Ethical Leadership in South Africa and Botswana

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the extent of ethical leadership practices in African public utilities, given the relatively high corruption reported in such institutions, with consequences of seriously constrained development of national economies and significant hindrance to good governance. Our aim was to establish potential benefits from ethical leadership in public sector agencies by analysing ethical leadership characteristics in the public sector from Botswana and South Africa. We measured ethical leadership perceptions utilizing a combination of scales in an attempt to encompass the larger breadth of ethical leadership scales found in the literature in order to determine how employees perceived their managers in terms of being moral people and moral managers. A total of 108 respondents completed questionnaires. Results indicate that there were significant differences between the perceptions of managers' moral conduct. South African leaders were perceived as relatively weaker moral managers as compared to those in Botswana.

Exploring the determinants of an organisational talent culture for a Botswanan local government institution

“…Public sector institutions characterised by high leadership efficiency, organisational objectives, strategic planning and a vision statement are significantly more effective in their service delivery (see Hope 2003). Moreover, ethical leadership and the display of moral values are essential for sustaining Botswanan government institutions (Cheteni & Shindika 2017).…”

Ethical Climate, Job Satisfaction, and Organizational Commitment of Hotel Employees

“…Similarly, the studies of Cheteni and Shindika (2017), Aprilliani et al (2014), and Verschoor (2013) found out that older employees possess higher ethical values compared to younger workers. Mature employees tend to be more cooperative in complying with statutory and regulatory requirements and are more likely to stick by hotel rules and regulations since these parts represent the hotel's ethical climate (Arulrajah, 2015).…”

“…They manifest a better moral character (Vrdoljak Raguž, & Matić, 2016). Women have higher possibilities of maintaining ethical considerations than men (Cheteni, & Shindika, 2017) who tend to be engaged in unethical behavior than women (Dawson, 1995).…”

Moral Values and Ethics as Antidotes for Corruption in the South African Public Service and Administration

“…Explicit in this definition is that ethics "constitutes the basic principles of correct action undertaken based on rules of conduct" (Thonzhe & Vyas-Doorgapersad, 2017:38). The relational connection between ethics and corruption is viewed as important towards achieving good public service and administration (see Whitton, 2001;Pillay, 2016;Vigoda-Gadot, 2000;Cheteni & Shindika, 2017;Gildenhuys, 2004;Naidoo, 2012;Okagbue, 2012;Agbim, 2018;Mendonca, 2001;Van Aswegen and Engelbrecht, 2009).…”

“…Former president Nelson Mandela was known to be ethical, and promoted the eradication of corruption in the public service. Cheteni and Shindika (2017) attribute the longing for the Mandela democracy to State capture in South Africa, which implicated former President Jacob Zuma, the national executive and directors and deputy directors of SOEs. Brown et al (2005), cited by Cheteni and Shindika (2017:5), say in order for leaders to be perceived as ethical and be able to influence ethics-related outcomes, their subordinates must perceive them as attractive, credible and legitimate.…”