ABSTRACT
Leaders, when probed on the three areas that included operational excellence and management systems; reporting structures and hierarchies; and safety culture and communication, confirmed their importance in their responses. However, there is an additional factor or theme on transparency which also evolved from the inferences from the discussions undertaken. Transparency has much impact on improving the trust within an organization, and therefore leaders must promote transparency starting with themselves. Perhaps what was not fully appreciated when external factors were initially studied at first glance was that people sometimes fail to highlight the factors that relate to business ethics; social responsibility and accountability and, most significantly, the influence of global practices and standards have a significant impact within the external factors. Morality is an internal factor which drives a leader's behaviour, and whilst some literature mentioned the aspects of morality, there is not enough in the current literature which truly highlighted its importance, as did the interviews with senior decision makers.
