Efficiency of adaptable leadership in enhancing administrative development procedures in certain Ministry of Youth and Sports departments

Abstract

In this paper, the present study attempts to determine how much flexible leadership has been conducted in practice, specifically in selected departments of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. It does so by investigating the extent to which flexible leadership can enhance administrative development practices, identifying the most common obstacles that prevent administrative leaders from adopting flexible strategies and offering a list of suggestions that may help improve the application of flexible leadership and in turn close the gaps between flexibility leadership skills and administrative performance. The study group included the Department of Regional and Provincial Affairs, the Department of Sports Medicine, and the Department of Physical Education with a staff population total of 452 employees. The researcher applied a 75% participation level, and 339 employees were chosen as the research sample. Based on the study criteria, a subset of the first dataset was further categorized into three subsets: pilot sample, control sample and an application sample. The three samples were distributed using simple random sampling. The most important findings include: flexible leadership is based on a deep belief that the quality of decisions is directly related to the extent of stakeholder participation; change and mistakes are part of learning; there is an implicit recognition that creative initiatives may not always succeed; and human resources are considered an investment, not a mere resource, and are treated as a long-term asset. In the long run, by linking performance evaluation to improving capabilities and providing equal opportunities for growth, the researcher recommended creating a department to pay attention to those who fail instead of just praising initiatives. A budget or pre-programmed time should be allocated for creative projects (whether individual or group) that are given the right to fail without disciplinary consequences. The principle of organizational justice should be generalized instead of general promises, by creating a visible system for distributing tasks and opportunities based on the skill level and experience of employees. Non-technical staff (from each department) should be appointed to become "technology ambassadors" after intensive training. Their task is to simplify new technical systems for their colleagues and collect their feedback.