**8. An ideal leader in welfare organisation operating from an integrated leadership approach: a case study**

**Case study**: Siyasiza is an international HIV/AIDS organisation based in South Africa. It renders support services to orphans and vulnerable children whose mothers died because of AIDS-related conditions. Its services are mainly rendered in the country's rural areas due to a high demand in such areas. The staff component of

#### *DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105586 Perspective Chapter: Leading Welfare Organisations from an Integrated Leadership Approach…*

this organisation comprise employees from various tribal backgrounds and some neighbouring countries. This organisation was once presented with a case of a child with challenges pertaining to academic performance after the educators noticed that she was struggling academically as a result of the death of her mother, the only parent that she had. The problem of children who are orphaned and left vulnerable as a result of HIV is one of the main challenges and authorities consider supporting these children to be a national priority.

Upon receiving a request to intervene in this issue through her organisation Ziyanda, a leader who is also a professor in the field of child welfare identifies a junior social worker who is newly appointed to manage the case and asks her to brief her after every contact that she makes with the child. As a professor who is knowledgeable on issues of the law policy and child protection, she immediately convened an information session around the subject in view of the presenting problem with the purpose of ensuring that anyone who is allocated this case does understand the processes from both legal and policy point of view. She then appointed a team which will work with the entire family while this junior social worker is working with this particular child. The team is led by a senior social worker with 18 years of experience and who specialises in family preservation services.

Looking at the case from the perspective of integrated leadership, a leader in this organisation will be guided by the organisational aim or vision and the context in which such an organisation exists. In considering the community or societal context, she will for instance ensure that she is fully knowledgeable about the impact of HIV on these children, the existing policies and legislative frameworks that guide responses to orphans and vulnerable children. She we also have to be mindful of other existing support systems that these clients may have undergone before they present themselves for assistance to her organisation. This leader will also have to look from within her own organisation by paying attention to the individual needs of subordinates (i.e. whether or not they prefer to work with orphans and their experience in this regard) as to whether there is relevant capacity in terms of subordinates who would then intervene and their unique needs for extended support (i.e. possibility of offering debriefing once they finish).

Throughout this process, she would have applied several theories either at once or interchangeably. For example, by merely reading the context to determine the relevant/appropriate intervention approach, she would have adopted the contingency theory of leadership. Her consideration of the societal context, the unique nature of the presenting problem as well as the internal organisational context might be a reflection of diversity and multicultural approach. Her decision to appoint a junior social worker to attend the case might in some instances require her to give very clear instructions and procedures to follow under close monitoring and therefore some kind of autocratic approach. Her creation of an opportunity to engage through feedback on progress may also reflect some kind of leader-member exchange approach while her briefing on the legalities of dealing with orphans and vulnerable children as a professor might amount to some kind of power-influence approach.
