approach. It aims at offering the concept of Leadership Ethos (LE) and its inherent Critical Success Factors (CSFs) as a paradigm in the quest to secure organisational efficiency and effectiveness in public management, with a particular focus on the public policy implementation process. It begins by presenting the background to the study, providing relevant information about the problem and the methodology followed. It then introduces the context of the problem of the study, sketching the context of civil service leadership before the advent of democracy in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and prior to independence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). These two countries serve as the case study through the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the National Ministry of Economy (ECONAT) respectively. This is followed by the presentation of the theoretical framework of the study, defined within the context of compliance-based and integrity-based approaches to leadership, resulting in discussions on leadership theories. This leads to an examination of public administration reforms (PARs) in the context of LE, illustrating how PARs have resulted in a change in organisational focus and culture of the public sector. The study examines relevant economic policies in the RSA and the DRC with a view to illustrate the effects of LE and its subsequent CSFs on performance in public management, in particular, with respect to the implementation of public policies. Data were then presented and analysed with the purpose of probing the understanding of LE and its inherent CSFs. It considers how LE enhances organisational efficiency, which in turn will enhance social transformation, by guaranteeing the successful implementation of economic policies. The study then presents a summary of the main findings in both case study research areas. In its conclusion, the study proposes recommendations towards a LE that contributes to more effective public policy implementation processes

Social responsibility in a troubled world

PURPOSE– Social responsibility (SR) in accepting the obligation to resolve the many troubling problems facing tomorrow’s generations is essential if those problems are to be effectively addressed. The purpose of this paper is to identify the nature of SR for business, academic institutions, government, religious institutions, and individuals. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH – This paper is a conceptual paper which relies heavily on the current literature about social obligations for five major organizations: business, academic institutions, government, religious institutions, and individuals. Findings – The paper provides the standard of the virtuous continuum and the Hosmer decision-making model to explain why leaders, organizations, and individuals must be more responsible to be perceived as virtuous leaders, complete with 50 examples of action to be taken. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS – As this paper is not an empirical study, it does not present research information. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS – This paper suggests that organizations can be more effective if they come to understand the responsibilities and stewardship of social responsibilities entrusted to them. ORIGINALITY/VALUE – The paper expands on Hosmer’s research and incorporates a virtuous continuum in examining the responsibilities of leaders, organizations, and individuals. More importantly, this paper is among the first to identify the specific steps organizations and individuals can take in addressing the challenges and problems facing the world of in key aspects of society

Process Management: A Requirement for Organizational Excellence in the Twenty-First Century Business Environment?

The purpose of this study is to define process management as a requirement of organizational excellence in the twenty-first century business environment. The business environment in the twenty-first century has reached a new height as far as challenges are concerned. The Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences have shaped a new business environment that requires organizations and businesses to raise the bar for themselves in honoring their obligation to achieve excellence. This means that competitive advantage, quality service, and product are achieved through organizational excellence. How can process management help organizations and businesses achieve organizational excellence in such a hostile and turbulent business environment? Applying a conceptual approach, the study attempts to answer the question through a comprehensive literature review. Testable propositions have been formulated, action steps defined, and implications of the study established. By identifying workflow design (WFD), control and correction of workflow processes (CCWFP), monitoring of workflow processes (MWFP), and workflow promotion of process-related learning in organizations (WPPRLO) against the background of conceptualization, operationalization, and context, the study findings suggest that process management is indeed a requirement for organizational excellence in the twenty-first century business environment. Scholars and practitioners have the opportunity to confirm or disconfirm the validity of the assumptions and ideas presented in the study