A Jungian Perspective on the Psycho-Social Maturity of Leaders

• Main Author: Du Toit, Daniël Hercules
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-2011
• Subjects: Behavior; Burnout; Decision making; Employees; Empowerment; Ethics; Identity formation; Integrated approach; Leadership; Managers; Personal development; Personality psychology; Self awareness; Self sufficiency; Success; Unconsciousness; Virtual offices
• ISBN: 9798728278559

Worldwide there are strong indicators that organisations are experiencing a leadership crisis because of the fundamentally and radically changing world significantly impacting on leaders‟ effectiveness.The leaders of the future will have to be highly mature to cope with the different and more pressing demands placed on them. This study applies Jung‟s concept of “individuation” to organisational leadership to study leaders‟ psychosocial maturity, and its relationship with derailment and burnout as indicators of failed leadership.>Problem statementThe aim of the study was to investigate the link between the leader‟s level of psychosocial maturity, measured as individuation, and effective leadership. The main postulate is that a leader who has progressed on the journey of individuation will excel as a leader. This study also aims to show how the chance of derailment and burnout, which are manifestations of failed leadership, may be reduced with increasing levels of individuation.ObjectivesIn order to address the problem statement and answer the research questions the study had two interdependent objectives:To build a model of individuation as applied to organisational leadership; andTo test and validate the model. LiteratureBased on the literature review, a leadership individuation model was built. In this way the first objective of the study was achieved. The proposed model consisted of three stages, namely: containing/nurturing; adapting/adjusting and centring/integrating with ten attributes associated with these stages.Of the main constructs of this study, some were already well conceptualised and researched. Burnout, its main indicators and even its measurement, were already well established. Reliable and valid instruments exist to measure burnout. Derailment has also been well defined and its main constructs well described. To devise a measuring instrument to measure derailment was thus relatively easy. Individuation, on the other hand, has not been described in operational terms yet. A new measurement instrument had to be conceived and validated.PostulatesBased on the literature review the following postulates were formulated:Postulate 1The stages of individuation as described in the ten themes exist as identifiable entities.Postulate 2The individuation process develops stage wise in a sequential order.Postulate 3Individuated leaders can be reliably and validly differentiated from less individuated leaders.Postulate 4The leader with a higher level of personal maturity has a lesser chance to derail or burn out than the less mature one.Postulate 5Individuation is a relevant construct in the understanding of the psycho-social and psychological aspects of leadership.Research DesignFirstly, the research design was theoretical: based on a thorough literature review to conceptualise the link between the level of individuation of a leader and his/her effectiveness as a leader, as well as between the level of individuation and the tendency of leaders to derail or suffer burnout. The insights gained were placed in the context of current organisational realities and the effect thereof on organisational success.Secondly, the research design was empirical with the aim to provide evidence for the theoretical conceptualisation resulting from the literature review.