Abstract

South Africa has become an integral part of the ‘global village’ which is characterised inter alia, by industrial and commercial interaction, as well as by substantial competitiveness. Business organisations in South Africa should concomitantly pursue means to become more efficient and productive in order to avoid being overwhelmed by products and services from other countries at competitive prices and better quality. Some of the competitive disadvantages include cooperation in labour-employer relations, scarce skills, skills outflow, hiring and firing practices, employment rules and trade union contributions to productivity. It is also generally understood that the successful integration of these factors is dependant, almost exclusively, on effective leadership. Organisational leaders are the agents that integrate all the forces at play in organisations, and ultimately ensure their competitiveness, sustainability and survival. Whereas it is obvious that the Solidarity Trade Union is a unique organisation within a business environment of active trade unionism, it is projected that the application of Hersey and Blanchard’s approach will secure a unique style of leadership, which can be successful within the context of its unique strategic imperatives, whilst being a competitive trade union. Hence, some research problems were postulated with regard to the Solidarity Trade Union. In order to meet the objectives of the study, a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, also known as triangulation, were used to enable the researcher to cross-check the findings and increase the validity and reliability of the findings. Face-to-face individual interviews were conducted with respondents and a self-administered questionnaire was employed to collect data from members of the Executive Committee and National Executive of Solidarity. Documents were reviewed, as a source of secondary data, to obtain information regarding the background of the union in terms of decisions made within the managerial structure of the organisation.

Key words: Executive committee, leadership model, national committee, solidarity trade union.