Report on Evolving Role and Nature of Workplace Leaders and Diversity

Description
Blumer (1962) regarded the ‘many possibilities of uncertainty as inherent to the process of joint action.’ Joint action reflects the efforts of participants to work out the line of action in light of what they observe each other doing.

Evolving Role and Nature of Workplace
Leaders and Diversity: A Theoretical
and Empirical Approach
Jan C. Visagie
Herman Linde
Blumer (I,o regarded the ‘many possibilities of uncertainty as inher-
ent to the process of joint action.’ Joint action re?ects the e?orts of
participants to work out the line of action in light of what they ob-
serve each other doing. Leadership appears to be approached from two
fundamental perspectives: an organisational perspective (the in?uence
that is exercised to change the direction of the organisation), and an
individual task perspective (the in?uence that is directed at changing
the work behaviour of an individual). In this article, it is suggested that
the symbolic interaction of perspective integrates the two fundamen-
tal perspectives in that both perspectives require meaningful, re?exive
integration and meaning, group membership, organisational role and
experience. The evolving role of leaders to attract, retain and connect
with a diverse workforce in a changing environment gives rise to inter-
active leadership competency requirements. This article suggests that
managing diversity requires business leaders to adopt an approach to
diversity management that is sensitive not only to race and ethnic dif-
ferences, but also to the background and values of all individuals at
work. The empirical study was done and four hundred and forty (¡¡o)
leadership styles were measured in eleven (II) organisations. The study
used the Hall and Hawker (I,88) inventory leadership styles and a di-
versity questionnaire to measure diversity management experience.
Key Words: discrimination, diversity management, engaging leadership
style, experience, heroic leadership style, management,
transformational leadership
)vi Classi?cation: ),, ),,
Introduction
An individual is constantly reacting to the organised community in a
way of expressing himself. The attitudes involved are gathered from the
Dr Jan C. Visagie is Director of the School for Human Resource
Sciences, North-West University, South Africa.
Dr Herman Linde is a Program Leader Labour Relation in the School
for Human Resource Sciences, North-West University, South Africa.
Managing Global Transitions 8 (¡): ,8I–¡o,
,8: Jan C. Visagie and Herman Linde
group, but the individual in whom they (the attitudes) are organised has
the opportunity of giving them an expression that perhaps has never
taken place before (Mead I,,¡). This article deals with leadership within
the context of the changing :Ist century and proceeds to analyse diver-
sity management, within the context of societal change, as integrated
units.
The aim of this study in general is to determine the kind of leadership
style organisations need to develop in order to establish a positive expe-
rience of diversity management, to continue to be successful, and to con-
clude with a leadership competency model inclusive of diversity manage-
ment competence. Understood through the key principles of symbolic
interactive leadership theory, leaders are examined through meaningful,
re?exive interaction between leaders and employees in a diverse work
environment.
The de?nitions of diversity and diversity management used in this
study were brie?y de?ned by Thomas (I,,o, Io), stating that workplace
diversity management ‘is a planned systematic and comprehensive man-
agerial process for developing an organisational environment that works
for all employees.’ Diversity management was de?ned as the result of ori-
entated organisational actions to harness the inputs of di?erent individ-
uals. ‘Managing work is the organisation and integration of human e?ort
into purposeful, large-scale, long-range activities, in the realm of action
– what man’s conceptual faculty is in the realm of cognition’ (Rand I,8o,
:8o).
In order to understand leadership as a component of diversity man-
agement, leadership as the independent variable is ?rstly analysed, where-
after diversity management as the dependant variable is examined. The
questions in this research are how diversity management is experienced
in the workplace, whether it di?ers between race, gender and age groups,
and ultimately whether leadership style in?uences this experience. In this
article, the main aim will be ‘meaning’ through symbolic interaction as a
social product, created and not inherent in things. The subjective aspect
of diversity management may di?er between individual managers and
employees in organisations. Diversity management experienced by indi-
viduals in the workplace and explained by symbolic interaction implies
that social behaviour acquires meaning through interaction. According
to Mead (I,,¡), signi?cant change occurs when forceful and original ‘I’s’
appear, causing correspondingly great transformations of the ‘me’s’ with
whom they interact.
Managing Global Transitions
Evolving Role and Nature of Workplace Leaders and Diversity ,8,
Development of Leadership and Management as a Science
The Towers global workforce study ooo) suggested new insights into
what drives the global workforce and signals the end of much of the con-
ventional th century wisdom about workforce management. To take
advantage of a diverse workplace in the :Ist century, Kreitz oo,) pro-
posed that organisations should re?ne management and leadership. Be-
cause of the symbolic interaction view (which suggests interdependence
between the past, present and future) that was adopted in examining
the historical development of diversity, the development of management
theory as a science is important in understanding leadership style as a
component of diversity management in the :Ist century. The evolving
role of leadership and leadership style (inclusive or requisite leadership
qualities) demands cognisance of the historical development of leader-
ship and management as a science.
Classic Model of Management
Managerial models evolved during the th century and can be broadly
divided into two phases: The classic theories before I,,8 and the con-
temporary theories after I,,8. During the ?rst quarter of the century,
the industrial revolution management model of Fayol and Taylor re-
garded the role of managers as planning, organising, commanding, co-
ordinating and control (Reynders I,,,). During the second quarter of
the century, the human relation model of Mayo and Roethlinger was de-
veloped, which included human relations in the managerial role (Leslie
et al. o. The third quarter of the century, after World War ii, saw
the systems approach of Parsons, which evaluated organisational dynam-
ics, inclusive of contingency theory in studying managerial behaviour
(Thomas o,). In the last quarter of the century, the global manage-
ment model was presented. Thomas oo,) observed that during the late
I,¡os, the emphasis shifted from trails and personal characteristics to
leadership styles and behaviour.
Over the last :, years, the leadership ?elds developed in response to the
changing requirements of organisations. Hersey and Blanchard (I,8
assessed that at least three areas of skills are necessary for carrying out
the process of management, namely technical, human and conceptual.
Koontz, O’Donnell and Weinrich (I,8¡, ¡) de?ned management as
‘the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which indi-
viduals working together as groups accomplish e?ciently selected aims.’
Volume ? · Number ? · Winter ????
,8¡ Jan C. Visagie and Herman Linde
Leaders are responsible for aligning and integrating the e?orts of em-
ployees with the goal expectations of the organisation. House, Hanges,
Javidan, Dorfman and Gupta oo¡) suggested that the leader’s function
consists of clarifying the goals for subordinates, the paths to these goals
and facilitating both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for proper perfor-
mance.
The theoretical overview of leadership theory indicates that leader-
ship involves the function of in?uence, goal attainment, vision and en-
ablement. Management theories deal with a number of variables in the
management function, which could be broadly classi?ed as the ‘struc-
tured’ side of management, for instance task behaviour (Hersey and
Blanchard I,8, task orientation (Redding I,,o), concern for produc-
tion (Blake and Mouton I,oI) and strategic results orientation. The ‘peo-
ple’ approach to leadership can be found in the studies of relationship
behaviour (Hersey and Blanchart I,oo), relationship orientation (Red-
ding, I,,o), and concern for people and emotion (Blake and Mouton
I,oI) as experienced in Thomas oo,).
Management and Leadership
Management is de?ned as the execution function of coordinating struc-
tures and resources to ensure optimal delivery in organisations, whereas
the term leadership is de?ned as obtaining commitment from employ-
ees. A common understanding of the word ‘leader’ naturally implies that
there are followers over whom the leader has to exert a degree of in?u-
ence.
Kellerman oo¡, ¡¡) points out that the Harvard Business School
leadership theorist group under Zelenzink started to draw a distinction
between leaders and managers: ‘A leader is an inspirational ?gure while
the manager handles the more administrative tasks and maintains orga-
nizational discipline.’
Transactional and Transformational Leaders
Hernez-Boome and Hughes ooo) suggested that twenty years ago the
understanding of leadership in organisations was dominated by the clas-
sic two-factor approach focusing on task and relationship behaviour.
Burns (I,,8) addressed the processes or behaviour that leaders used to
motivate or in?uence followers. The start of the transformation of lead-
ership is said to result fromBurn’s work. He provided an analysis and dis-
tillation of leadership. In his view, leadership behaviour falls within two
Managing Global Transitions
Evolving Role and Nature of Workplace Leaders and Diversity ,8,
categories of in?uence, namely transformational and transactional. Boje
ooo) explained that Burns (I,,8) based his theory of transactional and
transformational leadership on Kohlberg’s (I,,8) six stages of moral de-
velopment and Max Weber’s (I,¡,) work on charismatic leaders. Weber
concluded that transactional leaders were like bureaucrats and charis-
matic, ‘heroic’ leaders were the transformational ones (Boje oo). Boje
ooo, points out that Bass (I,8,) used the de?nition of Burns (I,,8)
of transformational leadership, as the ‘leader who recognizes the trans-
actional needs in potential followers but tends to further seek to arouse
and satisfy higher needs, to engage the full person of the follower to a
higher level of need according to Maslow’s (I,,¡) hierarchy of needs.’
Kellerman oo¡, ¡ suggested that the de?nition of Burns referred
to earlier, ‘still dominates the ?eld of leadership in its view that leaders
create shared meaning, have a distinctive voice and have integrity.’
Kotter on Leadership and Management
Kotter (I,,o) viewed leadership and management as parallel processes.
He distinguished between leadership and management as follows: Man-
agement controls complexity and e?ective leaders produce change. Kot-
ter (I,,,) referred to the interchangeable concept as the ‘management
leader.’
He believed that managers maintain the status quo through the pro-
cesses and functions of planning and budgeting; organising and sta?ng;
and controlling and problem-solving. Kotter (I,,o) viewed leadership as
provocative and persistent and suggested that leaders produce construc-
tive and adaptive change through the processes of establishing direction
through corporate vision, aligning people through communication and
motivating and inspiring workers. Kotter (I,,,) identi?ed three basic
levels of leadership, namely executive leaders (cvos), who are respon-
sible for articulating the vision and direction of the organisation, with
little impact on the operation of the business; line leaders, who connect
the lower levels to the top – they have in?uence on what is important
and act as ?lters; and the network leaders, who have been identi?ed as
the third type of leader – they are the invisible force.
Leadership/Follower View
Kark and Dijk oo,, ,oo) integrated motivational theory and leadership.
They drew on the self-regulatory focus and on the self-concept-based
Volume ? · Number ? · Winter ????
,8o Jan C. Visagie and Herman Linde
theory of leadership. They suggested that ‘leaders may in?uence the mo-
tivational self-regulatory foci of their followers, which will mediate dif-
ferent follower outcomes at the individual and group level.’ Recently,
motivation among followers has been understood in terms of leadership
theories that are focused on the follower’s self-concept. In the leadership
follower view of Kouzes and Posner (I,,o), a leader’s power is derived
from the followers. The context is of particular relevance to the leader,
as the situational demands prescribe what types of leader behaviour are
deemed appropriate. The most important and crucial situation variable
is that of the people whom the leader wishes to in?uence in order to
achieve organisational goals.
Mintzberg on Leadership Management
Mintzberg provides the following description of management: managers
perform ten basic roles that fall into three groupings: (I) the interper-
sonal role, which describes the manager as ?gurehead, eternal liaison and
leader; ) the information processing role, which describes the manager
as the ‘nerve centre’ of the organisation’s information system; and (,) the
decision-making role, which suggests that the manager is at the heart of
the system by which the allocation, improvement and disturbance deci-
sions relating to organisational resources are made. According to Leslie
et al. oo, Mintzberg’s earlier job variables dominated the attention
of researchers from a hierarchical level, such as Pavett and Lau (I,8,),
Sen and Dass (I,,o), and functional areas by McCall and Segrist (I,8o)
and Paolillo (I,8,). Leslie et al. oo noted that Pavett and Lau (I,8,)
found signi?cant di?erences between middle- and lower-level managers
on eight of the ten roles originally identi?ed by Mintzberg (I,,¡).
Mintzberg oo¡) concluded that leadership and management are
words that could be used interchangeably. ‘Managers predict the future
and leaders create it’ (Mintzberg I,,¡, ,). In accordance with the view
of Mintzberg oo¡), this article uses the term leadership to include the
concept of management.
The synopsis of the development of leadership theory presented above
indicates that the role of leadership and management has evolved from
institutional to transactional, from transactional to transformational
and ?nally to interactive leadership.
Evolving Nature of Leadership
The role of line mangers explained through symbolic interaction is es-
tablished out of what interacting people have to deal with (Wallace and
Managing Global Transitions
Evolving Role and Nature of Workplace Leaders and Diversity ,8,
Wolf oo). The nature of the role is established through interaction.
‘When symbolic interactionists speak of role, they do not mean a so-
cial role that is speci?ed by culture; rather they mean something more
?exible and capable of improvisation’ (Wallice and Wolf I,8o, :¡. A
global survey on people and business challenges, conducted by Deloitte
and Tohmatsu and the Economic Intelligence Unit ooo), found ‘peo-
ple issues’ to be the most important strategic issue for global enter-
prises, driven by changing workforce demographics, increased global-
isation and a relentless focus on innovation, productivity, growth and
customer service. ‘In the past, discussions of people issues tended to fo-
cus on the e?ciency and e?ectiveness of human resources operations.
The focus now is increasingly on leadership, talent management, perfor-
mance, culture and how organisations can create more value with the
people they already have’ (Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu o,).
Research by the Center for Creative Leadership (Martin oo) found
that more than 8¡%of respondents believe that the de?nition of e?ective
leadership has changed in the last ?ve years. Although respondents be-
lieved that interdependence is important and that challenges go beyond
their own capability, the results indicated other shifts in leadership, lead-
ing to these challenges going beyond their own capability. The results
indicated other shifts in leadership, leading to this de?nitional change,
such as working across functions, working more collaboratively, improv-
ing work processes, creating novel solutions (new skills and technology),
increasing its speed of response, making more e?ective decisions, and
enhancing co-worker relationship.
Leadership as a component of diversity management is regarded as the
ability of a manager to in?uence the activities of an individual or group
towards goal achievement. As such, the inherent function of leadership
is to achieve commitment of employees within the complexity of work
as in?uenced by contextual factors.
Interactive Role of Leaders
It is clear that management, as a social process involving interactive re-
lationship, is aimed at achieving results through others – by in?uencing
subordinates to pursue organisational objectives. The performance of a
manager will thus be measured against the output achieved, individu-
ally and collectively, by the individuals for whom the leader is directly
responsible. The aim of this article is to determine the kind of leadership
style organisations need to adopt in order to create a positive experi-
ence of diversity management to continue to be successful. It involves
Volume ? · Number ? · Winter ????
,88 Jan C. Visagie and Herman Linde
the leader in the role of adapting to contextual, environmental factors,
achieving the commitment of diverse followers, and dealing with the
complexity in achieving goals.
FromFinancial to Human Capital Management
Nowicki and Summers oo,, II8) expressed the view that ‘dominant
leadership philosophy has traditionally been based on the premise that
the organization is purely an economic entity.’ Management’s priority
was to leverage the capital and the resource in the most e?ective way.
The role of leadership was to get the strategy right, to correct the struc-
ture and link the strategy to structure through de?ned systems to deliver
high performance. The new leadership paradigm could be regarded as
one of ‘purpose, process and people’ (Norwicki and Summers o,, I8).
Robertson’s Model of Diversity and Inclusion (????)
Robertson oo¡) investigated the meaning of diversity and inclusion in
organisations. She posited that the results of her study support a distinc-
tion between the concepts of diversity and inclusion, although the terms
may not describe separate types of work environment, but di?erent ap-
proaches to diversity management. In her results, Robertson oo¡) pro-
nounced that the management of diversity might be more complex than
the two-dimensional factors of ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion.’ Her results en-
dorsed the argument that diversity in organisations may be supported by
sets of practices to manage fair treatment issues, increase stakeholder di-
versity and demonstrate leadership commitment to diversity, whereas in-
clusion on the other hand may be supported by practices to integrate di-
versity onto organisational systems and processes, and encourage the full
participation and contribution of all employees. The instrument con-
structed by Robertson oo¡) measured the degree to which each of the
attributes supports diversity and inclusion in organisations. The empiri-
cal investigation of the reliability and factor structure originally supports
a three-factor model. One of the factors was represented by the attributes
for inclusion. All the attributes were described as characteristics of an in-
clusive organisation. One factor, Robertson oo¡) found, included items
relating to employee involvement and fair treatment. Other factors con-
sisted of the organisational attributes for diversity.
Robertson oo¡, :,) commented that scholarly literature on de?-
nitions of diversity primarily focused on heterogeneity and the demo-
graphic composition of groups or organisations, while de?nitions of in-
Managing Global Transitions
Evolving Role and Nature of Workplace Leaders and Diversity ,8,
clusion focus on employee involvement and the integration of diversity
into organisational systems and processes. The initial research of Robert-
son included ¡8 items – :¡ for diversity and :¡ for inclusion. The ?ve fac-
tors were: Fairness in treatment, Representation, Top management sup-
port, Participation and Involvement. Robertson oo¡) believed that di-
versity and inclusion ‘encapsulate’ the discrimination and fairness, and
integration and learning diversity paradigms suggested by Thomas and
Ely (I,,o). On the other hand, the second diversity factor included items
relating to the representation of demographic diversity at all levels and
outside of organisations, such as described in the access and legitimacy
paradigms of Thomas and Ely. They described the e?ects of their diver-
sity management paradigms on work group functioning in a qualitative
study of three professional organisations, with the aimof theory develop-
ment. They found three underlying perceptions of diversity: integration
and learning, access and legitimacy, and discrimination and fairness per-
ceptions. These perceptions, they claimed, ‘are governed by how mem-
bers of work groups create and respond to diversity’ (Thomas and Ely
I,,o).
Cross-Enterprise Leadership
Crossan and Olivera ooo) advocated ‘cross-enterprise leadership’ as the
new approach for the :Ist century leader. Cross-enterprise leadership is
a holistic approach that recognises four emergent realities that rede?ne
general management for the :Ist century manager. The contemporary
business imperative requires an approach of cross-enterprise leadership
roles, which creates, captures and distributes value across a network of
businesses, not just in an enterprise. Cross-enterprise leadership di?ers
from traditional management in that it takes cognisance of managing in
a complex world, where the boundaries of organisations are ?uid and
dynamic, cutting across functional designations, departments, and busi-
ness units. The evolving role of leaders in organisations was established
in an online study by Concelman and Eilersten oo,) in a Development
Dimension International research project, among :,oo leaders of I8, or-
ganisations in I, countries. Respondents rated the importance of leader-
ship roles. The ?ndings of this research are shown in table I.
Diversity Management as a Function of Leadership
Gallup Organisation studies oo¡), led by Conchie, of more than ,o ooo
leaders in diverse industries, identi?ed seven demands of leadership: vi-
Volume ? · Number ? · Winter ????
,,o Jan C. Visagie and Herman Linde
1.niv I Importance of leadership role
Role uv Leaders
Strategist oI% ¡o%
Captivator ,,% ¡,%
Talent advocate ,:% ¡I%
Change driver ,¡% ¡I%
Enterprise guardian ,:% ¡o%
Navigator ,,% ,,%
Mobiliser ,,% ,¡%
Entrepreneur ¡o% ,I%
Global thinker I,% I¡%
xo1vs Adapted from Concelman and Eilersten o,.
sion, maximising values, challenging experience, mentoring, building a con-
stituency, making sense of experience and knowing oneself. Thomas (I,,o)
popularised the term ‘managing diversity’ and argued that diversity tra-
ditionally has been associated with multicultural, multi-ethnic and mul-
tiracial aspects of the workforce. This study suggested that to meet these
demands within the context of diversity is the ultimate leadership chal-
lenge in the near future. There is, however, a de?ned de?nite trend to-
ward multiplicity of diversity dimensions. The evolving nature of work-
place diversity presented above con?rms the multiplicity of diversity di-
mensions. The managing of diversity becomes a function of diversity.
Managing diversity incorporates planning, organising and leading of in-
dividuals with di?erences or diversity in the workplace, to achieve the
strategic goal of the organisation. Jayne and Dipboye oo¡) concluded
that successful diversity indicatives depend on the perceptions of top
management support for diversity. Friday and Friday oo,, 8o¡) advo-
cated that the execution and evaluation of a corporate diversity strategy
use a ‘planned change’ approach to acknowledge diversity and to system-
atically manage and inculcate this into an organisation’s culture. Dreach-
slin oo,, I,I) quoted the work of Mayo, Paster and Meindl (I,,o), who
found that the leaders of diversity teams rated their own performance
lower than leaders of homogenous teams did. Visconti oo,) referred to
Fosdick, the cvo of Nebraska Medical Centre, who said: ‘The successful
development of diversity-sensitive organizations is signi?cantly di?erent
from increasing the percentages of minority representations.’ It requires
senior leadership to openly commit to the recruitment, retention, devel-
Managing Global Transitions
Evolving Role and Nature of Workplace Leaders and Diversity ,,I
opment, and support of candidates previously under-represented. The
leadership must educate and convince others that this is of strategic value
and is the long-term direction of the organisation. Dreachslin oo,) was
of the view that leaders of diversity groups are challenged to ensure well-
functioning productive teams and to constructively deal with con?ict.
Parker of PepsiCo boldly stated: ‘You cannot speak about growth and
being a market segment leader, without speaking about diversity and in-
clusion’ (Cole o,, ). Rijamampianina, (I,,o) advocated that diversity
does not directly in?uence the group and organisational performance,
but rather impacts on the management system at the level of four inter-
related organisational processes, namely motivation, interactive, vision
and learning. Activities undertaken at any one of these four processes
have an e?ect on the other, leading to shifts in the performance of the
group or organisation (Rijamampianina and Carmichael o,).
Employee commitment exists at three levels, namely obligation, be-
longing and ownership. Managing the motivational process is primar-
ily to increase each individual employee’s commitment at the owner-
ship level, so they will be willing to perform at their highest potential,
according to Rijamampianina and Carmichael oo,). Cox and Beale
(I,,,) examined the factor that motivates leaders to support diversity
actively. Similar to the diversity management continuum suggestions of
Gardenswartz and Rowe (I,,,), they explained that the process of be-
ing an e?ective leader within the context of diversity management com-
mences with awareness, which recognises that diversity has an impact on
organisational performance.
Research Design
The evolving role and nature of workplace leaders and diversity manage-
ment are considered the development variable, and leadership style the
independent variable in the research model. Race, gender and genera-
tional di?erences are regarded as explanatory moderators.
Research Group
The participants in this study were o, respondents from II di?erent
organisations, and ¡¡ managers were selected from the II companies.
The companies were geographically distributed across the country and
included selected businesses operating in South Africa as subsidiary op-
erations in three di?erent industries. To determine the experience of di-
versity management, the population is made up of all the subjects in the
Volume ? · Number ? · Winter ????
,,: Jan C. Visagie and Herman Linde
II participating workplaces. The experiences of employees who are func-
tionally illiterate and could not complete a written or electronic ques-
tionnaire are excluded from the empirical data. The unit of analysis is
the respondents and managers involved in this study from whom the
data were obtained.
Research Instruments
The empirical study includes two main components, namely leadership
style and experience of diversity management. The research question is
studied through an intensive focus examination of the empirical con-
text for the purpose of analysis, in accordance with symbolic interaction
methodology.
Robertson’s oo¡) ?nal ?ve-factor model indicated factors compa-
rable and inclusive of the three paradigms of Thomas and Ely (I,,o) –
Robertson’s Factor I (the fairness factor) aligns with Thomas and Ely’s
discrimination and fairness paradigm; Robertson’s Factor : (representa-
tion of diverse groups) aligns with the access and legitimacy paradigm;
and Robertson’s Factor , (leadership’s commitment) was the same as the
learning and e?ectiveness paradigm. These three factors that Robertson
found were conceptually distinct. The remaining two factors (¡ and ,)
(employee involvement in work systems and diversity-related outcomes
such as learning, growth and ?exibility) are indicators of inclusion as
de?ned at the outset of the theoretical study. The last two factors, al-
though similar, were separated. The results of Robertson’s study suggest
that Factor ¡ characterises organisations that are diverse and Factor , or-
ganisations that are inclusive.
The questionnaires were designed as assessment tools for measuring
the degree to which employees experience attributes for diversity man-
agement, ranging from practices to increase the representation of des-
ignated groups to the broader people management initiatives intended
to facilitate employee participation and engagement, learning and de-
velopment in the organisation. The three main sections of the instru-
ment include Robertson’s factors oo¡) and Thomas and Ely’s (I,,o)
paradigms. Questions were grouped in terms of Robertson’s three fac-
tors. The remaining factors (¡ and ,) were incorporated into the three
sections of the questionnaire.
Sampling
Random sampling was not feasible in this study. Employees and man-
agers were invited to participate voluntarily in the research, from a ‘cap-
Managing Global Transitions
Evolving Role and Nature of Workplace Leaders and Diversity ,,,
tive audience’ of managers present at the time of research, to obtain
quantitative data on leadership styles, as a matter of convenience. Conve-
nience sampling was used to establish an approximation of reality. This
non-probability research does not depend upon the rationale of proba-
bility theory (Trochim oo).
To comment on the practical signi?cance of groups, standardised dif-
ferences between the means of the population are used. Cohen (I,88), as
referred to by Ellis and Steyn oo,), provided guidelines for the inter-
pretation of e?ect size as: small e?ect: d = o.:, medium e?ect: d = o.,
and large e?ect: d ? o.8. In this article, data with d larger than and equal
to o,8 are considered practically signi?cant. It is furthermore important
to knowwhether a relationship between age, gender and race and the fac-
tor on diversity management is practically signi?cant. The article seeks to
determine whether the relationship is large enough to be important. The
guideline of Cohen (I,88), as referred to by Ellis and Steyn oo,), is used
in this study as follows: small e?ect: w = o.I, medium e?ect: w = o., and
large e?ect: w = o.,. The Spearman rank order correlation coe?cient is
used, and also serves as an e?ect size to indicate the strength of the re-
lationship. Steyn oo,) provides guidelines for the interpretation of the
correlation coe?cients’ practical signi?cance as r = o.I: small, r = o.,:
medium and r = o.,: large. A parallel between the results of the diver-
sity audit and leadership styles obtained from the vxi, as presented on
the typology of leadership, is drawn using these guidelines. The unit of
analysis for the correlation between leadership style and the experience
of diversity management is the II organisations. The analysis includes
data presented in frequencies and means, using the s.s system oo,)
and svss system oo,). The data is analysed by means of various ap-
propriate statistical analyses to infer meaning. Construct reliability and
validation of the diversity management questionnaire were originally as-
sessed and con?rmed in pilot studies in a South African beverage enter-
prise from o¡ to oo. The questionnaire was found suitable for this
study. The Cronbach alpha values were determined for each of the sub-
scales, including in the diversity management questionnaire used for this
article. The average interim correlation with the total was determined to
establish the strength of factor items. The ideal value between o.I, and
o., was used. The Cronbach alpha values of all subscales were found to
fall within the required criteria (between o.o, and o.8,).
The general reliability and validation of leadership style vxi (Hall
and Hawker I,88) were assessed and con?rmed with the motivational
scales of the Edwards Preference Schedule (vvs). The report reliability of
Volume ? · Number ? · Winter ????
,,¡ Jan C. Visagie and Herman Linde
1.niv : Factor pattern for Section :: Leadership commitment to strategic alignment
of diversity
Section :: Leadership commitment Factor I*
Senior managers are committed to racial equality o.8o
Senior managers are committed to gender equality o.,o
Communication on diversity issues is e?ective o.,:
Diversity is regarded as a strategic issue o.,:
Senior managers are committed to employing more people with disabilities o.o¡
Diversity does not clash with other objectives o.¡I
xo1vs * Rotation was not possible with Factor I.
this inventory was assessed by coe?cient alphas of o.,,, for personalised
power (heroic leadership style), o.o, for socialised power (engaging lead-
ership style) and o.,¡ for a?liative power. All questions in the second
section (table of the questionnaire (strategic alignment) were retained
as one factor, and all the percentage variance explained by the factor is
¡8.¡o%.
Most of the mean scores for the experience of diversity management
for all three main factors were somewhat neutral, with a tendency to-
wards the negative for Factor I (table ,) and Factor : (table ¡). Respon-
dents tended more towards the positive for Factor ,. An interesting as-
pect is the mean score (table ,) for Factor , (diversity treatment fairness),
which was visibly more positive (x = ,.I,) compared to the mean score
for Factor I (leadership commitment to diversity strategic alignment) –
x = :.8, (d = o.¡I) and Factor : (representation of diverse groups –
sta?ng and people management) – x = :.8, (d = o.¡,). This implies
that employees are visibly less positive in stating that leaders are gen-
uinely committed to the strategic alignment of diversity management
and the people management process than about social interaction be-
tween race, gender and age groups, and that work processes are fair.
The mean scores for each item included in the three main factors were
regarded as signi?cant in understanding the speci?c diversity manage-
ment experience.
Of the total number of respondents to the diversity management sur-
vey, I,% (table o) were senior management, ¡:.:% middle, junior and
supervisory management and the balance of ,,% were employees. The
proportional representation of supervisory, junior and middle managers
in relation to employees was expected in view of the fact that a large pro-
Managing Global Transitions
Evolving Role and Nature of Workplace Leaders and Diversity ,,,
1.niv , Mean scores for Factor I items: Leadership commitment to diversity strategic
alignment
Items x su
Senior managers committed to racial equality ,.oo I.
Senior managers committed to gender equality ,. I.Io
Senior managers committed to employing disabled people :.¡, o.,o
Diversity regarded as a strategic issue ,.I, I.II
Diversity communication is e?ective :.o, I.I:
Managers have diversity objectives in performance appraisals :.,, I.¡o
1.niv ¡ Mean score for Factor : items: Experience of representation – sta?ng and
people management
Items x su
Clearly de?ned to improve diversity ,.o, I.:,
Individual career plans are in place :.,¡ I.:¡
Recruitment and selection policies are fair :.8, I.
People who deserve promotions usually get them :.,I I.:¡
It is not who you know but what you know and how you perform that
gets you promotion
:.,o I.,8
Increasing diversity does not lower standards ,.8, I.Io
Satis?ed with the way potential has been assessed :.8o I.:¡
Managers have the skills to develop the diversity of sta? :.,, I.:I
Enough pressure is exerted on managers to develop subordinates :.,I I.
Receive open and honest feedback ,.oI I.
Performance is appraised regularly :.,8 I.:,
Training is based on individual needs :.,, I.:I
Employees are regularly consulted about diversity :.,o I.I¡
portion of functionally illiterate employees did not complete the ques-
tionnaire.
Because the majority of the organisations were in the production sec-
tor, by far the largest number of respondents (o,%) was designated in
terms of the vv., being black, coloured and Indian, while ,,% were
white respondents. The majority of the respondents were traditionally
male (,8.,%), while only :I.,% were females.
Considered generally, respondents indicated a somewhat negative ex-
perience for Factor : (table ¡). While respondents were neutral about
Volume ? · Number ? · Winter ????
,,o Jan C. Visagie and Herman Linde
1.niv , Mean scores for Factor , items: Diversity fairness treatment
Items x su
Sexist comments are generally made :.o8 I.o8
Racist comments are generally made :.,, I.
Mix at social functions ,.o8 I.
People greet one regardless of race ,.¡I I.
Willing and open to learn about cultures ,.oo I.o,
Black people accuse white people of racism when white people
criticise them
,.¡o I.I,
Women do not accuse men of sexism when criticised :.8I I.oI
My manager treats me with dignity and respect ,.oo I.I,
White people believe reverse discrimination exists ,.¡8 I.I:
Black people have the same responsibilities and accountabilities ,.,: I.oI
Generation issues ,.,, I.o:
1.niv o Level of employees
Grade (I) ) (,) (¡)
Top/senior management ¡,, I8,,:% ¡,, I8,,:%
Middle & junior, supervisory management Io,o ¡:,I8% I,¡, oo,,o%
Employees ,,: ,,,Io% :,,, Ioo,o%
xo1vs Column headings are as follows: (I) frequency, ) percentage, (,) cumulative
frequency, (¡) cumulative percentage.
whether clearly-de?ned targets exist, they tend to be somewhat more
negative in their response that people management and sta?ng practices
are fair.
Respondents disagreed (x = :.,) that individual career plans are in
place, or that recruitment and selection practices are fair (x = :.8). Sim-
ilarly, they did not experience promotion practices as fair (x = :.,).
Respondents were also negative in their response to ‘it is who you know’
rather than ‘what you know and how you perform’ that result in promo-
tions (x = :.,).
While respondents were neutral (x = ,.o) in their view that they re-
ceive open and honest feedback, they were more negative about the skill
of managers to develop subordinates (x = :.,) or that enough pres-
sure is put on managers to develop subordinates (x = :.,). Moreover,
respondents tended to be negative about regular performance appraisal
Managing Global Transitions
Evolving Role and Nature of Workplace Leaders and Diversity ,,,
occurrence (x = :.,) or that training is based on individual needs. The
question could be asked: Is the experience of diversity management re-
lated to leadership style? And does an engaging leadership style relate to
a more positive experience of diversity management?
svv.vx.x v.xx ovuvv covvvi.1ioxs nv1wvvx
vxvvvivxcv ov uivvvsi1s x.x.cvxvx1 .xu iv.uvvsuiv
s1siv
For the purpose of analysing the relationship between the experience of
diversity management and leadership style, the respondent leaders were
considered as a proportion of the leaders in each workplace with certain
leadership styles. Mintzberg’s leadership styles are comparable with Mc-
Clelland and Burnham’s (I,,o) leadership motives and are referred to as
a typology of the leadership styles, ranging frompredominantly ‘person-
alised’ (heroic) at one extreme, engaging at midpoint, to highly a?liative
at the other, with two ‘outliers,’ namely ?ght/?ight leadership style and
even leadership.
The results of the Spearman rank order (table ,) correlations are pre-
sented next to determine the relationship between the experience of di-
versity management and leadership style, and more speci?cally to estab-
lish whether an engaging leadership style yields a more positive expe-
rience of diversity management, as suggested by the theoretical study.
As explained earlier, the Spearman rank order coe?cient r = o., is re-
garded as a medium practical or visible relationship and r = o., as large
and a relationship important in practice, to determine the relationship
between the two variables. The Spearman rank order correlation is indi-
cated using the symbol ‘sv.’ Spearman rank order correlations (sv) be-
tween leadership styles and the three main factors were determined. For
the purpose of these correlations, three speci?c questions about leader-
ship style from Factors I and , were included. These were ‘Senior man-
agers are genuinely committed to racial equality’ (Question I, Section I,
hereafter referred to as qI.I), ‘Senior managers are genuinely committed
to gender equality’ (Question :, Section I, hereafter referred to as q:.I)
and ‘My manager generally treats me with dignity and respect’ (Question
8, Section ,, hereafter referred to as q8.,; see table ,).
In addition, Spearman rank order correlations were determined for
Dd:, ‘People generally make racist comments.’ Large signi?cant correla-
tions are indicated in table ,. The results for medium and large corre-
lations for each factor are discussed. Table , indicates the results of the
Volume ? · Number ? · Winter ????
,,8 Jan C. Visagie and Herman Linde
1.niv , Correlation between leadership style and diversity management factors
Variable (I) ) (,) (¡) (,) (o) (,)
Factor I –o.,, o.I, o.,, –o.I, o.Io –o.¡, o.o:
Factor : –o.¡I o.o¡ o.¡¡ –o.o, o.I, –o.,o o.I,
Factor , –o.oo o.o, o.:: –o.oI –o.o, –o.,8 –o.oI
qI.I –o. o.Io o.,, –o.o8 –o.Io –o.,I –o.II
q:.I –o. o.o, o.,8 –o.II o.o, –o.,, –o.o,
q8., –o.,8 o.I, o.¡, –o.I, o.,I –o.I: o.,8
Dd: o.o,* –o.o, –o.o,* oo: –o.o, o.:¡ –o.o,
xo1vs Spearman rank order correlations, xu pair wise deleted, * p < o.o,. Column
headings are as follows: (I) heroic, ) heroic tendencies, (,) engaging, (¡) a?liative ten-
dencies, (,) a?liative, (o) ?ght/?ight, (,) even.
leadership style typography correlated with the experience of diversity
management.
Table , shows that heroic leadership style correlates visibly negatively
with Factor I and Factor :, as well as being practically signi?cant with
q8., (‘My manager generally treats me with dignity and respect’). Con-
sistent with the Mintzberg model oo¡), and McClelland and Burn-
ham’s theory (I,,o), the engaging leadership style correlates visibly pos-
itively with Factor I, Factor :, qI.I and q:.I and is practically signi?cant
with q8.,. The ?ght/?ight leadership style shows a practically signi?cant
negative correlation with Factor I, qI.I and q:.I and a visibly negative
correlation with Factors : and ,. It is interesting to note that no prac-
tically signi?cant positive correlations were established for leaders with
heroic tendency leadership styles.
On the other hand, the engaging leadership style resulted in a medium
positive practically signi?cant correlation with most of the dimensions
measured in this study. As could be expected, the a?liative and even
styles appear to correlate positively with the experience of being treated
with dignity and respect by the manager, whereas the ?ght/?ight style
correlates negatively with Factors I, : and ,.
Quite signi?cant in these speci?c results is the strong positive cor-
relation (sv = o.o,) between the heroic style and Dd: (‘racist com-
ments generally made’), whereas a negative correlation exists between
such comments and engaging leaders (sv = ?o.o,). The theoretical
explanation of behaviour associated with the heroic leadership style sug-
gested that the heroic leadership style could lead to communication,
Managing Global Transitions
Evolving Role and Nature of Workplace Leaders and Diversity ,,,
which could be perceived as undigni?ed and not ‘race and gender free.’
From table , it is clear that the predominant leadership style is a?lia-
tive tendency and a?liative (¡,% for the combined percentage). Heroic
and heroic tendencies measure ,o% (for the combined percentages) as
the alternative styles in the II workplaces. Mintzberg’s oo¡) preferred
engaging leadership style is less commonly found in the workplaces
(I:%).
Conclusion
This article dealt with leadership and diversity as key constructs. It intro-
duced the evolution of leadership as a science and studied the evolving
role of leaders to adapt to a complex world of work. The article evaluated
the nature of diversity management and sought to establish leadership as
a component of diversity management. The results con?rmed the sug-
gestions of Jayne and Dipboye oo¡), that perceptions of diversity man-
agement are not separable fromperceptions of leadership style and traits.
To meet the role expectations of leaders, managers need to display inter-
active competencies towards e?ectively managing a diverse workforce.
Symbolic interactionists support the understanding of diversity man-
agement, using the model of Roberson oo¡). The evolving nature of
leadership and diversity contextualises interactive leadership styles. The
study relies on the leadership competency model, explained in Mintzberg
oo¡), McClelland (I,,,) and Burnham (I,,o; o,).
As is seen from the analysis of leadership theory, leadership appears
to be approached from two fundamental perspectives: an organisational
perspective (the in?uence that is experienced to change the direction
of the organisation), and an individual task perspective (the in?uence
that is directed at changing the work behaviour of an individual). It is
suggested that the symbolic interactionist perspective integrates the two
fundamental perspectives – in that both perspectives require meaningful,
re?exive interaction and meaning, group members, organisational role
and experience. Directional, strategic, visionary and interactive leader-
ship has been the focus of more contemporary work.
The speci?c objectives of this article were to determine diversity man-
agement experience in the workplace; whether the experience of diver-
sity di?ered between race, gender and generational groups; and whether
this experience related to leadership style. All research questions posed
were answered. The results support the propositions of the research.
The selected workplaces included in this research appear to have made
Volume ? · Number ? · Winter ????
¡oo Jan C. Visagie and Herman Linde
progress from a historically assumed, outright negative experience of di-
versity management towards a more neutral experience, tending, how-
ever, towards the negative. Although the respondents exhibited a more
positive experience of diversity fairness (factor ,), signi?cant di?erences
in experience between race and gender groups were found for Factor I
(leadership commitment and strategic alignment of diversity manage-
ment) as well as for Factor : (representation of diversity, people manage-
ment). Most respondents favour the engaging leadership style for lead-
ership commitment and strategic alignment of diversity, as well as in the
case of sta?ng and people management and performance management
policies, other than woman, who correlate positively with heroic leader-
ship styles (Factors I and . There is a positive correlation between the
heroic leadership style and the statement ‘racist comments made.’ En-
gaging leadership, however, correlates negatively with this item. Domi-
nant group respondents are somewhat more likely to believe that senior
managers are committed to racial and gender equality, and diversity is
regarded as a strategic issue. Employees believe that people mix at social
functions regardless of race, greet each other and are open to learn about
each other’s cultures, which could indicate that social action is on so-
cial identity conscious practices. This article suggests that managing di-
versity requires business leaders to adopt an approach to diversity man-
agement that is sensitive not to race and ethnic di?erences, but to the
background and values of all individuals at work. Diversity management
involves an understanding of and competence in managing and motivat-
ing a diverse group of employees within the complex of societal change
(Human o,). Having concluded that leadership style in?uences the ex-
perience of diversity management, it is recommended that organisations
adopt Thomas and Ely’s (I,,o) integration and learning paradigm.
References
Blake, R. T. R., and J. S. Mouton. I,oI. How power a?ects employee ap-
praisal. In Group dynamics: Key to decision-making. Houston: Gulf.
Blumer, H. I,o:. Society as symbolic interaction. In Human behaviour
and social process: An international approach, ed. A. M. Rose, I,,–,:.
Boston: Houghton-Mi?in.
Boje, D. M. oo. Transformational leadership. Http://www.leadingtoday
.org?onmag/jano,/transactionsalo,.html.
Burns, J. M. I,,8. Leadership. New York: Harper & Row.
Burnham, D. o,. Prime motives: Average performers can be turned into
stars. People Management, April ,.
Managing Global Transitions
Evolving Role and Nature of Workplace Leaders and Diversity ¡oI
Cohan, J. I,88. Statistical power analysis for the behaviour sciences. :nd ed.
Hillsdale, x): Erlbaum.
Cole, Y. o,. Io Top ,o cvos tell the truth about diversity. Http://
Diversityinc.com/public/::88print.cfm.
Commission of Employment Equity. o,. Annual report ????–????. Pre-
toria: Commission of Employment Equity.
Concelman, D. J., and J. Eilersten. o,. Realising a sustainable advantage:
Developing extraordinary leaders. Http://www.ddiworld.com/
locations.
Crossan, M., and F. Oliviera. oo. Cross-enterprise leadership: A newap-
proach for the :Ist century. Ivey Business Journal, ,o (,): I–o.
Cox., T., and R. L. Beale. I,,,. Developing competency to manage diversity:
Readings, cases and activities. San Francisco: Berret-Koehler.
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. o,. Connecting across the generation in the
workplace: What business leaders need to knowto bene?t fromgener-
ational di?erence. Talent Market Series I, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
Dreachslin, J. L. oo,). The role of leadership in creating a diversity sen-
sitive organization. Journal of Healthcare Management ,: (,): I,I–,.
Ellis, S. M., and H. S. Steyn. o,. Practical signi?cance (e?ect sizes) versus
or in combination with statistical signi?cance (p value). Management
Dynamics, I¡): ,I–,.
Hall, J., and J. Hawker. I,88. Power management inventory. The Wood-
lands, 1x: Teleometrics International.
Harris, C. D. o,. Symbolic interaction as de?ned by Herbert Blumer.
Http://www.cdharris.net/text/blumer.html.
Hernez-Broome, G., and R. L. Hughes. oo. Leadership development:
Past, present and future. Human Resources Planning ,o::,–,I.
Hersey, P., and K. H. Blanchard. I,8:. Management of organizational be-
haviour: Utilizing human resources. Englewood Cli?s, x): Prentice
Hall.
House, R., P. J. Hanges, M. Javidan, P. Dorfman and V. Gupta. o¡. Cul-
tural leadership and organisations: The cionv study of ?? Societies.
Thousand Oaks, c.: Sage.
Human, L. o,. Current issues and practical realities for global diversity.
Paper delivered at .s1u o, Conference, Cape Town.
Janyne, M. E., and R. L. Dipboye. o¡. Leveraging diversity to improve
business performance: Research results and recommendations for or-
ganisations. Human Resource Management ¡,(¡): ¡o,–:¡.
Kark, R., and D. Van Dijk. o,. Motivation to lead, motivation to fol-
low: The role of the self-regulatory focuses in leadership processes.
Academy of Management Review ,: ,oo–:8.
Volume ? · Number ? · Winter ????
¡o: Jan C. Visagie and Herman Linde
Kellerman, B. o¡. Leadership: Warts and all. Harvard Business Review 8:
(I): ¡o–,.
Koontz, H., C. O’Donnell, and H. Weinrich. I,8¡. Management. NewYork:
McGraw Hill.
Kotter, J. P. I,,o. A force for change: How leadership di?ers from manage-
ment. New York: Free Press.
Kouzes, J. M., and B. Z. Posner. I,,o. The credibility factor: What followers
expect from their leaders. Management Review, January.
Kretz, P. A. o,. Best practice for managing organisational diversity. Http:
//www.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-wrap/getdoc/slac-pub-I:8,¡.pdf.
Leslie, J. B., D. Dalton, C. Ernst, and J. Deal. o:. Managerial e?ectiveness
in a global context. Greensboro, xc: Centre for Creative Leadership
Report.
Martin, A. oo. The changing nature of leadership. Http://www
.urbanlibraries.org/emergingleaders.htm.
McCleland, D. I,,,. Power: The inner experience. New York: Irvington.
McClelland, D., and D. H. Burnham. I,,o. Power is the great motivator.
Harvard Business Review ,¡): Ioo–Io.
Mead, G. H. I,,¡. Mind, self, and society. Ed. by C. W. Morris. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Mintzberg, H. I,,¡. The rise and fall of strategic planning: Preconceiving
roles for planning, plans, planners. New York: Free Press.
Mintzberg, H. o¡. Managers not xn.s. London: Prentice Hall.
Nowicki, M., and J. Summers. o,. Changing leadership style, the new
leadership philosophy emphasises purposes, process and people. He-
althcare Financial Management, February.
Rand, A. I,8o. The objectivist ethics. New York: Meridian.
Reynders, H. J. I,,,. Die taak van die bedryfsleier. Pretoria: Van Schaik
Rijamampianina, R., and T. Carmichael. o,. A pragmatic and holistic
approach to managing diversity. Problems and Perspectives in Manage-
ment ,(I): Io,–I,.
Rijamampianina, R. I,,o. E?ective management in multiculture organisa-
tions: Creating learning-based order with a sharing principle. Academy
of Management Review :I): ¡o¡–,,.
Robertson, Q. M. o¡. Disentangling the meanings of diversity and in-
clusion. Working Paper o¡-o, Cornell, Centre for Advanced Human
Resource Studies.
Steyn, H. S. o,. Handleiding vir die bepaling van e?ekgrootte indekse en
praktiese betekenisvolheid. Http://www.puk.ac.za/fakulteit/natuur/
skd/index.html.
Thomas, M. A. o,. Gurus on leadership. London: Thorogood.
Managing Global Transitions
Evolving Role and Nature of Workplace Leaders and Diversity ¡o,
Thomas, D. A., R. J. Ely. I,,o. Learning for the future: Making the case for
teaching diversity. Harvard Business Review ,¡ (,): ,,–,o.
Thomas, R. R. I,,o. From a?rmative action to a?rmative diversity. Har-
vard Business Review o8 ) Io,–I,.
Trochim, W. M. K. oo. Research methods knowledge base: Non-proba-
bility sampling. Http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/samnon
.php.
Towers global workforce study. oo. Http://www.towersperrin.com.
Visconti, L. o,. Using diversity to drive business. Http:www.diversityinc
.com/public/I,,oprint.cfm.
Wallece, R. A., and A. Wolf. oo. Contemporary sociological theory. Engle-
wood Cli?s, xs: Prentice Hall.
Volume ? · Number ? · Winter ????

doc_453827602.pdf