Dr Shanil Haricharan

Dr Shanil Haricharan’s research and post-graduate teaching is on public leadership, organisational behaviour, emotional intelligence, and governance in Africa. Shanil has a diverse professional work experience for over thirty five years in the public and development sectors as an activist, teacher, community development worker, senior manager, advisor, coach and consultant in the fields of public policy; development planning; institutional transformation; organisational, management and leadership development;  knowledge management, and early childhood development.

He served as a principal technical advisor at National Treasury’s Technical Assistance Unit and a senior advisor at the Government Technical Advisory Centre. Shanil is affiliated with non-profit organisations: the South African Centre for Evidence as the board chairperson, and a board member at the Human Rights Media Centre. He is a peer reviewer of the Journal of Management Development and the South African Journal of Human Resource Management.

Shanil completed a PhD at the University of Stellenbosch, in 2015, titled: “The impact of emotional intelligence on public leadership performance in South Africa.” He received a BSc (Medical/Life Sciences) at the University of the Witwatersrand, an Advanced University Diploma in Adult Education at the University of Natal, and an MBA at the University of Cape Town. He also completed the Organisation and Systems Development International Programme at the Gestalt International Study Centre, Cleveland, Ohio.

Research Interests: Leadership behaviours;  public governance; institutional transformation; organisational behaviour; emotional intelligence; early childhood development.

 Journal Articles

• Leadership, management and organisational implications for public service employee well-being and performance, SA Journal of Human Resource Management | Vol 21 | a2080
• Early Childhood Care and Education in Botswana: Implications for access and quality of the pre-primary school programme, South African Journal of Childhood Education |Vol 13 | a1268 [to be published online in April]
• Is the leadership performance of public service executive managers related to their emotional intelligence? SA Journal of Human Resource Management | Vol 20 | a1773

 Books

• Voices from the Underground: Eighteen Life Stories from Umkhonto we Sizwe’s Ashley Kriel Detachment, Penguin Random House, 2019 (Co-editor: Shirley Gunn)
• Assessing Knowledge Management Processes in the Public Sector: A case study in a provincial government department in South Africa, Lambert Academic Press, 2010 (Co-author: Roland Moolan)

 Books Review

• Workplace Culture Change in the Context of History, Diversity and Transformation in the South African Public Service. Commentary in Gestalt approaches with organisations, Lobb, M.S & Fraulmeester, F. (Eds.). 2019

 Conference Papers

• Reflections on leading strategically and from the heart during COVID-19. 2021 Western Cape Government and Groote Schuur Hospital Leadership Conference, Cape Town.
• Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Leadership Performance: A Case in Public Health in South Africa. Leadership in Healthcare Conference, University of Cape Town, 2016
• Operation Sukuma Sakhe: Lessons in Managing Across Organizational Boundaries (Best Paper Award). 2017 International Conference on Public Administration (13th), Accra
• Facilitating Effective Leadership Transitions in the South African Public Service (Best Paper Award). 2013 International Conference on Public Administration (9th), Cape Town (Co-author: Chantelle Wyley)

 Op-ed

• Emotional Intelligence Matters: Leading from the inside-out. New Voices in Sciences 2015, University of Stellenbosch, 2015