Cultural pathways and pitfalls in South Africa: a reflection on moral agency and leadership from a Christian perspective

Abstract

Cultural pathways and pitfalls in South Africa: a reflection on moral agency and leadership from a Christian perspective The nature and importance of moral agency for the transformation of persons and society, particularly from a Christian perspective, are discussed in this article. The focus is on cultural pathways and pitfalls with respect to the formation and exercise of moral agency on the part of individuals, leaders and communities. The six dimensions of cultural values as developed by Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars (2000) are used as a framework to describe and evaluate mainly western and African cultural values in order to identify ways of developing moral responsibility and genuine social transformation. Opsomming Kulturele paaie en slaggate in Suid-Afrika: 'n refleksie oor morele bemiddeling en leierskap vanuit 'n Christelike oogpunt Die aard en belangrikheid van morele bemiddeling vir die trans-formasie van persone en die samelewing as 'n geheel word veral vanuit 'n Christelike perspektief bespreek. Hierdie artikel fokus op kulturele paaie en slaggate met verwysing na die vorming en uitoefening van morele bemiddeling deur individue, leiers en gemeenskappe. Die ses dimensies van kulturele waar-des, soos deur Hampden-Turner en Trompenaars (2000) ont-wikkel is, word as 'n raamwerk gebruik. Veral die Weste en Afrika se kulturele waardes word hiermee beskryf en geëva-lueer sodat maniere geïdentifiseer kan word om morele Cultural pathways and pitfalls in South Africa: a reflection on moral agency … 568 Koers 75(3) 2010:567-588 verantwoordelikheid te ontwikkel en ware sosiale transformasie te bewerkstellig.