1.

0 Introduction
Leadership is the specialty of propelling a group of people to act towards accomplishing a
common goal. “Leadership is having a convincing vision, a common goal, relentless
implementation, and capable individual working together” (Giuliani 2005). He or she is the
person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and leadership skills that
makes others want to follow his or her direction. He or she is the individual in the gathering that
has the combination of personality and initiative aptitudes that makes others follow his or her
direction. Effective leadership includes strong character. Leaders exhibit genuineness, honesty,
dependability and morals.
This report is based on the Gold Card Services (GCS) Department under Fiji Revenue and
Customs Services which is located at Nasese, Suva. It is noted that it is the first time a research is
taking place in Gold Card Services Department. The Gold Card Services department was
established in 2012, after a Government declaration that “priority and privileged services will be
accorded to those companies that are compliant in the matters of Taxation and Customs”. Taking
into account that GCS department provide innovative solutions to all Tax enquiries, expedite
processing of tax clearance, accept Tax and Customs payments via online banking and provide
referral services with Revenue and Customs stakeholders. There is currently 16 staff working
under Gold Card Services Department.
It is hypothesized that staff from the chosen organization, Gold Card Services department of Fiji
Revenue and Customs Services go through the same issues in determining a good and
determined leadership qualities. Thus it is likely to be predicted that the mentioned department
will favor Acquired Leadership. The best four qualities are likely to be: confidence, intelligent,
honest and diligent. The impact of a good leadership is likely to better communication so that
people can express their concern and prospective. It can also be forecasted that the challenge
/problem faced due to lack of leadership is lack of vision, the gender which makes a better leader
is both: male and female and education is important in order to become a good leader.
The primary objectives of this research is to identify the essential qualities of a good leadership,
impact and major challenges of it on the Gold Card Services department, the relevance of
inherited leadership in the pacific, the gender which makes a better leadership, the importance of
education in regards of a good leader and the strategies that can be employed to ensure the
selecting of good leaders in the pacific, therefore it would be analyzed and evaluated how well
informed is the Gold Card Services department.. In order to fulfill these objectives, a
questionnaire based on the information being sought was prepared and distributed to the
department. Based on the answers and information obtained, appropriate recommendations will
be made towards the end of this report.

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2.0 Methods
2.1 Questionnaire
A common questionnaire was design in class in groups on the 3rd September 2018. A set of 16
questionnaires were made and distributed to the Gold Card Services Department of Fiji Revenue
and Customs Services on 7th September 2018.There was equal distribution of gender in both
groups: 8 males and 8 females in each. The questionnaires were collected on the 11 th September
2018. The questionnaire looked at four essential qualities of a good leader, impacts and major
challenges, relevance of inherited leadership in this 21st century in the pacific and the strategies
that can be employed to ensure the selecting of good leaders in the Pacific.

2.2 Library Research

The library was visited to acquire books, journal articles and such with data or significant
information on Leaders in the pacific. The library catalogue turned out to be a useful search tool
in finding the vital books. Furthermore, the full content online database that University of the
South Pacific is bought in to, ProQuest was additionally gotten to read scholarly articles on the
issue being tended to in this report to increase some background knowledge on what is expected
at the end of the research. Also, online web searches were carried out to gain additional
information on the Leaders in the Pacific and how well it is related to the terms of reference that
are to be achieved at end of this report.

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3.0 Results
3.1 Results from the Questionnaires
3.1.1 Best four qualities of a Leader by the Respondents
Figure 1: Pie Chart showing the best four qualities of a Leader

Authoritative

Diligent
Qualities of Leadership

Honest

Humble

Intelligent

Confidence

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Number of Respondents

Figure 1 presents the best four qualities of a leader. According to the questionnaire 15
respondents selected Honest and Confidence, 12 respondents selected Intelligent, 11 respondents
selected Diligent, 10 respondents selected Humble and only 1 respondent selected Authoritative.

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3.1.2 Impacts of a Good Leader on people by the Respondents
Figure 2: Impacts of a Good Leader
1 2 3 4
0.7 62.50%

0.6

0.5
% of Respondents

0.4
25.00%
0.3

0.2 12.50%

0.1

0
Better Increased Trust Improved Morale
Communication
Impact of Good Leadership

Figure 2 illustrates how the Gold Card Services Department rates the following impacts of a
good leadership. From sample of 16 people, 63% of the respondents selected Better
Communication, 12% of the respondents selected Increased Trust and 25% of the respondents
selected Improved Morale.

3.1.3 Challenges Faced Due to Lack of Leadership Skills

Figure 3: Challenges Faced Due to Lack of Leadership Skills

31%
Lack of Vision
Retaining Talent

69%

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Figure 3 displays the challenges faced due to lack of leadership skills. According to the
questionnaire of the respondents rated 69% for the Lack of Vision whereas 31% for the
Retaining Talent.

3.1.4 Types of Leadership Favored by the Respondents

Figure 4: Types of Leadership is Favored
31

69

Acquired Inherited

Figure 4 presents two types of leadership which is favored by the respondents. According to the
questionnaire, 69% of the respondents favored Acquired Leadership whereas 31% of the
respondents favored Inherited Leadership.

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3.1.5 The Gender that makes a better Leadership by the Respondents
Figure 5: The Gender that makes a better Leadership

10

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NO. OF RESPONDENTS

0
Male Female Both

GENDER

Figure 5 displays the gender that makes a better leadership. According to the questionnaire, 5 of
the respondents selected male as the better leader, 2 of the respondents selected female and 9 of
the respondents selected both of the genders are better leader.

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3.1.6 Importance of education in order to become a leader by the respondents
Figure 6: Importance of education

13%

Yes
No

87%

Figure 6 illustrates the importance of education in order to become a leader .According to the
questionnaire 87% of the respondents agrees that education is important in order to become a
leader whereas 13% of the respondents disagrees that education is important in order to become
a leader.

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4.0 Discussion
The results show that the four essential qualities of a good leader are confidence, honesty,
intelligence and diligence. While 15 of the respondents believe that one of the essential qualities
of a good leadership is confidence and because confidence is a basic element and foundation of
leadership. A leader ends up valiant with the help of confidence which encourages him confront
all sort of circumstances (Pringle 2008,p.28).Thus, 15 of the respondents also believe that
honesty is one of the essential quality of a leader is because it links with ethics and good
governance which is paramount for a leader. “Honesty gives a leader the strength to be equitable,
ethical and righteous (Nasokia 2014,p12).Intelligence is also the essential quality of a good
leader where 12 of the respondents selected it because intelligence fortifies key achievement
ideas and adds to your leadership collection with essential tools developed. Another essential
quality of a leader is diligence where 12 of the respondents also selected it because being diligent
means being responsible and persistent. “Diligence does not come naturally for most, it is the
result of strong character and sound leadership” (Simmon 2016, p4).

In addition, the results indicate that the three most common impacts of leadership on people and
institutions are better communication, improved morale and increased trust. While 63% of the
respondents believe that the impact of good leadership on people and institutions is better
communication because leaders needs to show directions which can only be done through better
communication and it only exits when things would be discussed and solved. Effective
communication create vision, set direction and improve productivity and leads to success (Luthra
& Dahiya 2016, p6).The other 25% of the respondents believe that the impact of good leadership
on people and institutions is improved morale because improved morale leads to productivity
and the spirit of a person or a group as exhibited confidence, discipline, willingness to perform
assigned task and high morale. The rest of the 12 respondents believe that the impact of good
leadership on people and institutions is increased trust because when people seek better attributes
of a good leader they will try to strive to be like them, trust in them to do their duties effectively.
“Trust is the glue that binds the leader to her/his followers” (Bligh 2017, p21).

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Furthermore, the results specify that the two most common challenges faced due to lack of
leadership skills are lack of vision and retaining talent. While 69% of the respondents believe
that the challenge faced due to lack of leadership skills is lack of vision because leaders who lack
vision cannot rouse groups, spur execution, or make manageable esteem. "An absence of
authenticity in the vision of a leader today costs believability tomorrow” (Hodges 2017,
p69).The other 31% of the respondents believe that the challenge faced due to lack of leadership
skills is retaining talent that is because a leader ought to defies each new issue with a similar
assurance, paying little heed to what's at stake. “Fabricate your talent pipeline. Draw in dynamic
and passive talent” (Mattone 2017, p11)

Moreover, according to the respondents inherited leadership is the passing down leadership
techniques/ ideas to the ones who are genetically endowed with a greater likelihood of taking on
managerial responsibilities. “Leadership is a flaw that is gone through one’s qualities is
connected to people in authority positions” (Talei 2014, p11). As per the questionnaire inherited
leadership is relevant in pacific countries because pacific leaders widely covers chiefs and kings
who inherit their titles and they most lead rural settings as the forefathers were leaders and as
such they and their descendants become leaders in their villages.

Even though inherited leadership is relevant in the pacific acquired leadership is also not
neglected. According to the questionnaire the two common leadership are acquired and inherited.
While 69% of the respondents believe that acquired leadership is better because an individual
have to work hard in order to become a leader and everyone values things which has been
earned. “Leadership is a powerful combination of potential, loyalty, dignity and hard work”
(Mottahedeh 2001, p40).The other 31% of the respondents believe that inherited leadership is
better because they are born with skills of being a leader and will need less training and practice.

In order to become a leader, is it necessary to consider the gender. According to the

questionnaire the gender which makes a better leader can be male, female or both. While 5 of the
respondents believe that male makes a better leader because they have more patience and are
authoritative. The other 2 respondents believe that female makes a better leader because women
make better managers, know how to efficiently handle resources and have the capacity to do
better than others. “Women leadership is vital to achieve peace and certainty “(Kumar 2015, p9).
The rest of the 9 respondents believe that both the genders makes a better leader regardless of the
gender because gender does not define a leader, it is the work they do.

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Therefore, the results show the importance of education in order to become a leader. While 87%
of the respondents believe that education is important in order to become a leader because to be a
good leader is to be a person of vision and to be a person of vision, an individual have to be well
educated to see things in different perspectives. “Educational leaders are expected to explore
through bureaucratic, political and other concerning elements of a country” (Duignan 2012). The
other 13% of the respondents believe that education is not important in order to become a leader
because some people with education get to lead the team but they have no idea what and how
things are to be done whereas people with less education have knowledge from the grass root,
how to things and they will lead with examples.
Hence, the results also indicate the strategies that can be employed to ensure the selecting of
good leaders in the pacific. Consensus is one of the strategies that can be employed that is a
general agreement can be made by group of decision makers in regards of the selection of a
leader without any sort of disagreements. In the pacific, a group of chiefs or kings can make
decisions regarding the leadership. “The followers say that the decision of the chief rests above
all else on choice by the group, so that if the chief chooses a given individual as its leader, he
should be acknowledged all things considered and his directions must be complied”(Philipson &
William 2013, p15). Another strategy that can be employed to ensure the selecting of good
leaders in the pacific is conducting interview minimum requirements. This will enable an
individual to show his communication, innovation, relationship building, honesty, integrity and
other developing leadership skills in order to get elected as a leader.

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5.0 Conclusion

With the evolution and growth being made in the nation, it is essential to ensure the assigning of
good leaders. Through this report, attempts were made to assess the Gold Card Services
Department’s views on the significance of having good leaders in an organization or department
and to survey their perspectives on what they consider as the four essential qualities of a leader
and the impacts of a good leader on people, organizations and community. Hence, this report is
not entirely conclusive as it had some challenges or issues due to lack of leadership skills.
Despite of the benefits of this report, there were as yet limitations noted. The number of staff
selected as the sample population comprised of just 16 staff, which was not a solid number in
making firm speculations. Additionally the time allotment distributed in conducting this research
was very short in gathering relevant and applicable information.
However, this report uncovered that the hypothesis made in the beginning of the report were
proved to be consistent with some degree as uprightness, certainty and empathy were proved to
be essential qualities of a good leader. Also it was confirmed that the majority of staff favored
acquired leadership over inherited leadership.

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