The impact of Leadership on employee engagement at a telecommunications Organisation in Johannesburg

Abstract

This research paper examined the impact of leadership on employee engagement at a telecommunications organisation in Johannesburg. The study focused on the impact of leadership at the pinnacle of technological advancements while working in a hybrid model. The digitalisation of organizations, accelerated by the Covid 19 pandemic, has resulted in a shift in leadership and how they interact with employees, necessitating the study. The objective of the study is to understand the factors that lead to employee disengagement in these technology times and hybrid ways of work, understand the current leadership trends and also look at some of the factors that will effectively increase engagement. The telecommunications industry is critical in ensuring that in these times people and business are able to connect to conduct business anywhere in the world and have the capability it takes to deliver on this connectivity in South Africa and the rest of the world. The study therefore seeks to assist the telecommunications company to improve on engagement levels of their staff, who are their key resources in helping the company achieve their strategic goals. This was a qualitative study that utilise semi-structured interviews to collect data from the sample size selected from the company. A stratified sampling method was used to select participants that would be able to represent a certain group in the organisation in order to get representation. The data was analysed using axial coding which is basically the process of linking code (categories and concepts) to one another using a combination of inductive and deductive reasoning. The results indicated that there are key areas of improvements such as strategy communication, recognition, ensuring work life balance and enabling career growth. The trends showed that there are global trends around challenges in burnout and work life balance, a general shift in leadership requirements and identified capabilities that future leaders must have. There were also indicated strides that the company has taken like their focus on driving engagement and a passion for growing the company making employees feel like they are part of a bigger cause.