Implementing B-BBEE: Leader Experiences in the South African Banking Industry

Orientation: Large banking institutions in South Africa remain complex organisations facing a myriad of challenges as they navigate the Fifth Industrial Revolution (5IR) and strive to remain relevant. A significant challenge relates to how these organisations can utilise Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) to create diverse and inclusive teams for organisational success and sustainability. Research purpose: To explore the experiences and sense-making processes of senior leaders tasked with the implementation of affirmative action as part of a B-BBEE strategy as they navigate this responsibility within a South African bank. Motivation for the study: To shine on the complex experiences of senior leaders tasked with implementing affirmative action within a B-BBEE strategy in a large financial institution. Research approach/design and method: A qualitative interpretivist case study was applied to explore senior leaders’ negotiation of their perceptions and experiences of leading the implementation of B-BBEE in a large bank. Ten semi-structured interviews were utilised as the main data generation tool. Main findings: Study reveals how senior leaders hold strong convictions about the value of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. This included the continued necessity for legislation such as B-BBEE given South Africa’s racial history and existing personal biases that impact workplace diversity and inclusion. The study further reveals that senior leaders believe that B-BBEE is poorly implemented and attribute this to the tension leaders experience between diversity and performance, a lack of organisational policies and practices required to hold leaders accountable for B-BBEE implementation and leaders who lack the skills and expertise required to successfully create diverse and inclusive work environments. Practical/managerial implications: Positive contributions to diversity and inclusion policies and practices, leadership development and transformation of the banking organisations in South Africa and the industry at large. Contribution/value-add: Banking institutions as large market players can play a significant role in leading workplace transformation through improved implementation of diversity and inclusion legislation and principles within B-BBEE.