Workplace relationship crises: Doctor Bintou Fabiola Zongo’s innovative solution

“Managerial practices and impacts of spiritual leadership on decision-making and employee commitment in a Burkinabè industrial company”. This is the title of the research work carried out by Bintou Fabiola Zongo/Bassolé, under the supervision of Professor Jean Michel Plane, as part of his doctoral thesis in management sciences, option Executive Doctorate in Business Administration (EDBA), and whose results were presented by videoconference this Saturday, May 21, 2022 in Ouagadougou before a jury chaired by Professor Jean Marie Peretti and including, in addition to the thesis director (Jean Michel Plane), 2 rapporteurs: Pr Marc Henri Alain Bidan and Professor Soufyane Frimousse. Also present at the defense was Pr Jean Claude Tia from Quantum Expertises Internationales-SA, located in Ouaga 2000.

Crises in the world of work…the need to innovate

According to the brand new Doctor Zongo, what is happening in today’s companies (excessive competition, stress, depression, burnout, suicide), reveals the crises of modern society and requires us to innovate in terms of managerial practice and more particularly of leadership.

“There are several levels of leadership: material, emotional, mental and spiritual. The leadership model adopted impacts the leader himself, as well as the behavior of employees within the company,” she explains.

Spiritual leadership, the best solution

According to him, spiritual leadership is the best solution today in the face of the crises of relations in the world of work. “Classical leadership has evolved into transactional, then transformational and finally spiritual leadership where individuals aspire to greater well-being and dignity in the company,” she further argued.

And that’s not all because, again according to the results of his research, the involvement of spirituality in the context of work, makes it possible to get out of traditional materialistic and rational models to adopt a more humanistic leadership based on fulfillment, happiness, well-being and the pursuit of dignity in work.

Spiritual leadership in practice

To set up this spiritual dimension in the company, indicates Doctor Zongo, the leader can rely on the values ​​which can be considered as a set of shared beliefs, a work culture, which can thus contribute to improving decision-making. of the leader, as well as the commitment of employees to work.

In this type of spiritual leadership, she continued, the leader will be inspired by values ​​such as benevolence, wisdom, respect, understanding, love, ethics, foresight, the impacts of which will reflect on day-to-day decisions and levels of engagement within the company.

In her presentation, the Chief Executive Officer of the Société Industrielle de Montage du Faso (SIMOFA) since 2005, also warned managers against what she described as “conceptual vagueness linked to sectarian and religious confusion which must absolutely be avoided. . Facts that are not, she assures, the spiritual leadership advocated.

According to the brand new Doctor Zongo, what is happening in today’s companies (excessive competition, stress, depression, burnout, suicide), reveals the crises of modern society and requires us to innovate in terms of managerial practice and more particularly of leadership

“Interesting subject, well conducted, with important issues”

The members of the Jury, seduced by the presentation and the quality of Bintou Fabiola’s work, judged him admissible and his person worthy of carrying the rank of Doctor of Business Administration from the Paris Academy of Management Sciences.

“Interesting subject, well conducted with the use of robust concepts and with important issues addressed”, welcomed a member of the Jury.

“It was not an obvious issue to address. But, it is a work of high quality that has been presented to us. Congratulation ! “, added the thesis director, Jean Michel Plane, urging the applicant to stay the course until the next stages of her career as a researcher; namely in particular publications and broadcasts during scientific conferences.

“It’s just a moment in a journey. It’s not a culmination. It will therefore be necessary to value all that, ”he advised him.

Fabiola Zongo /Bassolé, an example of spiritual leadership

Through his remarkable career as manager of several companies, Bintou Fabiola Zongo / Bassolé is a life-size example of spiritual leadership. And when another member of the jury asked if this leadership, which she advocates with conviction, actually existed, Doctor Zongo replied in the affirmative, based on her own experience in the industrial environment where she had to repeatedly resort to these spiritual tools to successfully lead teams made up mostly of men.

It is interesting to know that for her brilliant academic and professional career, Bintou Fabiola first trained at the University of Ouagadougou from where she left with a master’s degree in economics, business management option from ‘UO, then to International Institute for Leadership Development in Accra, Ghana and then to Bethany International University, Singapore. His stay in these academic establishments was and still is of great use to him in his professional career.

A safe bet in the business world

In short, an uninhibited and fully assumed leadership that is both well appreciated in his workplace and in Burkinabe society. An indisputable proof of proven and recognized competence which earned Bintou Fabiola Zongo/ Bassolé the honor of being decorated in 2004 with the Knight of the Order of Merit from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Burkina Faso. Since then, its commitment to a more competitive Burkinabè business world has not been denied, based on more modern managerial mechanisms, respectful of human dignity, economically and socially viable, more buoyant.

The brilliant defense, on May 21, 2022, of his far-reaching doctoral thesis on “Managerial practices and the impacts of spiritual leadership on decision-making and the commitment of employees in a Burkinabè industrial company” is one of them. perfect illustration.

In short, Bintou Fabiola Zongo’s areas of expertise range from management to support and advice to organizations, including strategy and business management, company administration and finance. In one or a thousand words, a safe bet in the business world, all in honor of Burkinabè and African women.

Philip Martin