Investigating the Application of Strengths-Based Leadership in African Oil and Gas Industry: An Empirical Study

Proceedings of The 5th International Conference on Advanced Research in Business, Management and Economics

Year: 2022

DOI:

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Investigating the Application of Strengths-Based Leadership in African Oil and Gas Industry: An Empirical Study

Chinedu Ogwus

ABSTRACT: 

This paper focused on understanding the extent to which leaders in oil and gas industry comply with the core principles of strengths-based leadership in managing their relationships with employees. The study relies on data collected from a total of 43 persons drawn from two oil and gas companies in Africa. All participants were selected using the purposive sampling method and occupied different positions within their respective organizations. Findings of the study revealed that a good number of practices among leaders in African oil and gas industry align with the core principles of the strengths-based leadership model. These were noted to include establishing positive work environments, effective communication which engenders trust and a perception of support was seen as a vital tool for preventing conflict within the workplace environment, developing the capacity of subordinates, and leaders who focus on their strengths and that of his or her subordinates tend to outperform leaders who place so much emphasis on the weaknesses of subordinates. However, the failure or unwillingness to coach and mentor subordinates is identified as a core attribute of the strengths-based model which requires further development in the African oil and gas industry. The study highlights the need for further investigations utilizing larger number of participants in order to aid generalization.

keywords: Development; capacity; mentoring; managing, and Leadership.