Abstract
This study sought to explore staff perceptions on the effectiveness of culture workshops in enhancing a distributed leadership approach in a private higher education business school in South Africa. The education sector has experienced a significant shift in recent years where privatisation of education has resulted in fierce competition. Institutions have been under pressure to demonstrate their flexibility to meet the needs of the student and not just adhere to the regulations that guide their existence. The need for diversity in the way institutions are led has opened the door to a differentiated leadership approach – one that no longer adheres to the top-down, autocratic style, but instead recognises the expertise of all role players and the value that they bring to the table. The theoretical framework adopted for the study is the distributed leadership theory, with the fundamental principle being that leadership does not necessarily have to reside with a single individual but rather, can be shared across the institution. This research study falls within a constructivist or interpretivist paradigm, with a qualitative methodology approach. The research strategy is that of a case study. A total of five leaders in the institution were selected as participants through purposive sampling. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The data was analysed by means of thematic analysis. The study found that the culture workshops did in fact enhance the effectiveness of a distributed leadership approach within the institution. It went further to suggest alternate mechanisms to promote a distributed leadership approach and to recommend further areas of research, such as analysing the scope of distribution – is it prevalent at all levels of operation within the institution or is it limited to a particular level of responsibility – in order to be able to respond to a dynamic higher education sector.
Keywords: Collaboration; Culture Workshops; Distributed Leadership; Empowerment; Organisational Culture; Shared Expertise