Leadership styles of South African millennial leaders who lead multigenerational teams within organisations

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this exploratory research study was to learn more about the lived experiences of South African millennials and to add to the emergent literature on millennial leadership within in the workplace. The study covered four main areas. First, it explored how the leadership styles of millennial leaders were influenced by experiences in their formative years, growing up in post-apartheid South Africa. Second, the study explored conflict resolution strategies that the participants used to resolve generational workplace conflict. Third, the leadership support solicited by the participants was scrutinised. The last area probed the views of the participants in relation to generational stereotypes linked to the millennial cohort. Research relevance: Generational differences in values, beliefs and attitudes are prevalent in the workplace. It is postulated that millennials hold significantly different views to work, compared to previous generations. Yet, for a generation who constitute more than half of the workforce, little is known about their leadership styles. Design/methodology/approach: The approach was inductive. The methodological choice was a mono-method qualitative study involving 20 semi-structured virtual interviews with millennials. This method was chosen as it facilitated the collection of rich, lived experiences of the participants. Key findings: Leadership styles were influenced by historical, social and political experiences in the formative years. These experiences induced generational differences in the workplace which fuelled generational conflict. As a generational cohort, participants favoured harmony over conflict and deployed conflict resolution strategies which embodied trust, objectivity and empathy. Leading multigenerational teams was challenging, particularly with having to straddle older and younger generations in the workplace. Participants solicited formal and informal leadership support. Generational stereotypes should be cast with caution. Implications: The findings offer organisations and learning institutions valuable insights into the factors that influenced the leadership styles of participants, the generational challenges they faced and the support they need to be future fit leaders. These insights provide a base for informed, tailored and relevant support mechanisms to enable future fit leaders.