In search of an applied leadership model for start-up organisations

• Main Author: Serfontein, Louis
• Other Authors: Muller, Hans Peter
• Language: en
• Published: Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University 2008
• Subjects: Leadership; Start-up organisations; Dissertations > Information science; Theses > Information science
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/1248

Thesis (MPhil (Information Science. Decision Making, Knowledge Dynamics and Values))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. === The topic here is leadership in the start-up organisation. It has become important for both economic and political reasons that more people successfully start new ventures. Literature on leadership and entrepreneurship traditionally focus disproportionately on existing businesses and topics such as organisational change. Not enough conclusive material exists about what type of entrepreneurial leadership behaviour is required to start an organisation, either as a new business or as a Greenfield operation in an existing organisation. The hypothesis in this study is that certain types of leadership traits and behaviours are required to successfully start a new organisation. The study sets out to determine what these traits and behaviours are. An attempt is made to prioritise or weight these against each other to provide a model or guide for the new entrepreneur. This model is tested against existing leadership theories as well as popular management models. A discussion on its applicability in South Africa concludes the study.