Organization development : Leadership

1. Organization*Development*
Why*is*it*critical*for*Leaders*and*Managers*to*
be*Successful*at*Organizational*Change?*
Ayush*Parekh*
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2. ! 2!
Index!
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Sr.!No.! ! ! Topic! Page!No.!
1.! Introduction!to!Organization!Development! 3!
2.! Leadership!and!its!importance! 6!
3.! Role!of!a!Leader! 8!
4.! Organizational!Leadership! 10!
5.! Leader!Vs.!Manager! 12!
6.! The!Outcome!of!Changes! 14!
7.! The!role!Leaders!and!Managers!in!Changes!! 16!
8.! Who!is!the!leader!of!Organizational!Changes! 22!
9.! Critical!factors!for!Leading!Changes! 25!

3. ! 3!
Introduction
A set up which brings together individuals from different
backgrounds, varied interests and specializations on a
common platform for them to work as a single unit and
achieve certain predefined goals is called an
organization.
An organization must make money for its survival. It is
essential for the employees to deliver their level best and
eventually increase the productivity of the organization.
What is Organization Development?
Organization Development refers to the various ways
and procedures to increase the productivity and
effectiveness of an organization.
Organization Development includes the various
techniques which help the employees as well as the
organization adjust to changing circumstances in a better
way.
Why Organization Development?
▪ The concept of Organization development enables the
organization to achieve the targets and meet the
objectives at a much faster rate.
▪ The employees as a result of organization development
respond better to changes in the work culture.
▪ Organization development helps the employees to focus
on their jobs and contribute in their best possible
way.
▪ Management can handle the employees in a better way
as a result of organization development.
Kurt Lewin is ideally believed to be the father of
Organization development.

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When is the Organization Ready for Development?
1First Step - Dissatisfied with the current scenario:
The employees are not happy with the current
scenario and feel the need for a change in the
processes of the organization.!
2Second Step - Suggesting Changes: In the second
step, employees discuss amongst themselves the
various options which would help the organization
do better in the near future.!
3Third Step - Applying the processes: Various policies
and procedures are applied to help the organization
respond to external as well as internal changes more
effectively.
Understanding Organization
A six step model for understanding organization was
proposed by Weisbord
The goals and objectives of the organization must be
clearly defined. The employees must be aware of their
duties and functions in the organization. The individuals
must know what is expected out of them at the
workplace.
It is essential to divide the work amongst the
individuals as per their interests, specialization,
experience and educational qualification. Job
mismatch should be avoided as it leads to demotivated
employees. Let the individuals decide what best they can
do.
The employees must share a cordial relationship with
each other. Conflicts and unnecessary
misunderstandings lead to a negative ambience at the
workplace. There should be coordination between

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various departments for better results. Transparency is a
must at all levels. Individuals must discuss matters
among themselves before reaching to final conclusions.
The departments must support each other in their work.
It is important to appreciate the ones who perform
well. Those who do well must be admired in front of all
to motivate them and expect the same from them every
time. The management must make the non performers
realize their mistakes and ask them to pull up their socks.
They should not be criticized, instead dealt with patience
and care. Give them opportunities but still if they don’t
perform up to the mark, punish them.
Leaders should be more like mentors and must
provide a sense of direction to the employees. They
should bind the employees together and extract the best
out of them. The superiors must be a source of
inspiration for the subordinates.
Promote training programs to upgrade the skills of
employees and help them face the challenges and
changes in the organization with utmost determination.
Plan your resources well.

6. ! 6!
Leadership
Leadership is a process by which an executive can direct,
guide and influence the behavior and work of others
towards accomplishment of specific goals in a given
situation. Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce
the subordinates to work with confidence and zeal.
Leadership is the potential to influence behaviour of
others. It is also defined as the capacity to influence a
group towards the realization of a goal. Leaders are
required to develop future visions, and to motivate the
organizational members to want to achieve the visions.
According to Keith Davis, “Leadership is the ability to
persuade others to seek defined objectives
enthusiastically. It is the human factor which binds a
group together and motivates it towards goals.”
Importance of Leadership
▪ Initiates action- Leader is a person who starts the work
by communicating the policies and plans to the
subordinates from where the work actually starts.!
▪ Motivation- A leader proves to be playing an incentive
role in the concern’s working. He motivates the
employees with economic and non-economic
rewards and thereby gets the work from the
subordinates.!
▪ Providing guidance- A leader has to not only
supervise but also play a guiding role for the
subordinates. Guidance here means instructing the
subordinates the way they have to perform their
work effectively and efficiently.!
▪ Creating confidence- Confidence is an important
factor which can be achieved through expressing the

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work efforts to the subordinates, explaining them
clearly their role and giving them guidelines to
achieve the goals effectively. It is also important to
hear the employees with regards to their complaints
and problems.!
▪ Building morale- Morale denotes willing co-operation
of the employees towards their work and getting
them into confidence and winning their trust. A
leader can be a morale booster by achieving full co-
operation so that they perform with best of their
abilities as they work to achieve goals.!
▪ Builds work environment- Management is getting
things done from people. An efficient work
environment helps in sound and stable growth.
Therefore, human relations should be kept into mind
by a leader. He should have personal contacts with
employees and should listen to their problems and
solve them. He should treat employees on
humanitarian terms.!
▪ Co-ordination- Co-ordination can be achieved through
reconciling personal interests with organizational
goals. This synchronization can be achieved through
proper and effective co-ordination which should be
primary motive of a leader.

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Role of a Leader
! Required at all levels- Leadership is a function
which is important at all levels of management. In
the top level, it is important for getting co-operation
in formulation of plans and policies. In the middle
and lower level, it is required for interpretation and
execution of plans and programmes framed by the
top management. Leadership can be exercised
through guidance and counseling of the
subordinates at the time of execution of plans.!
! Representative of the organization- A leader, i.e.,
a manager is said to be the representative of the
enterprise. He has to represent the concern at
seminars, conferences, general meetings, etc. His
role is to communicate the rationale of the
enterprise to outside public. He is also
representative of the own department which he
leads.!
! Integrates and reconciles the personal goals with
organizational goals- A leader through leadership
traits helps in reconciling/ integrating the personal
goals of the employees with the organizational
goals. He is trying to co-ordinate the efforts of
people towards a common purpose and thereby
achieves objectives. This can be done only if he can
influence and get willing co-operation and urge to
accomplish the objectives.!
! He solicits support- A leader is a manager and
besides that he is a person who entertains and
invites support and co-operation of subordinates.
This he can do by his personality, intelligence,
maturity and experience which can provide him

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positive result. In this regard, a leader has to invite
suggestions and if possible implement them into
plans and programmes of enterprise. This way, he
can solicit full support of employees which results
in willingness to work and thereby effectiveness in
running of a concern.!
! As a friend, philosopher and guide- A leader must
possess the three dimensional traits in him. He can
be a friend by sharing the feelings, opinions and
desires with the employees. He can be a philosopher
by utilizing his intelligence and experience and
thereby guiding the employees as and when time
requires. He can be a guide by supervising and
communicating the employees the plans and
policies of top management and secure their co-
operation to achieve the goals of a concern. At times
he can also play the role of a counselor by
counseling and a problem-solving approach. He can
listen to the problems of the employees and try to
solve them.

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Organizational Leadership
Organizations need strong leadership for optimum
effectiveness. Leadership, as we know, is a trait which is
both inbuilt and can be acquired also. Organizational
leadership deals with both human psychology as well as
expert tactics. Organizational leadership emphasizes on
developing leadership skills and abilities that are relevant
across the organizations. It means the potential of the
individuals to face the hard times in the industry and still
grow during those times. It clearly identifies and
distinguishes the leaders from the managers. The leader
should have potential to control the group of individuals.
An ideal organizational leader should not dominate over
others. He should guide the individuals under him, give
them a sense of direction to achieve organizational goals
successfully and should act responsibly. He should be
optimistic for sure. He should be empathetic and should
understand the need of the group members. An
organizational leader should not only lead others
individually but also manage the actions of the group.
Individuals who are highly ambitious, have high energy
level, an urge to lead, self-confidence, intelligence, have
thorough knowledge of job, are honest and flexible are
more likely to succeed as organizational leaders.
Individuals who learn the organizational leadership
develop abilities and skills of teamwork, effective
communication, conflict resolution, and group problem
solving techniques. Organizational leaders clearly
communicate organizational mission, vision and policies;
build employees morale, ensure efficient business
operations; help employees grow professionally and
contribute positively towards organizations mission.

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Tips for Effective Organizational Leadership
! A leader must lead himself, only then he can lead
others. He must be committed on personal and
professional front, and must be responsible. He
must be a role model for others and set an example
for them.
! A leader must boost up the morale of the
employees. He should motivate them well so that
they are committed to the organization. He should
be well acquainted with them, have concern for
them and encourage them to take initiatives. This
will result in more efficient and effective employees
and ensure organizational success.!
! A leader must work as a team. He should always
support his team and respect them. He should not
hurt any employee. A true leader should not be too
bossy and should not consider him as the supreme
authority. He should realize that he is part of the
organization as a whole.

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Leader Vs. Manager
“Leadership and managership are two synonymous
terms” is an incorrect statement. Leadership doesn’t
require any managerial position to act as a leader. On the
other hand, a manager can be a true manager only if he
has got the traits of leader in him. By virtue of his
position, manager has to provide leadership to his group.
A manager has to perform all five functions to achieve
goals, i.e., Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, and
Controlling. Leadership is a part of these functions.
Leadership as a general term is not related to
managership. A person can be a leader by virtue of
qualities in him. For example: leader of a club, class,
welfare association, social organization, etc. Therefore, it
is true to say that, “All managers are leaders, but all
leaders are not managers.”
A leader is one who influences the behavior and work of
others in group efforts towards achievement of specified
goals in a given situation. On the other hand, manager
can be a true manager only if he has got traits of leader in
him. Manager at all levels are expected to be the leaders
of work groups so that subordinates willingly carry
instructions and accept their guidance. A person can be a
leader by virtue of all qualities in him.
Leaders and Managers can be compared on the following
basis:
Basis Manager Leader
Origin
A person becomes a
manager by virtue of his
position.
A person becomes a leader
on basis of his personal
qualities.
Formal Rights
Manager has got formal
rights in an organization
because of his status.
Rights are not available to a
leader.

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Followers
The subordinates are the
followers of managers.
The group of employees
whom the leaders leads are
his followers.
Functions
A manager performs all
five functions of
management.
Leader influences people to
work willingly for group
objectives.
Necessity
A manager is very
essential to a concern.
A leader is required to create
cordial relation between
person working in and for
organization.
Stability It is more stable. Leadership is temporary.
Mutual
Relationship
All managers are
leaders.
All leaders are not managers.
Accountability
Manager is accountable
for self and subordinates
behaviour and
performance.
Leaders have no well defined
accountability.
Concern
A manager’s concern is
organizational goals.
A leader’s concern is group
goals and member’s
satisfaction.
Followers
People follow manager
by virtue of job
description.
People follow them on
voluntary basis.
Role
continuation
A manager can continue
in office till he performs
his duties satisfactorily
in congruence with
organizational goals.
A leader can maintain his
position only through day to
day wishes of followers.
Sanctions
Manager has command
over allocation and
distribution of sanctions.
A leader has command over
different sanctions and
related task records. These
sanctions are essentially of
informal nature.

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THE OUTCOMES OF CHANGES
Organisational changes are often a means to an ends.
Many organisations initiate changes with particular
objectives in mind, but evaluating the success and
effectiveness of changes is not all that straightforward,
and these are issues that the leader needs to note.
Performance indicators
Simply put, a successful change is one that achieves the
stated objectives. Unpacking this a little, we find that
change goals typically have an economic angle—such as
increased performance, increased profits, and reduced
costs—and this is generally because when organisations
need to provide a justification for investing in changes,
they often rely on economic reasons. In the public sector
context, though the focus is less on the financial aspect,
change goals tend to be similarly based on achieving
results, such as whether particular initiatives have been
successfully implemented or whether particular systems
have been set up. While these measures may serve as a
rough gauge of the performance of an organisation, their
usefulness as indicators of the success of a change is
debatable. For one thing, change is a lengthy and, at
times, discontinuous process; changes often take time to
unfold and people need time to acquire new habits.
Consequently, organisational behaviours may not change
immediately and it may be hard to determine if particular
initiatives have been successfully implemented.
Non-performance-based indicators
Moreover, the change process in and of itself, and the
spiritual aspects of the change (such as focusing on core
values or empowering the employees) may be just as

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valuable, and these are critical for organisational learning
and longer term sustainability. Furthermore,
organisations are complex, self-generating systems with
many inter-relational dynamics and so changes cannot be
wholly controlled but may lead to unpredicted outcomes.
Thus, multiple dimensions should be considered when
identifying the objectives of a change effort, these should
be sufficiently broad but not too broad, and emphasis
should be given to the change journey as well as the
destination, and appropriate indicators need to be used to
evaluate its success. In addition to measures of
organisational performance, these may include a range of
indicators reflecting affective, behavioural or cognitive
changes. Just to list a few, these may include the extent
to which people feel involved in the change process, the
extent to which the organisation has learnt from the
change process, and the extent to which people find the
organisation's new purpose to be meaningful.
Successful vs. effective changes
Another point to consider is that a change may be
successful but not necessarily effective, as it is not in the
best interests of the organisation. Kuepers , for instance,
noted that changes may sometimes be implemented
simply for the sake of change, with little regard for costs
and consequences. Some leaders may be introducing
changes to pursue their personal agenda at the cost of the
organisation. Thus, it is critical to evaluate, first and
foremost, why the organisation is seeking change.

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THE ROLE OF LEADERS AND
MANAGERS IN CHANGES
Issues to manage
The issues leaders need to manage during an
organisational change can be broadly categorised as the
instrumental/technical aspect and the people/emotional
aspect. Leaders tend to focus their efforts on the
instrumental/technical aspect of changes. This is about
having the proper systems, structures, technologies,
processes and rewards in place, such that the work
setting supports, motivates and sustains people in their
change efforts. The issues here can typically be
addressed through a rational and technical approach.
Dealing with the instrumental/technical aspect alone is
not sufficient; this must be complemented by a
consideration of the people/emotional aspect of change.
In reality, the people aspect is often less well thought
through. Yet, organisations are made up of people and
so, Branson (2008) argued that the consideration of
people should precede the non-human parts of the
organisation in any change effort.
Different leaders have different beliefs and values about
leadership, change, and people in general. These lead
them to adopt different roles to manage the
instrumental/technical aspect and the people/emotional
aspect of change.
Leaders as shapers
Within the traditional management and leadership
paradigm, it is thought that the leader should control

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everything, so that everything turns out according to plan
and there are no unwanted outcomes. Moreover, the
assumption that everything can be controlled leads to the
thinking that change is a predictable process and leaders
can choose how a change effort will turn out (Higgs &
Rowland, 2005), and this premise underlies much of the
organisational change literature emphasising the steps
that leaders should take or the behaviours they should
display to drive changes (Herold et al., 2008). Within
this paradigm, in a change context, the leader plays the
role described by Higgs & Rowland (2005) as "shaper",
one who personally controls what gets done, sets the
pace for others, and expects others to follow their
example. The leader is expected to be responsible for
shaping a change through a top-down process and
managing it according to a detailed step-by-step plan.
The leader is thought to know what is right and necessary
for the organisation, and it is thought that people will
embrace the change agenda if they are similarly
informed. Thus, resistance of the people to making the
changes they are told to, is interpreted as the need for
stronger leadership in the form of more guidance and
education (Diefenbach, 2007). This is largely in line with
the view of leadership that the leader plays a directive
role and holds much influence over his followers.
Essentially, for a shaper, change leadership is equated
with pushing through the leader's change agenda and
overcoming resistance from the people in order to make
them think and act differently. The people are considered
to be the targets or recipients of change initiatives.
Research has found that the shaper role tends not to be
effective in a change. Even though the leader may have

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set up the right processes and structure to support the
change, and have provided direction and a clear strategy
for the way forward, the change is likely to fail because
the people are not emotionally invested in the change.
There may be compliance at best, but not emotional
alignment. Furthermore, when a leader tries to shape
change, he may end up taking on too much personally,
and thus prevent people from growing and transforming.
Add to this the fact that changes are complex and chaotic
and cannot be dictated to meet predetermined outcomes,
it is not surprising that empirical evidence shows that
leader-centric behaviours are associated with less
successful changes.
Leaders as enablers
Higgs & Rowland noted that the focus of change efforts
needs to be more on "doing change with people rather
than doing change to them". This alternative paradigm is
where leaders play an enabling role in a change, creating
the conditions that encourage and energise people to
contribute to and grow from the change process. Such
leaders provide the instrumental/technical framework for
change, and seek to engage people, facilitating sense-
making and bringing about emotional alignment. Given
the complex and emergent nature of change, some
conclude that it may "elude or defy managerial and
organisational control". However, this does not mean
there is no need for leadership. It means that there is no
need for strictly planned and controlled management
interventions and that it is all the more important for
leaders to play an enabling role. In such a context, it is
still possible for leaders to influence the direction and
development of the change, and this is by focusing on

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key issues the people are facing (Karp & Helgo, 2008).
Specifically, Karp & Helgo (2008) emphasised the need
for change leaders to facilitate the formation of identity
and relationships in the organisation, as these sense-
making processes are at the heart of why people change.
Leaders can do this through various methods, such as
role-modelling the necessary behaviours, communicating
the values and purpose of the organisation, paying
attention to relationships and the communication of
stories and symbols that are important for the
organisation. Within this environment, people have the
opportunity to experience the uncertainty and conflict in
a change process, and through this, create meaning for
themselves.
Essentially, the crux of the people aspect of changes is
emotional alignment. Gioia & Thomas described change
as "primarily not a technical but a political issue"
(p.378), as it is largely about personal interests and
agendas. When people perceive that there is alignment
between themselves and the organisation's agenda, and
there is a new identity for them that they are willing to
accept, they become emotionally invested in the change.
They then slowly begin to modify their behaviours and
how they relate with themselves and others, and
collaborate in determining how the change will proceed.
Collectively, when there is a critical mass of people who
are prepared to change, change will occur at the
organisational level. Such organisational energy, where
everybody in the organisation is motivated and
enthusiastic and committed to the shared goals, is
important for successful changes. Summing up the
various sources in the literature, we conclude that leaders
can create emotional alignment by providing:

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• A shared vision of the future
A compelling vision provides direction and a sense of
purpose and inspiration. When leaders frame the vision
in a way that appeals to people's need for meaning and
achievement, people understand the need for change and
will be aligned with the organisational purpose, and
hence, intrinsically motivated to change their behaviours.
Importantly, this is not a vision that is thrust upon
people, but one which they jointly create.
• Clarity about and ownership of the strategies
Leaders need to ensure there is clarity about the
strategies to bring the organisation's vision into reality,
so people know what is to be done and how they
contribute to the whole. Crucially, people should be
involved in the development of the strategy and be
empowered with the necessary skills and resources to
carry out the strategy.
• A supportive culture and shared values
An organisation's culture strongly influences how people
behave, from the way they interact with each other, to
how they work and how they think. Only when the
organisational culture supports the new vision can there
be sustainable changes. Values underlie an organisation's
culture. During a change, it is important that leaders
provide the opportunity for the organisation to clarify its
values and encourage people to embrace them in their
everyday organisational behaviours. Leaders also need to
be aware of negative group norms which can undermine
the change effort.

21. ! 21!
• Motivation and inspiration
A compelling vision, empowerment in the change
process, and a supportive culture and alignment with the
organisational values all serve to motivate and inspire
people (Gill, 2003). Beyond that, leaders can find other
means of inspiring people, such as planning for and
creating positive outcomes that people can attain and
celebrate in the near term while working towards the
longer term goals of the change (Kotter, 1995), so that
people can continue to feel a sense of movement and
progress in the change.
While the above efforts all contribute towards aligning
people emotionally with the organisation's change
agenda, leaders need to remember that people cannot
develop emotional alignment on demand and in
accordance to a rigid schedule. This means that leaders
have to decide how best to balance the need for people to
be given enough time and space to discover their
emotional alignment against the competing need to meet
organisational timelines and milestones for their change
journey.
As a final point to note, while enabling leaders may
provide the direction and approximate definition of the
destination for the change, the change process may take a
different route from what they had in mind and achieve
unexpected outcomes. This is especially likely when
leaders nurture conflict, making use of the diverse points
of view raised by different people to improve decisions
made for the organisation. Karp & Helgo (2008)
expressed this well when they wrote that, "leaders may
find that they have to live with the paradox of being in
control and not being in control simultaneously". But for
these leaders who display more facilitating behaviours

22. ! 22!
that frame the change and create capacity in people and
the organisation, they are likely to be rewarded with
greater change success.
WHO IS THE LEADER OF
ORGANISATIONAL CHANGES?
Positional leaders at different levels of the
organisation
Even though the word "leader" has been used in a fairly
generic manner in this paper, in an organisation where
there is a hierarchy of leaders from top leaders to line
managers, the role played by leaders at each level might
have a somewhat different emphasis. In general, top
leaders are expected to play a more significant role in
creating the vision and driving the change agenda, while
middle level and line managers play a more significant
role in operationalising and implementing the change
initiative. These are complementary roles, working
together to help bring about the organisational change.
Non-positional leaders
Another consideration is that the leadership role may be
played by positional leaders as well as other members of
the organisation. According to Pye & Pettigrew (2006),
the power to influence others is at the heart of leading
changes. The leader needs to acquire sources of power
and be able to use his power skilfully, in order to get
people to change their behaviours. Typically,
organisational changes are led by positional leaders,
especially top management. These are the people with
ready access to many sources of power, including

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positional power, control over resources, as well as
networks of relationships both inside and outside the
organisation. Power may also be derived from control
over information flow, one's expertise, and other social,
human and intellectual capital such as one's track record,
credibility, personality, and relational abilities. As
positional authority is not necessarily needed to influence
others, it is possible that non-positional leaders could
possess the power to lead changes. These may be people
who are highly influential in the organisation's informal
network. Positional leaders could find ways to tap on
these informal leaders to guide or catalyse organisational
changes. For instance, these informal leaders could help
to explain management's ideologies to the people and
garner their support for new initiatives, and at the same
time, they could get a good feel of ground sentiments and
provide relevant input to management to guide decision-
making.
In addition, bottom-up efforts in driving the change can
make a difference, as change may sometimes be so rapid
that it is impossible for senior management to know and
plan everything (By, 2005). It may even be possible that
an organisational change is initiated through bottom-up
efforts rather than a top-down direction, in which case
the experience and role of the positional leader will be
somewhat different from what is typically presented in
the literature. Importantly, regardless of who the leader
is, it is important that the power is exercised in an
empowering manner. As Rooke & Torbert (1998)
contend, it is only such power that can generate whole-
hearted change.

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Collective leadership
Much of the literature on leading changes (and leadership
in general) tends to adopt the perspective of the
positional leader as an unusually talented hero, with a
strong emphasis on individual behaviour in initiating and
leading organisational changes. However, "the most
successful organisations are not those led by a single
powerful, charismatic leader, but are the product of
distributive, collective, and complementary leadership".
Similarly, the significance of distributed leadership in
bringing about organisational change cannot be
underestimated. Organisational change could possibly be
brought about more effectively by a leading coalition
with complementary skills. Thus, even if a single
positional leader is put in charge of a change effort, it
may be worthwhile for him to consider bringing on board
other people to collectively lead the changes.

25. ! 25!
CRITICAL FACTORS FOR LEADING
CHANGES
Leaders' personal qualities
The question of what factors are critical for leading
changes has been approached from different angles. One
perspective is offered by change-oriented models of
leadership. These explore what types of leaders are
effective in bringing about change in their people and
organisation. The focus is more general and longer term,
and is not specific to any change initiative. Some of these
models of leadership refer to the leader as a changeal
leader who raises "followers' aspirations and activate
their higher-order values (e.g., altruism) such that
followers identify with the leader and his or her
mission/vision, feel better about their work, and then
work to perform beyond simple transactions and base
expectations". These leaders inspire their followers by
providing a desirable vision, articulating how it can be
reached, acting as a role model, setting high standards of
performance, and showing determination and confidence.
They also pay individual attention to the development of
their followers, and stimulate them intellectually, helping
them become more innovative and creative. There is
some evidence that changeal leaders have greater success
with change initiatives.
Another perspective of factors critical for leading
changes is offered by the change leadership literature,
which has explored the leadership characteristics and
behaviours that are associated with the successful
implementation of a change initiative. These studies tend
to view the change initiative as a specific event requiring

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particular behaviours from the leader. The focus is on the
here-and-now and the leader's behaviours are tactical.
Some of these studies propose a comprehensive list of
competencies covering all aspects of a change process,
while some focus on a few critical competencies.
In summary, the qualities that are identified to be
important can be broadly clustered as follows:
(i) Interpersonal skills
Interpersonal skills frequently emerge as an essential
quality for leaders to possess, which is not surprising
considering that people issues are at the heart of leading
changes. This is supported by empirical evidence—for
instance, a study by Gilley et al, (2009) largely
corroborated previous studies when it found that leaders
who effectively implemented change possessed a set of
multidimensional interpersonal skills, including the
abilities to motivate, communicate, build teams, coach,
involve others, and reward them appropriately.
Beyond these, leaders need to be astute about others'
interests and resources, as this will help them tap more
effectively on the different strategic actors in the change
process and consider how best to strategise an
intervention. Astuteness about the organisation dynamics
is also important, as that will help leaders have a clear
understanding of the underlying systems that are
influencing people's behaviours and decision whether to
change.
(ii) Cognitive skills
Cognitive skills are important too, as a certain degree of

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intelligence is needed to understand issues, make
judgements, solve problems, make decisions, and come
up with a vision. Leaders' judgement about the change
approach to be adopted is particularly important when
the change is more complex. In sum, cognitive skills are
essential for strategising and planning the change.
(iii) Self-awareness
Leaders who are self-aware are more likely to be aware
of their own needs, biases and agendas, and the impact of
their own behaviours on the change process. This helps
them to raise difficult issues clearly and to make more
considered decisions. This is because such leaders tend
to be more aware of their impulses and struggles and to
reflect on what they could have done differently. They
also seek feedback regularly and consider how their
leadership is experienced by others, and this helps them
learn how they can improve.
If we examine this list of qualities, we find that they are
not very different from generic competencies for
effective leadership; the only difference is that they are
applied to the change context. Some researchers contend
that managing change is a core role of leadership this is
not limited to leadership from the changeal leadership
point of view. Furthermore, it takes time for a leader to
build a trusting relationship with his followers. Thus,
changes should not be regarded as an isolated event
where the leader demonstrates a particular kind of
leadership behaviour only in this instance and expects to
be effective. As Herold et al., found, change-specific
leadership practices were less strongly related to
followers' commitment to a change initiative, compared
to general perceptions of the leader's leadership.

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Moreover, as change is becoming a more frequent aspect
of organisational life and change takes time to unfold, it
is difficult to make the distinction between effective
change leadership and effective leadership. Colville &
Murphy even equated effective leadership with change
leadership, as they contended that "leadership has no
meaning in a steady-state environment. Only when we
enter a new territory, when we don't know the way, do
we need people to step forward and lead."