Professor MacDonald Kanyangale.Building Executive Authenticity Among SOEs
Professor MacDonald Kanyangale of UKZN’s Graduate School of Business and Leadership (GSB&L) attended the 2023 International Business Conference in Swakopmund, Namibia, where he presented a paper entitled Deconstructing Dimensions of Authentic Strategic Leadership of State-owned Enterprises in Malawi.
The conceptual paper reviewed existing models of authentic leadership and developed a new, comprehensive model of authentic strategic leadership for State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) in the country.
Concern has been expressed that the activities of SOEs in Malawi and other developing countries are adversely affected by corruption, unethical leadership, mismanagement, a culture of impunity and political interference and patronage.
A lack of leadership skills is leading to the loss of confidence and trust in SOEs’ capability to effectively and efficiently provide services and sustain their operations without treasury bailouts. Research suggests that authentic leadership in the upper echelon can solve the problem of dysfunctional leadership in the entire organisation.
Authentic leaders build genuine relationships with internal and external stakeholders by inspiring trust, influencing followers’ work-related behaviours and fostering a positive work environment. Kanyangale’s paper examined the most appropriate authentic strategic leadership dimensions to improve Malawian SOEs’ operations. It proposed a multi-dimensional, context-specific model which brings together six dimensions, namely: (1) connecting authenticity of Self and organisation to strategic direction, (2) building organisational resilience, (3) strategic authenticity, (4) the iterative and authentic influence of internal and external stakeholders in producing (5) Direction, Alignment and Commitment (DAC) and (6) a collaborative and transparent drive for positive change to create an inclusive, caring and ethical organisational context.
The proposed model is a good starting point to design appropriate training to build executive authenticity in the top management of SOEs. Kanyangale noted that the time for strategic leaders who are distant, insensitive, and arrogant is over, as authentic followers seek ethical, transparent and compassionate leaders they can connect with and who understand them. Inauthentic executives breed inauthentic followership behaviours such as quietquitting, not speaking up in meetings or volunteering for tasks, and refusing to work overtime.
He added that various types of support are required to build authentic strategic leadership in ethically and politically compromised organisations. Collaborative efforts are required by key stakeholders to deal with potential barriers to executive authenticity at the individual, team and organisational levels.
Words: NdabaOnline
Photograph: Supplied