Investigating the leaders' state of readiness in the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services in South Africa to develop policy for the fourth industrial revolution

• Published date: 01 February 2023
• Author: Cynthia M. Maponya,Loganadhan Dalyiah Naidoo
• Date: 01 February 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2833

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Investigating the leaders' state of readiness in the Department

of Telecommunications and Postal Services in South Africa

to develop policy for the fourth industrial revolution

Cynthia M. Maponya

1

| Loganadhan Dalyiah Naidoo

2

1

Management College of South Africa,

Durban, South Africa

2

Human Resource Management, Mangosuthu

University of Technology, Umlazi, South Africa

Correspondence

Loganadhan Dalyiah Naidoo, Human Resource

Management, Mangosuthu University of

Technology, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.

Email: lnaidoo@mut.ac.za

The study investigated the state of leadership readiness in the Department of

Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS) to develop policy for the fourth

industrial revolution (4IR). The DTPS is the lead Department in terms of 4IR within

the Public Service and there are specific skills that are required within the DTPS to

effectively lead in this regard. This study investigated the perceived gap between cur-

rent skills and required skills in DTPS. The study adopted a qualitative method to

obtain leaders' views and opinions by conducting structured and semi-structured

interviews. The nature of the study is exploratory. A total of 10 DTPS employees,

both female and male on a 50/50 basis were interviewed on the skills of the leaders'

state of readiness in developing policy for 4IR. The study findings identified an

absence of problem-solving, analytical, creative, technical, conflict management,

collaboration and artificial intelligence, innovation and change management skills. It

recommends that these competencies be included in the current Public Service

Competency Assessment Framework that ensures that leaders are ready for policy

development for 4IR.

KEYWORDS

leadership competency, leadership development, Telecommunications and Postal services

1|INTRODUCTION

The world is entering the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). The first,

second and third industrial revolutions are characterised by the

mechanisation of production, the use of electric power to create mass

production, and the use of electronics and information technology to

automate production. 4IR is characterised by rapid advances in tech-

nology which increasingly will dictate the way in which people live,

work, and relate to each other. The 4IR follows the third or digital

industrial revolution, which started in the middle of the last century

and includes the fusion of technologies (the physical, digital and bio-

logical technologies). To cope with these changes, leadership styles

have evolved, but they have not done so at the pace required.

The current workplace has more millennials (Generation Y) who

require flexibility and agility in the work environment. Leaders of 4IR

must develop skills that allow for able management in multi-

generational workplaces. Such leadership styles include innovation,

performing, reflecting, taking risks and defending. The Department of

Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS) is the lead Depart-

ment in terms of 4IR within the Public Service and there is a current

perceived gap in leaders' state of readiness in the DTPS in

South Africa to develop policy for 4IR. This article investigates the

validity of this perception and having established that the perception

is real, recommends the inclusion of a range of skills within the Senior

Management Services Competency Framework. This framework is

currently used not just to ensure the ability of DTSP leaders to lead

Received: 23 May 2020 Revised: 11 June 2022 Accepted: 26 June 2022

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2833

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,

provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Public Affairs published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

J Public Affairs. 2023;23:e2833. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of10

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2833