An exploration into the understanding of Leadership Ethos and Critical Success Factors in public management: The case of the Department of Trade and Industry, South Africa and the Ministry of National Economy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Abstract

This dissertation assumes an explorative and descriptive approach rather than a comparative approach. It aims at offering the concept of Leadership Ethos (LE) and its inherent Critical Success Factors (CSFs) as a paradigm in the quest to secure organisational efficiency and effectiveness in public management, with a particular focus on the public policy implementation process. It begins by presenting the background to the study, providing relevant information about the problem and the methodology followed. It then introduces the context of the problem of the study, sketching the context of civil service leadership before the advent of democracy in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and prior to independence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). These two countries serve as the case study through the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the National Ministry of Economy (ECONAT) respectively. This is followed by the presentation of the theoretical framework of the study, defined within the context of compliance-based and integrity-based approaches to leadership, resulting in discussions on leadership theories. This leads to an examination of public administration reforms (PARs) in the context of LE, illustrating how PARs have resulted in a change in organisational focus and culture of the public sector. The study examines relevant economic policies in the RSA and the DRC with a view to illustrate the effects of LE and its subsequent CSFs on performance in public management, in particular, with respect to the implementation of public policies. Data were then presented and analysed with the purpose of probing the understanding of LE and its inherent CSFs. It considers how LE enhances organisational efficiency, which in turn will enhance social transformation, by guaranteeing the successful implementation of economic policies. The study then presents a summary of the main findings in both case study research areas. In its conclusion, the study proposes recommendations towards a LE that contributes to more effective public policy implementation processes.