Abstract
M.Phil.
This is a descriptive, literature based study that examines retirement from a Personal and
Professional Leadership(PPL) perspective. The aim of this study is to determine whether a PPL
perspective can contribute towards better quality of life with retirement.
Retirement should be a golden period. This is, however, often not the case and quality of life
often deteriorates with retirement. Retirement is described and the various phases of retiryment
are discussed; planning, opportunity, the honeymoon phase, the disillusionment phase,
reorientation and finally stability.
This study identifies the potential problematic life domains that can affect quality of life during
retirement. Each life dimension is discussed comprehensively and the conclusion is reached that all
life dimensions remain vitally important during retirement:
-Physical needs:
This includes the health of the person including the need for food; clothing and a place to stay.
-Intellectual needs:
Here the need for stimulation and the ability of the person to respond intellectually new
situations is examined.
-Social needs:
The need to love and be loved is explored as well as the importance of relationships.
-Emotional needs:
The influence of emotions is noted and emotional management is discussed.
-Spiritual needs:
Spiritual intelligence is discussed and this domain is identified as one of the most important.
-Financial needs:
Sufficient planning and management of finances is essential.
The relationships between attitude, meaning of life and quality of life are explored. A positive
attitude is found to positively influence a person's quality of life, Similarly, a person who
experiences life as valuable and meaningful will experience better quality of life as opposed to
someone to whom life is meaningless. The conclusion is drawn that it depends largely on the
individual(inside outmodel) what quality of life is experienced after retirement.
The most salient results of this study are:
-That the quality of life experienced after retirement is a complex matter.
-The various life dimensions-physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual and financial-all
impact the quality of life experience dafter retirement.
-It is noted that the physical dimension is very important after retirement and that the pro-active
management of the physical is vital to quality of life.
-The spiritual domain is identified as the core dimension which influences all other dimensions
and it must be imbalance.
-Attitude is important. A positive attitude can improve quality of life.
-Meaningful life can clearly affect quality of life. In essence each person must find the meaning
for their existence, Once meaning is found,quality of life improves.
-PPL can assist retired people to improve their quality of life.
-Quality of life after retirement can be achieved through planning and pro-active management.
Often lack of management and planning results in fear and anxiety.
The author of this study recommends..that:
-PPL courses be developed that are specifically aimed at people who want to retire.
-People who have already retired can be assisted to experience better quality of life.
-Further empirical research be done regarding the quality of life after retirement, especially in the
South African-context,