Abstract
The African continent is experiencing a significant economic development characterised by many challenges as its emerging 21st-century leadership is finding its own path. Forceful and often uneven integration into the global economic system causes many of the issues that many African nations face. The leadership gaps, gender inequality, bias and multigenerational workforce coupled with inherent lack of strong institutions capable of driving the development agenda in the continent remain an impediment to a full realisation of responsible, accountable, relevant and ethical (RARE) leadership. This article presented two Fulbright quantitative descriptive research projects, which were presented at Mulungushi University in Kabwe, Zambia. The first Fulbright project aimed at educating Zambian faculty and students on how to develop leadership skills appropriate for the 21st-century workplace. The second one aimed at conducting a comprehensive assessment of the current Zambian leadership across 18 different industries. A mixed-methods approach was adopted for this study with a convergent parallel mixed-methods design. Data were collected using a survey questionnaire triangulated with focus group data from 246 Zambian leaders across 18 different industries. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, whilst qualitative data were analysed by thematic analysis. The results revealed that Zambian leaders face challenges of lack of proper talent management and poor infrastructure, effective mentoring and human resource gaps. The findings also indicated that offsetting leadership gaps will require a focus on education, talent management, empowerment of women leaders and finding a unique African path of leadership. The findings of this study pointed to the need for Zambian industries to deal with leadership deficits so as to enhance workplace sustainability.
Highlights
Two Fulbright projects were carried out in Zambia from June 2018 to April 2019
The aim of the second Fulbright project was to conduct a comprehensive assessment of current Zambian leadership, with its full range of challenges and opportunities through research data gathered from the leaders of Zambia across 18 different industries
The first Fulbright project involved the following: sharing of data gathered through a survey completed by Zambian leaders; analysis of emerging leadership theories within a framework of rapidly developing African economies, focusing on variables of change adaptability, implementation and complacency avoidance; and discussion on empowering female leaders whilst focusing on innovative approaches as participants addressed specific obstacles that women leaders encounter in the developing world
Summary
Two Fulbright projects were carried out in Zambia from June 2018 to April 2019. The purposes of the projects were twofold. The first Fulbright project involved the following: sharing of data gathered through a survey completed by Zambian leaders; analysis of emerging leadership theories within a framework of rapidly developing African economies, focusing on variables of change adaptability, implementation and complacency avoidance; and discussion on empowering female leaders whilst focusing on innovative approaches as participants addressed specific obstacles that women leaders encounter in the developing world. This segment highlighted the significant role of men in enhancing women’s progress in all avenues of life, education arena and workplace in particular. It explains the methodology followed and presents the key findings from the study, as well as the conclusion
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