A Descriptive Study of the Leadership Styles Commonly Found in South African Small to Medium Enterprises.

Abstract

Leadership plays an important role in society and especially within a business, as it forms the nucleus of a business and influences the performance and strategic management of the business. Therefore, the leadership style implemented in a business can have great effects. The purpose of this study is to determine what are the most common leadership styles in South African small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) by reviewing existing literature and conducting further research on the topic. Upon reviewing the literature the researcher found that there is little academic research on the leadership styles utilised in SMEs, specifically in the South African context. Therefore, the study identified and sought to address this gap in the body of knowledge by determining the most common leadership style in South African SMEs. The study made use of quantitative data collection, through survey questionnaires, due to the study’s positivistic world-view and by being descriptive in nature.The study specifically focused on the situational, transformational and transactional leadership styles. The findings produced by the study indicate that situational leadership is the most common style, however, South African SMEs make use of a combination of styles instead of a single style.Therefore, opening the topic up to further research.