Perceptions Regarding the Impact of Ubuntu and Servant Leadership on Employee Engagement in the Workplace
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PERCEPTIONS REGARDING THE IMPACT OF UBUNTU AND SERVANT LEADERSHIP ON EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE By ROGER MULLER (192035150) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT to be awarded at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University April 2017 Supervisor: Prof E.E. Smith Co-supervisor: Dr R. Lillah ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the following people who contributed to making this study a success: • My supervisors: Prof Elroy Smith and Dr Riyaadh Lillah for their guidance, diligence, and inspiration. • My dear wife, Marilyn, for her unselfish support and encouragement, and for always inspiring me to keep on keeping on. I am because you are. • My daughters, Erin and Amy, for sacrificing family time when I was not available. Your interest, encouragement, and countless cups of coffee meant more to me than you will ever know. • To my loving parents, Henry and Elizabeth, for always being my biggest fans and supporters. • To my family and friends who always took an interest in my work and supported me throughout. • To the Old Apostolic Church, particularly Overseer McLean, for your spiritual guidance and understanding. • To my colleagues at NMMU for your words of encouragement and support. A particular mention needs to be made of Dr Jo Zeelie for the continued interest that he showed, and the resources he made available when they were most needed. • To the fieldworkers, Zack, Luyolo and Jessica, who tirelessly assisted with the distribution and collection of the questionnaires. • To the student assistants, Greg, Matthew and Natasha, for data capturing. • To the organisations and respondents who participated in completing the questionnaires for the study. • To Ms Nancy Morkel for the language editing work on this thesis. “muntu, umuntu ngabantu” i DECLARATION I, Roger Muller (192035150), hereby declare that the thesis entitled “Perceptions regarding the impact of Ubuntu and Servant leadership on employee engagement in the workplace” for the degree Doctor of Philosophy (Business Management) is my own work and that it has not previously been submitted for the completion of any postgraduate qualification, to any other University or for any other qualification. …………………………. R. Muller January 2017 i CONTENT PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... I DECLARATION .................................................................................................... I LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................... I LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................. I LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................... VI CHAPTER ONE BACKGROUND AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY 1.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ............................................................. 3 1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT ......................................................................... 5 1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ...................................................................... 8 1.4.1 Primary objective................................................................................... 8 1.4.2 Secondary objectives ............................................................................ 8 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ........................................................................ 8 1.5.1 Main research question ......................................................................... 8 1.5.2 Research sub-questions ....................................................................... 8 1.6 CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS ........................................................... 9 1.6.1 Ubuntu .................................................................................................. 9 1.6.2 Servant leadership ................................................................................ 9 1.6.3 Employee engagement ....................................................................... 10 1.6.4 Organisational performance ................................................................ 11 1.7 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .............................................................. 11 1.7.1 Social Learning Theory ....................................................................... 12 1.7.2 Social Exchange Theory ..................................................................... 12 1.7.3 Social Axiom Theory ........................................................................... 12 1.7.4 Attribution Theory ................................................................................ 13 1.8 PROPOSED HYPOTHETICAL MODEL ................................................. 14 1.9 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .............................................................. 18 1.9.1 Research paradigm ............................................................................. 18 ii 1.9.2 Research approach ............................................................................. 18 1.9.3 Population ........................................................................................... 19 1.9.4 Sampling design ................................................................................. 19 1.9.5 Data collection .................................................................................... 20 1.9.6 Questionnaire design .......................................................................... 20 1.9.7 Pilot study ........................................................................................... 21 1.9.8 Reliability ............................................................................................. 21 1.9.9 Validity................................................................................................. 21 1.9.10 Data analysis ..................................................................................... 22 1.10 SCOPE AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY ..................................... 23 1.11 STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH ...................................................... 24 1.12 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................ 25 CHAPTER TWO THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT OF THE EASTERN CAPE 2.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 27 2.2 THE MACRO-ENVIRONMENT .............................................................. 27 2.3 ECONOMIC FORCES ............................................................................ 28 2.3.1 Economic growth ................................................................................ 29 2.3.2 Unemployment .................................................................................... 35 2.3.3 Inflation ............................................................................................... 36 2.4 POLITICAL, LEGAL AND GOVERNMENTAL FORCES ........................ 39 2.4.1 Black Economic Empowerment .......................................................... 39 2.4.2 Employment Equity and Affirmative Action Legislation ....................... 42 2.5 SOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND DEMOGRAPHIC FORCES ........................ 44 2.5.1 Social environment ............................................................................. 44 2.5.2 Cultural forces ..................................................................................... 47 2.5.3 Demographic forces ............................................................................ 48 2.6 NATURAL ENVIRONMENT FORCES ................................................... 52 2.6.1 Opportunities ....................................................................................... 52 2.6.2 Threats ................................................................................................ 52 2.6.3 Energy resources ................................................................................ 52 2.6.4 Mineral resources ............................................................................... 54 iii 2.7 TECHNOLOGICAL FORCES ................................................................. 56 2.7.1 Telecommunication ............................................................................. 56 2.7.2 Information Technology (IT) ................................................................ 58 2.8 LEADERSHIP IN THE EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE............................ 58 2.9 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................ 60 CHAPTER THREE THEORETICAL OVERVIEW OF UBUNTU LEADERSHIP 3.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 62 3.2 DEFINING UBUNTU ............................................................................... 62 3.3 ORIGIN AND BACKGROUND OF UBUNTU .......................................... 63 3.4 THE IMPORTANCE OF UBUNTU .......................................................... 64 3.5 THE VALUE DIMENSIONS OF UBUNTU .............................................. 68 3.5.1 Humanness ......................................................................................... 68 3.5.2 Survival ............................................................................................... 71 3.5.3 Solidarity ............................................................................................