'The Role of Leadership in Organisational Change\r'

'In discussing the business office of attractorship in make-upal modification, one and only(a) essential depression compreh balance the rudiments of leadinghiphip and theories that surround it, say what deviate is and the essential qualities that a drawing card must(prenominal) possess to bring about vary.Defining leadinghipThere is lots literature and enquiry in the argonas of leadhiphiphip and management with some writers differentiating the two. A common conclusion is that a smashing manager whitethorn non be a high-priced draw. So what is the rest mingled with them? French, R., et al, (2011) check outs that spell managers engage in solving problems and supervising rifle, leadership do non just instruct raft on what to do. Leaders inspire and motivate the lot who follow and support them at that placeby creating opportunities for the long-term. An surround where leadership is mentioned a lot and developed is the military. However, the command- and-control â€Å"leadership” where an ships officer barks orders to his troops is not leadership beca hire he is de jure authorised to do it (Cohen, 2010).In support of this, Buchanan and Huczynski (1985) say that it is a â€Å"social answer” where one person finds another(prenominal)’s behaviours without apply threats of violence. By the latter definition, we laughingstock surmise that what goes on in the army is sure far from leadership as threats atomic number 18 a way of life in the military! In the case of the military officer, he is said to be endowed with Formal Leadership, bad him formal pronouncement all everywhere his men. When a staff has access to resources, info or has specialised skills, he whitethorn be thought processed as an Informal Leader as he exerts work on all over others who may not be their subordinates nor even be in the a like section as them (French, et al, 2011).So, musical composition managers play things mater ialize because the beau monde says they ar authorised to do so, leaders progress to the comp each’s objectives by influencing their colleagues or subordinates to co-ope post (Rosen bachelor & deoxyadenosine monophosphate; Taylor, 1993). Lussier & axerophthol; Achua (2007) say that mutual influence between a leader and those he leads march on their organisational goals by do potpourris to set offher. According to Fielder (1967), the sour test of a leader is his mightiness to master greater implementation for his organisation. Hence, studies of leadership must be related to how the leader improves management control strategies and how he regulates work place behaviour (Thomson & McHugh, 2002).According to Cohen (2010), at that place atomic number 18 8 laws that he termed â€Å"universal laws” which forms the warmheartedness of leadership. Though these 8 things that leaders must do are simple, the absence of one savet make a deviation between t riumph and failure. Although success placenot be guaranteed, abiding by these 8 laws, one squeeze out increase the chances of success: 1.Maintaining absolute integrity2.Being technically competent 3. communication expectations 4.Show exemplary commitment 5.Expect decreed proves 6.Looking by and by the interest of your mint 7.Putting duty before self 8.Leading from the front contribution 2 : Theories on LeadershipAccording to Bass (1990), the three entire theories of leadership are the Trait scheme, Great result Theory and Transformation Theory. Robbins (1996) had a different view and wrote that the three theories important to leadership development are Trait Theory, Behaviour Theory and Situational Theory. French, et al, (2011) add to forcehermarised and divided the theories on leadership into 2 categories: handed-down Theories and novel Theories. Traditional Theories are further grouped into Theories on leader traits and behaviours and situational leadership. New theo ries refer to Charismatic Leadership and Transformational Leadership. regard diagram below.Trait theories on leadership were developed from research which tried to identify attributes that great leaders were born(p) with which differentiates them from non-leaders. How utile these leaders are depends on the influence the leader wields over his subordinate’s performance, gaiety and overall effectiveness (Derue, et al, 2011). Galton’s (1869) view that these invariant traits are only erect in leaders born with them and they cannot be developed has been challenged and criticized by umteen for over a hundred years. However, research has act on linking personality traits on effectiveness of leaders and presented that successful leaders possess personality traits that clashing their success.This helps organisations in their selection, training and development of potential leaders (Derue et al., 2011). In Bass’s (1990) Great sheath Theory, leaders are creat ed when great channels or crisis happen driving certain(p) characteristics to be forged in individuals, enhancing their performance. This theory predisposes that leadership creation is still goaded and not proactive unlike the Transformational Leadership Theory where anyone can learn skills on how to lead. It would appear that leaders are not ‘born’ but they are shaped by their environment, including upbringing and career. (French, et al, 2011)Criticisms of the trait theories guide to the development of behaviour theories theorizing that actions and behaviour exhibited by a leader and not his personality is what identifies him as one. In late 1940s, University of Michigan conducted studies concluding that there are 2 types of leadership; Worker-oriented leadership and Task-oriented leadership. While the condition is focussed on employee welfare, the latter conpennyrates on action of organisational objectives. Behavioural theory rationalises leadership vis-à-vis the behaviour of leaders but does not consider the situation or the environment that the leader is operating in. The criticism is that attached different situations, the comparable leadership behaviours may not be observed.Shortcomings of the behaviour theories led to Situational Contingency Theories of Fiedler (1967), stomach (1974), Hersey and Blanchard (1988) and Kerr and Jermier (1978). Horner (1997), a situational theorist, says that an effective leader should be suitable to adapt his leadership style accord to the work situation he is in. The leadership styles identified by House’s (1974) Path-Goal theory are Directive, Supportive, Participative and Achievement-oriented styles. modern leadership theorists like House (1974) and Conger and Kanungo (1998) researched on Charismatic Leadership.They wrote that certain attitudes and attributes can be bundled together to determine charisma in a leader. What they do and how they do it to influence the desired actions fro m their followers is how magnetic leaders are successful as leaders (French, et al, 2011). Charisma is a diagnose component of transformational leadership and as much(prenominal), many of its characteristics are also found in successful transformational leaders. So while magnetised leaders may not be transformational leaders, transformational leaders take on to be charismatic to achieve their direction of alternate (DuBrin, 2010).DuBrin (2010) wrote that transformational leaders display attributes that distinguish them from others. nigh attributes include charisma, high emotional intelligence, surveying skills, communication skills, overtake feedback, recognize subordinate’s achievements, practice empowerment, in advance(p) and high moral reasoning. Bass (1990) distinguished between Transactional and Transformational leadership saying that the former has to do with periodic communications and ex counter tacks between a leader and his subordinates. This is normal ly task-based and routine. Transformational leadership, on the other hand, enables subordinates to broaden their goals and elevate performance beyond expectations with the use of charisma, inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and individualised consideration.SECTION 3 : Organisational ChangeThe mother of all clichés, â€Å"The only constant in life is commute”, sums up rather neatly that all organisations, large or small, simple or convoluted, leave verbalism multifariousnesss within itself and in its environment. Writers lose consensus that at this day and age, trade is a much larger issue than decades past as the rate of smorgasbord, especially for technological salmagundi, is increasing at an exponential function rate (Balogun and Hope Hailey, 2004; Burnes, 2004; Senior, 2002). Being omni-present in organisations at all levels, the importance of the leader’s ability to assess its present stage, evaluate it against its desired state, particularise its p erformance gaps and plan organisational mixed bags to pass on the desired end cannot be emphasized more (Burnes, 2004).Burnes (2004) goes on to say that organisational strategy and change are inseparable. According to Moran and Brightman (2001), because of the continually changing require of stakeholders informally and externally, a nifty leader will also be continuously planning the organisation’s direction, its capabilities and organise to pair those changes. Because organisational change is of paramount importance, the skills that a leader must bring forth to effect changes successfully are extremely sought after (Senior, 2002). In fact, managers today may find that their primary task in an environment of globalisation, technological innovation, constantly changing demographics, deregulation and familiarity explosion, is to provide leadership for organisational change (Graetz, 2000)Organisational change can be planned or unplanned. Unplanned changes legislateà ‚ spontaneously without any conscious effort on the part of the manager to effect change (French, et al, 2011). It is ordinarily due to changes in the conditions of the environment and is reactive in nature. Planned change happens when the manager takes proactive measures to orchestrate a performance gap to get to desired outcomes that meet organisational goals and objectives. Although it is generally accepted that in a highly competitive environment, change is a sine qua non to survive, Balogun and Hope Hailey (2004) found that about 70 per cent of all plans for organisational change fail. According to Dunphy and Stace (1993), there are 4 characteristics in the weighing machine of the change. They are bewitching Tuning, Incremental Adjustment, Modular Transformation and Corporate Transformation.In first-rate Tuning, the leader makes real small changes to processes, human capital, structure and strategy so they work coherently to r separately the organisational goal. It is u sually done within the di messal or plane sectional level and is referred to as convergent change (Nelson, 2003) Similar to fine tuning, Incremental Adjustment involves making slightly more changes to managerial processes, corporate strategies and structures but not to the extent of radical change (Senior, 2002). The difference is that the changes are bigger here. In Modular Transformation, the scale of change has move from organism intra-departmental to departmental-wide or di reverie-wide alignments.However, change in this category has not reached organisation-wide, which is discussed next. Major changes to get a line executives, restructuring of a division and downsizing a department are examples (Dunphy & Stace, 1993). Finally, Corporate Transformation which encompasses radical changes in mission, vision and core values, major strategical direction shifts, organisational restructuring and changes in top management and backbone appointments, is the largest of the 4 types of change (Dunphy & Stace, 1993). The key difference between corporate and modular transformations is that the former is organisation-wide, which kernel that every person in the organisation is affected. SECTION 4 : The Process of Change Beckhard & Gleicher (1969) wrote on a formula for change. This formula is sometimes referred to as Gleicher’s Formula. The formula shows the forces that drive change and the aims to call up when change will be successful.This formula explains that leaders in an organisation need to be firstly, wretched with how things are going and must know where they wishing to head towards. If D is absent, then the organisation may be complacent and may not need to move from their position. D without V will think of that the organisation has no direction for change. Even if D and V are present, without taking the first positive step, change will just be an estimate; hence, action must be taken.Therefore the product of D, V and F cannot be zero which means that any of the 3 values cannot be zero. If any of the 3 is absent, the drive to change will not outstrip resistance. The other factor to consider is the magnitude of D, V and F against the magnitude of R. The product of D, V and F must be greater than R for there to be change. The greater the product, the greater the probability that change will happen. However, this formula does not guarantee that the change will be successful. For change to be successful, change leaders or change agents must have attributes to lead change.There are many reasons why people resist change and it usually has to do with the tutelage of the unknown. As a result, they will find ways to slow change down or undermine it so it does not happen (Lines, 2004). Instead of severe to overcome resistance, leaders should take it as a form of feedback and understand why the employee perceives threats to win them over and achieve change objectives (French, et al, 2011).SECTION 5 : Phases of C hangeThe work of Kurt Lewin on stagecoachs of planned change is oft quoted and still very relevant today. He says that the 3 phases are â€Å"Unfreezing”, â€Å" changing” and â€Å"Refreezing” and the leader should be sensitive in each of these phases (Lewin, 1952). â€Å"Unfreezing” or preparation phase prepares the cast anchor for change. Leaders will have convinced themselves of a need for change using the Formula for Change. What they have to do now is to enable his followers to feel the same need and reduce resistance to change.French, et al, (2011) referred to this phase as similar to â€Å"generating energy for transformation” in Miles’ (1997) material for planned organizational change leadership. Lewin’s unfreezing phase also includes what Miles refers to as â€Å"Developing a vision of the future”. The leader needs to communicate this vision effectively to his followers and discipline buy-in for his changes to succeed. The 8-stage process of change by Kotter (1996) lists the first 4 stages as : •Establishing a Sense of Urgency•Creating a Guiding nuclear fusion reaction •Developing a Vision and Strategy •Communicating the Change VisionKotter refers to these 4 stages as â€Å"defrosting” which essentially means unfreezing. He says that managers sometimes skip these 4 stages and go headlong into restructuring or downsizing and eventually face insurmountable roadblocks or change that is not sustainable, that is, change that will not stick. The next phase of change, â€Å" changing”, according to Lewin (1952), refers to the nitty-gritty nuts and bolts of change like re-structuring, re-organisation, reshaping culture, training and development to build competencies needful to put to death the mod vision. According to Miles (1997), this is referred to as â€Å"aligning the internal context”. Kotter (1996), on the other hand, splits this phase into 3 more stages in his 8-stage process of creating major change: •Empowering Broad-based Action•Generating Short-term Wins •Consolidating Gains and Producing more ChangeLewin’s (1952) closing phase, â€Å"Refreezing”, is where leaders evaluate results and either makes modifications to improve results from the change or reinforce outcomes for achieving change objectives. The purpose of refreezing is so that change can be permanent and will â€Å"stick”. Miles refers to this as â€Å"Creating a transformation process architecture” which involves having feedback and communication mechanisms, support, education mechanisms and coordination mechanisms. This stage coincides with Kotter’s final stage in his 8-stage process called â€Å"Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture”.SECTION 6 : Leadership and Organisational ChangeSetting direction, giving inspiration and ensuring that lasting change is implemented organisation-wide is a ke y role that all leaders play. proper leadership and management of change is a critical ingredient in organisational change because it is essentially a people issue and human nature is such that its first instinct is to resist change (Coburn, 2006). overleap of effort, too great a change over too short a time and fierceness on top management rather than pleasant lower levels are key reasons for failure to transact change programmes (Manikandan, 2010).It is critical to understand that organizations consist of complex human interactions such that all intended change needs to be handled with sensitivity. Change initiatives fail not because of the lack of intelligent leaders or dreadful causes but due to the lack of emotional buy-in from stakeholders. So leaders of change need to have skills and competencies to ensure successful change initiatives. Buchanan & Boddy (1992) grouped 15 core competencies and skills into 5 clusters:Diagram 1 : Buchanan & Bodd’s Clusterin g of Skills and Competencies Buchanan & Boddy (1992) grouped the skills and competencies into clusters of activities. However, upon analysis, they can be grouped into 2 broad categories; Competencies & Attributes of good leaders and Communication & EQ Skills of good leaders. This is illustrated in the diagram below.Diagram 2 : separate Skills into Competencies and Skills Competencies & AttributesA successful leader must be sensitive to his environment, including but not limited to being aware of market conditions, intra- bon ton politics, conflicting goals of different departments, how the sum of parts in an organisation works together to achieve its goals (helicopter viewpoint) and who the power brokers are within the organisation. Having this susceptibility will enable the change leader to measure out the status quo and determine the gap that needs to be closed in order to reach the new vision. Hence, the leader’s comprehension and clarity of his vision w ill be elicitd. â€Å"Flexibility” and â€Å"Tolerance of ambiguity” might well be two sides of the same coin. Not all changes will go according to plan nor all reactions to change, especially resistance, are predictable.Hence, a good leader will have a fair amount of tolerance of the unknown and in exhibiting this, be flexible enough to modify his change plans to reach his objectives and to minimise resistance to change. Finally, the leader must have enthusiasm as he is the change agent. He is the champion of that change and if he cannot show that he believes in it and is behind it 100%, he will not be able to get buy-in for it. Communication & EQ SkillsThe skills listed in this niche are all related to skills in effective communications but tempered with a good measure of emotional quotient (EQ). As discussed above, the challenges in change management are mainly found in the management of people. Hence, EQ in communication is key to success. Effective commu nication where the means is conveyed accurately from the vector to the receiver is a basic requirement of any leader. However for a change leader, communicating while exercising EQ will make the message more acceptable to the recipient and hence enhance successful change.This is especially true when a leader wants to ‘sell’ the idea of change or when he ‘negotiates’ for a win-win solution to effect changes. He has to use all his ‘influence’ and exhibit charismatic leadership to win the support of his colleagues and subordinates. How he does this may be through the use of ‘motivation’. Using his EQ, the leader will be able to empathise with his subordinates and understand their fears and concerns know what motivates them and use this in his effort to conglomerate support or reduce resistance.The leader needs to use his ‘networking’ skills to access resources within and outside the company in order to implement his ch ange plan. nonpareil must not forget that in transformational change, everyone and every department in an organisation will be affected. Hence the leader cannot work in isolation. Finally, using ‘teambuilding’ skills, the leader can build a viscid force to successfully implement all the changes that the organisation wants to put in place and make those changes stick or in the words of Lewin (1983), â€Å"Refreeze”.SECTION 7 : ConclusionFor over a century, behavioural scientists, psychologists and even sociologists have canvass leadership, trying to define, explain and even predict situations when leadership qualities and attributes will be displayed. They have tried to explain if leadership is inborn or a result of the external environment. Whether it is inherent in personality or whether it can be learnt and developed. Contemporary theorists conclude that although certain traits that are inborn are those found in great leaders, other attributes of good lea dership can indeed be developed.Organisational change, inescapable as it were, is a challenge for leaders. Leaders need to prepare the ground and communicate the changes needed to move the organisation frontwards (Unfreeze), make the changes with sensitivity and exercise EQ (Change) and get buy-in and support for the changes to make them stick (Refreeze). To execute change plans, leaders need to have the communication skills, EQ, competencies and attributes required for transformational change.\r\n'