Investigating the role of leadership in managing change at Riskflow Group: a case of Riskflow Group.

Abstract

Organisational change is a sophisticated and challenging process and as a result, many organisations that embark on change initiatives fail to achieve their intended goals, and sometimes change also lead to significant costs which undermine its benefits. However, despite these challenges, it is becoming increasingly important for organisations to embrace change for their survival and success owing to the dynamic and rapidly changing business environment. The aim of this research is to investigate the role of leadership in managing change at Riskflow Group. The study deployed a qualitative approach and drew a sample of 10 participants who are department managers, and these candidates perform managerial and leadership responsibilities. The study deployed a purposive sampling and used a thematic analysis to analyse the data. Change management has received a significant attention in the past and similarly, leadership concept has also been extensively studied in various disciplines, but there is little empirical evidence that discusses the tasks or the role of leadership in managing change. In addition, most of the research on change management has focused more on employee resistance to change, employee reaction to change and the psychological effect and emotions caused by change. This study is therefore attempting to respond to the leadership aspect in change management which has not received much attention. The study further seeks to determine the effect of leadership in the change management process and further examine how leadership can effectively implement change initiatives. To provide a deeper understanding, the research discusses different change models that have been advocated for and that are also widely used both by other researchers and by many organisations. Additionally, this research evaluate the different leadership styles which include among others transformational leadership, servant leadership and transactional leadership. The findings of the study suggested that leadership plays a fundamental role in change management and the leadership roles that were established includes, motivating employees, creating a vision for change, communicating change, planning for change, creating a conducive environment for change, getting employee’s buy-in and leading by example as role models. The study recommended that to address the challenges of managing change in organisations in the new economy authentic leadership is an alternative approach.