The preferred leadership styles in the South African creative industry

Abstract

ABSTRACT

The question of exactly what leaders are able to do versus what they should do to encourage the best work from their followers is age-old. Numerous models exist, detailing investigations into leadership as a behavioural construct. This study however, focuses on leadership styles, as opposed to models. Since its formation, Daniel Goleman’s six leadership styles framework has attained an empirical authority that has endorsed its popularity in modern leadership literature. However, despite this interest, the subject of leadership in the creative industries is a commonly overlooked field of study. The purpose of this study was to explore the preferred leadership styles in various South African creative agencies. It identified the leadership styles favoured by management and the competencies that may have influenced those leadership styles accordingly. It is suggested that important archetype shifts in the review of leadership are a direct result of qualitative investigations, and thus the study was carried out using a generic qualitative methodology. The analysis was discussed from a top-down context – purely from the leader’s point of view. The main findings from the data shows that the respondents preferred an amalgamation of leadership styles, as opposed to a single style to lead their teams. Furthermore no conclusive link between preferred leadership styles and competencies could be found. This paper focused on the explicit narratives of the leaders interviewed, this leaves scope to delve deeper and investigate richer textures that can be found within the respondent’s experiences. Further research can be conducted through expanding the study into one that involves a mixed method approach, increasing the sample size and investigating correlations between leadership competencies and styles.