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1 – 10 of over 152000Barrie O. Pettman and Richard Dobbins
This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.
Abstract
This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.
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Jean E. Neumann, Kim Turnbull James and Russ Vince
This research contributes to understanding emotional and political challenges experienced by middle managers as they work with contradictions inherent in leading change from the…
Abstract
This research contributes to understanding emotional and political challenges experienced by middle managers as they work with contradictions inherent in leading change from the middle. Focus group data from 27 such middle managers based in the UK indicate that, once they have been assigned roles and tasks for leading change, underlying dynamics and processes influence the degree to which they become capable (or unable) to shape and navigate that change. A proposed conceptual framework, illustrated by a case vignette, provides a base of existing knowledge for understanding and explaining these dynamics. We also construct a model of the key tensions that are integral to middle managers leading change. A further contribution to practice involves elaborating the importance of collaborative effort across hierarchical and vertical boundaries, despite emotional and political tensions that undermine middle managers’ roles as change agents.
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Cynthia T. Matthew and Robert J. Sternberg
This chapter explores the unique role of leadership in organizational innovation. Drawing from the investment theory of creativity (Sternberg & Lubart, 1995), we show that…
Abstract
This chapter explores the unique role of leadership in organizational innovation. Drawing from the investment theory of creativity (Sternberg & Lubart, 1995), we show that organizational innovation begins with a leadership decision. Based on a review of the creativity, organizational, and leadership literatures, the key components of organizational innovation are examined from individual, group, and organization-wide perspectives. Leading innovation is conceptualized as a special case of leading organizational change, which requires creative leadership skills applied to social systems. Establishing an organizational environment that supports innovation in the current market environment increases systemic paradoxes that must be managed by leaders. We conclude that leading innovation increases the creative demand on the leadership system, which requires leaders who have a developed understanding of the process of innovation and its environmental requirements.
David B. Szabla, James E. Stefanchin and Laraine S. Warner
Much has been theorized about what change strategies to employ given particular types of organizational change. Organizational theorists have linked participative strategies with…
Abstract
Much has been theorized about what change strategies to employ given particular types of organizational change. Organizational theorists have linked participative strategies with culture change, strategies based on logic and reason with new technology implementations, and power strategies with the introduction of new laws and legislation. However, to what degree are these suggested recommendations carried out in organizations? In this paper, we explored the extent to which change recipients perceive the use of theorist recommended strategies when undergoing specific types of organizational changes. Using survey research (N = 88), we investigated the perceived relationship between two components of change: change content and change strategy. The results partially follow the ideals proposed by previous theorists, but they also highlight a significant relationship between power-coercive strategies and episodic change events that is contrary to those ideals. For practitioners, our findings draw attention to the connection between change content and change strategy in the hope of offering some guidance to those change agents who must determine how to lead a particular change initiative. Additionally, since our investigation is original and exploratory, we incite future research aimed at understanding the congruency between change content and change strategy formulation.
The aim of this paper is to give an account of a self‐evaluation process in a change programme within the US Coast Guard.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to give an account of a self‐evaluation process in a change programme within the US Coast Guard.
Design/methodology/approach
This is an autoethnographical account as form of reflection on a leadership in position facilitating change within the organization.
Findings
Adaptive organizational change is a human endeavor, not a scientific application of techniques and skills.
Research limitations/implications
The authoethnography points mainly only to a change process of the writer and is therefore hardly an abstract model for others.
Practical implications
Meaningful organizational transformation does not occur without a corresponding self‐transformation, most importantly of the individual leading the change.
Originality/value
Changing oneself by managing change process as a leader, one has to become the change process in order to be successful.
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David B. Szabla, William Dardick and Jennifer A. Devlin
The Perception of Change Strategy Scale (PCS) measures an individual’s perception of the change strategies being used by change agents during an organizational change. To ground…
Abstract
The Perception of Change Strategy Scale (PCS) measures an individual’s perception of the change strategies being used by change agents during an organizational change. To ground the reader in the tool’s history, two published studies are briefly discussed: one in which the measure was developed and a second in which the tool’s reliability was appraised. In a third study presented here a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the theoretical framework and to select the best fitting model amongst several competing models of the constructs identified in the PCS. The results support a three-factor model as the best fit for a change strategy framework based on Chin and Benne’s (1961) three-part conceptualization for leading change: empirical-rational, power-coercive, and normative-re-educative.
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Vasileios Georgiadis, Lazaros Sarigiannidis and Georgios Theriou
This paper aims at identifying critical components of leading change through relations of relevance with platonic philosophy. During this process, well-known aspects of change…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims at identifying critical components of leading change through relations of relevance with platonic philosophy. During this process, well-known aspects of change leadership are detected, but interpreted differently. Based on this relevance, a seven-stage tripartite model is proposed, in order to facilitate change implementation in the business world.
Design/methodology/approach
Contemporary trends in leading change are reviewed and enriched with platonic insights. A synthetic analysis is attempted, in which philosopher stochasticity and discernment validates modern synergetic and anthropocentric approaches to the field of change leadership, featuring key behavioral and perceptual characteristics, emerging during change process.
Findings
As the process of change is highly dependent on human behavior, Plato grants an enriched approach of its origins and causal causes. Therefore, key change factors are not only discussed in the light of his worldview, but also upgraded through the distillation of applicable ideas, summarized in the proposed three phase model.
Practical implications
The proposed tripartite model of leading change can function as a powerful guide of designing and successfully implement organizational change.
Originality/value
The screening of specific insights from platonic works in leading change conveys an alternative, more “poetic”, yet effectively flexible attitude endorsed and incorporated into a potentially applicable model.
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David B. Szabla, Elizabeth Shaffer, Ashlie Mouw and Addelyne Turks
Despite the breadth of knowledge on self and identity formation across the study of organizations, the field of organizational development and change has limited research on the…
Abstract
Despite the breadth of knowledge on self and identity formation across the study of organizations, the field of organizational development and change has limited research on the construction of professional identity. Much has been written to describe the “self-concepts” of those practicing and researching in the field, but there have been no investigations that have explored how these “self-concepts” form. In addition, although women have contributed to defining the “self” in the field, men have held the dominant perspective on the subject. Thus, in this chapter, we address a disparity in the research by exploring the construction of professional identity in the field of organizational development and change, and we give voice to the renowned women who helped to build the field. Using the profiles of 17 American women included in The Palgrave Handbook of Organizational Change Thinkers, we perform a narrative analysis based upon the concepts and models prevalent in the literature on identity formation. By disentangling professional identity formation of the notable women in the field, we can begin to see the nuance and particularities involved in its construction and gain deeper understandings about effective ways to prepare individuals to work in and advance the field.
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Jens P. Flanding, Genevieve M. Grabman and Sheila Q. Cox