Abstract
Abstract : The purpose of this study was to explore how leaders in life insurance organisations in South Africa use strategic communication to purposefully engage employees. The research adopted a pragmatic research philosophy to conduct exploratory research. The methodological choice for this study was a mixed methods approach. The quantitative research was conducted by means of an online survey questionnaire, which was the Gallup 12 survey of employee engagement. The surveys measured employee engagement on four dimensions which included “what do I give”, “what do I get”, “how do I belong”, and “how we grow”. The results from this survey were analysed to determine whether employees were engaged or not. The qualitative research was conducted by means of semi-structured interviews. The interview questions explored how purposeful communication was approached and perceived by supervisory and non-supervisory employees in two different divisions of a life insurance organisation. The quantitative results revealed that employees in Division A are engaged with organisational purpose by their leaders, whereas employees in Division B are not. Based on the qualitative findings it is evident that leaders in Division A adopt a postmodern approach to leadership and communication where they actively use the principles of strategic communication, and leaders in Division B adopt a modern approach to leadership and communication where they use top-down, formally structured communication. It was concluded that employees in Division A exist in a team with a supportive communication climate and participative organisational culture, and these employees were engaged with their organisational purpose. Employees in Division B exist in a team with a defensive communication climate and authoritarian organisational culture, where they are not engaged with their organisational purpose.
M.A. (Communication Studies)