Abstract
The role of a leader encompasses varying aspects that are vital to the success of any
organisation. What remains challenging is the evolving operating environment in which
leaders must thrive and create a favourable workplace culture. While studies have
been conducted on leadership and organisational culture within various sectors in the
South African economy, the cash management sector has been commonly
overlooked, despite the essential role played by these organisations. The primary
objective of this study was to determine the perceptions of mid-level leaders' influence
on the organisational culture in a cash management company. It was therefore
essential to understand how leaders perceive their overall role within the organisation,
as well as their perceived strengths and challenges with regard to the organisation’s
culture. These aspects formed the secondary objectives of the study.
This cross-sectional study followed a qualitative research approach. The researcher
adopted a subjectivist and contextualist ontological view. The population comprised
mid-level leaders in a cash management company, which offers an essential service
to businesses. A total of 12 mid-level leaders of the organisation were interviewed.
Braun and Clake’s (2006) proposed six steps for thematic analyses were used to
analyse the data. The study's main findings were that mid-level leaders believe they
have a considerable influence on the organisation’s culture. The study also found that
a primary leadership role exists, which highlighted an operational focus that could
impact the organisation's culture due its nature and characteristic. Perceived
challenges to the organisation's culture included the labour environment, the misuse
of an existing culture theme, and time as a barrier to communication. However, two
strengths of the organisation’s culture were also established, namely the impact of a
new executive leadership team, together with improved engagement, and the
organisation’s brand reputation.
This study makes a practical contribution to the organisation under study and may be
useful to organisations that seek to embark on culture-enhancing endeavours through
their leadership. A conceptual model of culture enablement was developed, which
provides a theoretical contribution to the existing body of knowledge on leadership and
organisational culture.
Keywords: Organisational culture; mid-level leadership; leadership; cash
management, leadership role, culture enablement.