An Assessment of Leadership Styles and Personality Characteristics of the Leaders

Abstract

There are expressions saying ‘The school is the principal, and the principal is the school’; ‘The choir is the conductor, and the conductor is the choir’; and ‘When two elephants fight, what suffers is the grass’. What do we understand by these expressions? It is deeply regretted that there are some leaders in South Africa who do not have the constitution booklet of South Africa and are not familiar with its contents. This is unbelievable, but a reality. Some of these leaders, their art of speaking is unacceptable. They can say anything at any time to their subordinates. Some of these leaders like publicity, want to be seen and to be worshipped. These leaders cannot differentiate between leadership and ownership. Some have died, long buried and some are still struggling to die because of their personal ancestors. This study seeks to interpret the unfair labour practice adopted by some leaders in both private and public sectors, by assessing selected leadership styles and personality characteristics of the leaders. The questions raised for this study are: 1) Is the special role of ancestors basically protective, corrective and aimed at offering advice to their living dependents? 2) are these leaders born to be leaders? 3) are these leaders trained to be leaders?  or 4) are these leaders made to be leaders? and 5) What is the power and significance of ancestors in African traditions? The primary sources include oral interviews that were conducted through face-to-face interaction. The interviews were aimed at eliciting first-hand information on the knowledge of the subject matter. The secondary sources included among others, materials such as Journal articles, books and theses, and of course personal experience. During interviews, it was established that some of these leaders are arrogant, autocratic, and aggressive because of inferiority complex, heredity, and family problems. Ironically, they want to convert academic arena in case of academia or any workplace into a battlefield. Closer investigation has revealed that there are leaders who are not born leaders, lack leadership and managerial skills, and there are leaders who are taking a responsibility to be a privilege. The results of this study suggest that for the smooth running of the department/organisation and to create a positive work environment, protocol should be observed for the attention of the management. It was concluded that some of these leaders were made to be leaders and are not in possession of the required experience and qualifications as per advertised positions.