RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS
4.2 MAIN FINDINGS
4.2.4 Leadership style
4.2.4.1 General leadership style
Respondents were presented with four statements representing different leadership styles, namely authoritative, participative, democratic and shared, and asked to choose the one they preferred. The results are shown in Figure 4.29.
The first statement represented authoritative leadership, and the respondent who chose this style preferred a station leader who told them what to do, and they were happy to comply with the decisions taken by the station. Only one respondent preferred this leadership approach.
A democratic leadership style was preferred by 19.8 per cent of the respondents, where the station leader allowed them to vote, before decisions that affected them and the team, were taken. A shared leadership style, where the station leader delegated decision-making authority to other experienced team members and shared the leadership responsibilities, was preferred by 33.9 per cent of the respondents.
Figure 4.29: General leadership style preferences
A majority (45.8 per cent) of the respondents preferred a participative leadership style, where the station leader consulted with the individual as part of the decision process on matters that affected the team, but the station leader retained final decision-making authority.
4.2.4.2 Authoritative and participative leadership styles
A participative or authoritative preference analysis were performed, using the method described in Chapter 3.3.4.3 for the responses to Question 16 to 23. The results from the analysis showed an overwhelming positive response to a participative style, as depicted in Figure 4.30. When the preferred style was determined from the results of the survey, 96.6 per cent of the respondents had indicated a preference for a participative station leader. Only six of the respondents, 3.4 per cent, revealed a preference for an authoritative station leader.
Figure 4.30: Specific leadership style preference
An in-depth analysis was also performed for both the participative and authoritative responses. The participative and authoritative leadership style responses were each divided into a new five new
classifications, shown in Figure 4.31 and Figure 4.32, using the analysis methods described in Chapter 3.3.4.3. This method reclassified the responses into five new classes, which indicated whether the responded were not at all, slightly, somewhat, moderately or extremely oriented towards that style.
Figure 4.31: Classified participative responses
The results of the participative evaluation confirmed that South African Antarctic expeditioners were extremely oriented towards a participative style, where 72.3 per cent of respondents fell into the extremely participative, and 24.9 per cent into the moderately participative, classification.
Figure 4.32: Classified authoritative responses
An analysis of the authoritative category revealed a more interesting result. The results centred at 60.1 per cent, which showed that South African Antarctic expeditioners could be classified as preferring a somewhat authoritative station leader.
The authoritative responses were further explored in terms of gender, expedition experience and the impact of an eventful year.
Figure 4.33: Gender comparison on authoritative responses
When comparing responses according to gender, 2.7 per cent of male respondents preferred an extremely authoritative station leader. The majority of women preferred a somewhat authoritative station leader, but more men than women preferred a moderately authoritative station leader.
Figure 4.34 shows the impact of an eventful year on the preferences for an authoritative leader. Bass (2008, cited in Hannah et al., 2009) found that followers reacted positively to leaders who provided authoritative responses in threatening situations, where Hannah et al. (2009) found that leaders who were less intimidating, and accepted input from followers, explained their decisions and communicated regularly, remained effective in extreme contexts.
Figure 4.34: Impact of events on authoritative responses
Of the respondents who had experienced an eventful year, 62.1 per cent preferred a somewhat authoritative station leader, compared to 56.5 per cent of the respondents who had had an uneventful year. Of respondents who had had an uneventful year, 22.6 per cent preferred a moderately
authoritative station leader, compared to 18.1 per cent for the other group. It was not possible to determine with confidence whether a more authoritative or less authoritative station leader is preferred during emergencies or an eventful year.
Experience did not play a major role in the responses, as shown in Figure 4.35. Both single and multiple expedition respondents showed a similar profile to the overall authoritative responses.
Figure 4.35: Experience comparison and authoritative responses
The highest preference for a moderately authoritative station leader came from overwinterers who had had an uneventful year, where 22.6 per cent indicated this choice. Of the three different groupings of gender, experience and events, there were no significant differences between the results, where the majority of all the groups indicated a preference for a somewhat authoritative station leader.
4.2.4.3 Leadership in emergencies
The majority of respondents, 65.0 per cent, indicated that they or their team had experienced emergencies, trauma or continuous and aggressive interpersonal conflict during their deployment. It was of interest to explore the role of the station leader in these situations, especially when it came to decision-making autonomy.
Figure 4.36 shows the results when the respondents were asked to indicate if the station leader should maintain decision-making autonomy during emergencies. The result were strongly skewed towards agreement, where 39.8 per cent agreed and 36.9 per cent strongly agreed.
Figure 4.36: Emergencies and station leader autonomy
From a team member perspective, only 9.7 per cent disagreed and 2.8 per cent strongly disagreed that station leaders should retain decision-making autonomy during emergencies. Even though 62.1 per cent of the respondents who had experienced emergencies only preferred a somewhat authoritative station leader, the majority of participants agreed that, during emergencies, a station leader with decision-making autonomy is preferred at South African Antarctic stations.
4.2.5 The position of station leader and its effect on the team