Abstract
This article investigated the effects of leadership traits on transformation in a merged and incorporated higher education institution in South Africa. Few studies have been conducted on leadership traits in universities, with none linking them to transformation. The study was guided by the traits theory, one of the systematic attempts to study the effect of leadership on transformation. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used, the former through a structured survey questionnaire and the latter through in-depth interviews. The questionnaire generated a high reliability rate of 0.947, indicating a high degree of internal consistency of the results, which reflected nearly 40% of the research participants who felt that the university creates a platform for open debates. However, 30% of them did not feel that independent thinking and freedom of speech are promoted, a finding partly corroborated by the qualitative findings. It was also found that business processes were inflexible, there was no reward for performance, unproductive change interventions were introduced and decision-making centralised, all seen as contrary to the transformation agenda and reflecting poor leadership traits. It is hoped that the study will assist university decision-makers under the current state of turmoil in the South African higher education landscape to exhibit leadership traits that will bring about transformation. The study also fills a void in the scant literature on the effects of leadership traits on transformation in South African universities, thus contributing to the body of knowledge.
Highlights
South African universities of technology such as Durban Institute of Technology (DUT) are facing crisis relating to realising their transformation agenda
Symes and Luescher (2004:28) reiterate that the South African restructuring of higher education is unique to the extent that it is driven by a political agenda of transformation, redress and equity which explicitly seeks to break the apartheid mould of higher education
This article observed that in this university, freedom of speech and independent thinking do not guarantee that the university leaders will permit open debates amongst the university leaders
Summary
Universities were reduced from 36 to 11 universities, 5 technikons, 3 ‘comprehensive institutions’ and 2 National Institutes for Higher Education (Asmal 2002), and Section 23 of the amended Higher Education Act (No 101 of 1997), which outlines the process the Minister must follow to effect mergers, was amended in 2001 and 2002. Earlier developments, such as the publication of a Standard Institutional Statute in 2002, are of significance to mergers (Asmal 2002)
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