Abstract
D.Phil.
The aim of the study was to explore and understand the emerging leadership
challenges in order to further enhance the development of leadership and
management in the information technology industry in South Africa. A combined
casing and life-story approach in this modernist qualitative research study was
employed.
Selective sampling, as described by Plummer (1983; 2001) as part of his critical
humanistic approach, was employed to select the CEO, Mr X, from a particular
South African information technology company. Data were obtained mainly from
solicited sources, but also some that were unsolicited. This resulted in a life story
containing rich descriptive data obtained at first hand from Mr X’s professional career
and associated areas of his life.
The life -story of this storyteller was organised manually as well as with the aid of
ATLAS-Ti 5.0, a computer-based software package suitable for this type of study.
The leadership landscape model of Veldsman (2004), a local expert in the area of
leadership, together with key theoretical concepts found in the literature, were used
to construct an enhanced leadership model. Appropriate qualitative guidelines were
used to ensure a study that attends to both academic rigour and aesthetics.
The resultant constructed leadership model offers important, if not unique, insights
and findings regarding the leadership environment, individual psychosocial
dynamics, competencies and capabilities, as well as leadership roles, modes, styles
and processes that contribute to personal leadership effectiveness. The thesis
illuminates and offers recommendations for a number of methodological and
theoretical implications regarding local and global leadership studies, as well as for
practice and policy regarding leadership and managerial development.