Enhancing Participative Management Practices among Secondary Schools in Patriarchal South Africa

Abstract

The aim and scope of this study are to explore strategies for the encouragement of participative management at secondary schools in patriarchal South Africa. The study adopted the positivism paradigm to explore this empirical investigation, with the use of questionnaires as the data collection instrument. The school principals were the target of the target population. A total of 200 public high schools were selected across the King Cetshwayo district of KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. The sampled schools were randomly selected for the study. Findings reveal that principals, deputy principals, and departmental heads in patriarchal South Africa used management and leadership strategies that did not align with the twenty-first century. The adoption of ubuntu (humanness) and lekgotla (Sesotho term for “an African participatory approach to decision-making”) was advocated for, in making various decisions at secondary schools in South Africa. The study also established that the teaching responsibilities of the principals should be reduced or removed to enhance administrative functions through effective implementation of participative management practices at secondary schools in patriarchal South Africa.

Received: 8 March 2022 / Accepted: 13 August 2022 / Published: 2 September 2022