Abstract
D.Phil. (Personal and Professional Leadership)
According to recent studies it is indicated that 84% of American companies are in the process of at least one change initiative and that 46% indicated that they were busy with three or more change initiatives. This tendency is a worldwide phenomenon. For organisations to survive and grow in this setting, their rate of learning has to be equal or greater than the rate of change in their environment. Within this context the need for relevant leadership becomes imperative. Empirical evidence would suggest that there is a strong link between leadership competencies and leadership performance. With this in mind a large mining company in South Africa took the root of identifying specific competencies that they would like to see developed in their leaders. The specific company gave direction with outcomes that had to be obtained:
to position the leaders that they could practice their leadership role effectively to meet immediate and future challenges; and
to do specific leadership training investment for the empowering of leadership in attaining greater organizational success.
Taking the current research and organisational need into consideration the researcher set out in developing a model that group these competencies in five mainstream domains, Personal mastery and well being, fulfilling my functional role effectively, Achieving with people, Actualizing a sustainable and desirable future and Navigating the organisational landscape successfully.
It is against this backdrop that the Professional Leadership Development Model took shape. The study is set up in different phases that will play out in the following manner: