Description of the Leadership Experiences of Alumni of the Christian Bilingual University of Congo in the Workplace

Abstract

This study investigated the leadership experiences of alumni of the Christian Bilingual University of Congo (UCBC) in the workplace, using a holistic leadership approach as a context, with the aim to learn the nature and challenges of their leadership practices and identify areas of need for leadership development in order to enhance their leadership effectiveness in a challenging work environment. Leadership experiences in the workplace represent both a daily challenge and a developmental opportunity that many leaders face and fail to handle in the current Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous global context. Inaptitude in leadership has been almost always associated with Africa’s current miserable and underdevelopment state. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, poor leadership and mismanagement have been paralyzing the whole nation in the last several decades since independence in 1960. This alarming situation has been translated through ineffective political leadership, lack of economic development, social crisis and chronic instability, corruption, injustice, greed, selfishness, duplicity, pride and many more vices that continue to describe leadership practices at all levels. A qualitative study using phenomenological research design described lived leadership experiences of 13 purposefully selected UCBC alumni in the workplace. Data were collected through one to two hours of in-depth interviews and analyzed through qualitative content analysis procedures. Findings revealed nine major themes that emerged through first-cycle and second-cycle coding processes. The themes were discussed along with literature reviews and recommendations made for contemporary practitioners and future research.