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CHANGE LEADERSHIP
Final Assignment - Academic Essay

DATE : 2014-04-23

STUDENT NAME : Roberto Ferraris

STUDENT ID NUMBER : 12001070

MODULE TITLE : Change Leadership

MODULE CODE : BSB20302-7

AWARD : MBA – PT

MODULE LEADER : Rune Todnem By

ASSIGMENT TITLE : Final Assignment - Academic Essay

DOCUMENT STATUS : Draft

ISSUE : 0.15

WORDS : 2953 / 3000

CHANGE LEADERSHIP
Final Assignment - Academic Essay 
In an essay of 2500 words critically discuss the following: 'Too often discussions of
organisational change focus upon the procedures and problems of 'change management'
when the focus should be upon the skills and processes of 'change leadership'.

1 Essay

Organisations traditionally had engaged into change focusing on procedures and problems of “change
management” instead of regarding soft elements like skills and processes of 'change leadership'.

Even if there is abundant literature about change management and leadership proposing a variety of
models, theories, patterns and factors of success and failure or simple collections of recipes and
recommendations, seventy percent of organisational change initiatives are still considered non successful
by their leaders (Meaney & Pung, 2008).

Today’s society is far more educated and people have access to more information in quicker time than
ever before. For example, in 1940 people over 25 who completed high school were about 25%, by
2009 the figure was higher than 80%, that is an average of 18% growth per decade (Ryan & Siebens,
2012). These facts may lead to the birth of new theories but also to the dramatic reduction of their life
cycle (Birnbaum, 2000). Having a more skilled work force may also lead to better results when applying
for involving policies. In fact evidence suggests that groups makes better decisions that individuals
(Elkin, Jackson, & Inkson, 2004). This was noted since the end of the 20th century where the demand
of a different kind of leadership moving from the command and control type of leadership has been
incremented to more flexible and collaborative styles (Bennis, 1999). According to Balestracci (2003)
nowadays, organisations and individuals are expected to assimilate in a decade what used to be absorbed
in three generations.
In light of these implications, a variety of literature, research, case studies and expert opinions will be
analysed to evaluate the concepts that may lead to the road of success in this fast changing world. There
will be a conclusion about the focus of discussions of change management and change leadership after
the analysis, comparisons and critiques of the different perspectives.

First of all, it is important to differentiate what is change management and change leadership. John
Kotter (2011), explains that the world uses the definition of change management as a set of processes,
tools, mechanisms that are design to keep changes under control and change leadership. It is about
“putting an engine” on the whole change process to make it faster, smarter and more efficient. Kotter

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(2011) also observed that change management is associated with small changes and change leadership
with larger changes.

Concerning leadership centric approaches, the research of Daniel Goleman (1998) over 188 companies
shows a common factor on effective leaders that is the emotional intelligence (EI). Even if this research
seems to be a return to a new and contained flavour of the traits approach which has been discredited
and is considered not valid now (Jackson & Parry, 2011) ; it does not propose the EI as the sole
predictor of success but it says that after a correlation analysis it results to be twice as important as other
factors. In fact, the topic seems to be actively studied since the first release of his book “Primal
Leadership” in 2003, more than a million copies have been sold and it has been translated into 28
languages. (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2013). Even if the impact of EI seems to be important, most
of surveys, models and frameworks for predicting success of other academics do not include it as a
whole on their variables. Probably, the difficulties of measuring and evaluating multidisciplinary areas
like management, leadership, performance and psychology had segregated it from the models.
In the same line, but more extreme transformational leadership approach, it is the “Virtual Leader
Construct” (VLC) which is created through the mass media or literature. The image or message of the
leader is shaped in a way to produce the expected outcome on the target audience. We found examples
of this type in the consumer market (Ronald McDonalds, Colonel Sanders), in religion (Ancient Greek
mythology, Jesus, Mosses) and also in politics (Uncle Sam, adapted version of Simon Bolivar by Hugo
Chavez). This can be a potent transformational leadership, it is more reliable than real leaders (Boje &
Rhodes, 2005) and has zero change management capabilities because virtual leaders are not able to keep
changes under control. This approach probably applies better when dealing with mass audiences
targeting un-informed, light or vulnerable people.

Colville & Murphy (2006) have also identified that leadership is important but shaping behaviour tends
to fail, and involving and enabling behaviour positively impacts on change success. Their observations
seem to indicate that distributed approaches can be more effective than autocratic leadership. Also
Ancona, Malone, Orlikowski, & Senge (2007) observe that no person could possibly stay in top of
everything and leaders must be conscious of that (self-awareness) . In line with Bennis’ (1999) observations,
they also notice also that corporations have become less hierarchical and more collaborative and that the
importance of globalisation and high level of skills require a more wide distribution of initiatives. They
also go forward proposing a model for distributed leadership on which the key capabilities of the leaders
should be sense-making, relating, visioning and inventing. This is consistent with some of the Daniel
Goleman findings (1998) about EI because one of the factors is self-awareness which is the ability to know
our own strengths and weaknesses and their impact on others; and social skill which is linked to the ability

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to delegate and persuade others to go into the right direction. Self-awareness is considered extremely
important since long time. Socrates quoted “Know thyself, and thou shalt know the universe”.

Gill (2003) defends the change leadership focus noticing that corporate policies and practices sometimes
remain invariant and become inconsistent with organisational objectives and strategies. Some of the
inconsistencies were explained also by Gordon Tredgold (2014) giving as example the bonus policies
conflicting with the business goals (high bonus for the football player that scores and nothing to the
team when what it is aimed is the team victory). Removing inconsistencies and setting corporate policies
requires intensive change leadership activities because they usually have big impact on the organisation
and people interests. Gordon also says that today’s challenge is to do things better, cheaper and faster
which takes us to the Kotter (2011) definition of change leadership as the “engine” to do things faster,
smarter and more efficient. In summary, combining Kotter and Tredgold, it can be said that the change
leadership is the engine to do things better, cheaper and faster.

More recently, Fred Lunenburg (2011) concludes that today’s organisations success requires a
combination of effective leadership and management, and leaders are needed to challenge the status quo
to inspire and persuade organisation members. He also notices that most modern organisations are
extending leadership functions to team-based structures like work groups or inter departmental teams
because there is greater opportunity for more input from groups members at all levels of organisation.
There is also further previous research that indicates an increasing demand on leaders to make
judgements on implementation (Stace, 1996) (Eisenbach, Watson, & Pillai, 1999) (Goodman &
Rousseau, 2004). These findings are not related directly with EI but put some of the leader traits on the
focus of change.
On his latest book John Kotter (2014) observes also that start-ups are born with a very distributed
leadership approach with the shape of a network with interconnected nodes and with the founder at the
centre. When these successful and efficient companies grow they become hierarchical, less resilient and
less able to act dynamically to do the necessary changes to maintain the business sustainability. He
proposes a 'dual operating system' that combines the two models and uses his 8 “Accelerators” as
elements for leading with continuous change. This approach of internal entrepreneurship within the
company seems to mirror what is implemented at google with the 70/20/10 innovation approach where
employees are empowered to launch their individual or group initiatives with a defined time frame and
effort (Battelle, 2005). According to Kotter the model has been implemented successfully but the main
problem at the moment only 0.001% of the organisations have been succeeded doing this so it is not
very clear the way forward and not much evidence on the table besides the top companies of the case

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studies. The subliminal message on his presentation seems to be “hire me and I will help you how to
implement it successfully” which is not a very open approach.

On the other hand there is research that indicates that success is more related to hard activities
(management) than to the soft side of the process (leadership). Peter Drucker (2004) stated that what
makes an executive effective is a combination of action plans, team work, assigning responsibilities and
deadlines. Defending the management side, there is a study over 225 companies by Sirkin, Keenan, &
Jackson (2005) who claimed that the reason why 1/3 of the companies fail in their transformation
programmes is because they overemphasise on the soft side. They went further proposing the DICE
model in which, by assessing four hard elements, it is possible to predict the success of the change
programme. The elements are the Duration between the milestones, Integrity of the project team,
Commitment of managers and Effort availability of members. They claimed that this was tested for 11
years by the Boston Consulting Group over 1000 change management initiatives worldwide and the
correlation was held and that no other factors have predicted the outcomes that well. It can be seen that
these findings are completely opposite to Daniel Goleman (1998) conclusions. A deep comparison of
elements used in both studies must be needed to validate or make further judgement on results.
The FAST leadership model of Gordon Tredgold (2014) which contains 4 elements is based on 20 year
experience on the field. The elements of this model are (1) Focus, (2)Accountability, (3) Simplicity and
(4)Transparency. The leader should take into account these elements to maximise the chances of success
in the implementation of a change programme. The elements have a balance of hard and soft features
because you need to manage KPI (on Focus), progress (Accountability), communication (Simplicity and
Transparency) and people involvement (Accountability).
Pfeffer & Sutton (2006, p. 12) go in depth into the hard elements throughout their study on several
companies using models of the Evidence-based Management (EBMgt) and argue that many companies
and leaders show little interest in subjecting their business practices and decisions to the same scientific
rigor used in medicine, criminology and other fields. Similarly, Frese, Rousseau, & Wiklund (2014)
research on the emergent Evidence-Based Entrepreneurship (EBE). EBE is made in the insights of
EBMgt which also combines four elements used of judgements and decisions, (1) The use of the best
scientific findings, (2) metrics, (3) critical thinking and (4) ethics. (Rousseau, 2012). They propose that
entrepreneurs should make more use of existing data. They conclude mentioning that Google is a
successful example of a company that had developed an evidence-based approach to marketing,
management and other areas. This particular area of development needs further study and empirical
results are still to be obtained. The same case as the John Kotter (2014) “dual – operating system”
model which is very hard to implement as the author himself affirms.

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CHANGE LEADERSHIP
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Another line of research shows evidence that resilience is a key to sustainability (Hart & Milstein, 1999;
Hamel & Valikangas, 2003; Moore & Manring, 2009) and that the long-term sustainability will result
from continuous adaptation to changing conditions of today’s dynamic world (Starr, Newfrock, &
Delurey, 2003; Christopher & Peck, 2004). In that line of thinking Ates & Bititci (2011) prepared a
framework for evaluation consisting of 30 soft and hard elements grouped in 5 categories. Within this
framework they carried a survey in 76 European SMEs. They find that change and culture management
seem to be viewed separately. They also found that change management practices mainly focus on
implementation and that this is driven by rewarding employees and internal communication activities.
Their findings seems to indicate that in these companies there is not much employee involvement in
change management or leadership and that still autocratic structures are in place where the owner view is
the main driver of change. Even if the study concludes that the situation is not good because of the low
scores and wrong focus according to the framework, they have not measured the success in other means
like revenues growth or profits for the SME under the survey. Other problems with this research is that
the number of companies is small and countries are not well represented quantitatively (Germany has
the same weighing than Malta and lower than Poland and Check Republic). The study does not take into
account cultural differences. Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance for example can influence on
the findings (Hofstede, 2013). In summary, arguably SMEs focus is not either in change leadership or
change management but on implementation and short terms goals.

It is difficult to measure how the discussion is academically balanced. In order to an accurate measure of
the balance of discussions it should be used the metrics of the numbers of citations, a similar approach
of the one used by Richard T. Pascale (1990) or cycle Birnbaum (2000). Each one of the research shows
that their perspective is supported by evidence so the impression is that the focus should remain on
both because both perspectives are important and necessary. Moreover, there is consensus between the
academics that both parts are essential (Gill, 2003; Kotter J. P., 1990a; Kotter J. P., 1990b; Jackson &
Parry, 2011, p. 27; Lunenburg, 2011) and that management is necessary but not sufficient.

Concluding, it can said that there is a balance in the focus of academics discussion about leadership and
management of change. There are authors pushing for hard approaches others for the soft side and
more empirical professionals who recognise the need of balance between the two factions. In order to
get a more accurate measure of the balance of discussions, the use the metrics of the numbers of
citations is proposed. Even if the balance of the discussion is not perfectly clear there is evidence that it
links success to effectible dealing with problems on both sides, therefore the companies should at least
take care of leadership and management with similar importance. It can be seen that managing change in

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CHANGE LEADERSHIP
Final Assignment - Academic Essay 
this complex environment requires highly competent leaders with strong management skills, self-
awareness of their own limitations and with the ability to wider participation in order to get better
results.

2 Reflective statement

“Following the essay, provide a 500 word reflective statement to capture reflections
of your experiences during the module (Pass/Fail element). This should be centred on
what you have learned throughout the process, and can include your thoughts and
deliberations on any aspect. It may be that the presentation element was particularly
challenging, or that you found another aspect uncomfortable but rewarding.”

For this part of the assignment I chose Kolb’s (1984) reflective framework because it is practically useful
and accessible to explain my learning experience.
First of all, I would say that from the module was very well organized, documented and led. The weekly
readings and presentations keep almost all the student group up-to-date with the theories and latest
developments. The selection of reading material and videos was varied, modern and very enlightening
for me. Most of the concepts find practical implications on my day to day job and I have been able to
apply them when I am managing or leading change initiatives. I believe I had given more importance to
EI skills, metrics for change, focus and accountability among others.
Some of the weekly readings requested was to select a journal Article of our choice. I noticed that most
of the students, including me, have selected an article with direct implication on our professional work. I
feel that this is also very positive in enriching my professional development because I get to know
several case studies and articles analysing situations similar to my work environment like “Change
Management” by Slattery (2013) or “Change process: a key enabler for building resilient SMEs” by Ates
& Bititci (2011).
The lecturers encourage participation in class and that is very meaningful and motivating because we can
challenge the theories or relate them to our work or life experiences. I noticed that full time students
usually had a more passive role during the lectures and the presentations. Part time students probably
have more experience and have more information to share but I think that also full time students have
nice stories or points of view to tell.
During the first online session, every student had the opportunity to express their thoughts about
Jackson & Parry (2011) book and relate to a personal case study. I definitely prefer the classroom session
because it is more dynamic, and the only positive aspect that I recognise from the online session is the
fact that all the students have participated actively and had given and received feedback. I consider the

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experience to be positive, however it should not be a substitution but a complement of the face to face
session.
I had expressed my feeling about this using twitter as suggested by the professor Rune Todnem in the
following way “Studying leadership I get the feeling of becoming a better person and being able to
improve the world!”. At that moment, I had not the possibility to improve much in the world but I fell
that I had definitively improved my leading skills because I am responsible for some internal projects
and I am getting feedback from my managers that they notice an improvement on my work related to
the things that I learn on the MBA.
One of the most important concepts that I learned and experienced is that leadership can be taught and
learned. This fact makes me reflect that I still have to learn a lot and that is a continued process. I am
curious to finish all the outstanding readings and maybe learn new thing that I can apply to this on my
future jobs and be able to improve other people lives, collaborate with the company sustainability and
became a better professional.

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3 References

Ancona, D., Malone, T. W., Orlikowski, W. J., & Senge, P. M. (2007). In Praise of the Incomplete
Leader. Hardvard Business Review, 85(2), 92-100.
Ates, A., & Bititci, U. (2011). Change process: a key enabler for building resilient SMEs. International
Journal of Production Research, 49(18), 5601–5618.
Balestracci, D. (2003). Handling the human side of change. Quality Progress, 36(11), 38-45.
Battelle, J. (2005, 12 01). The 70 Percent Solution. Retrieved 03 05, 2014, from CNN Money:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2005/12/01/8364616/index.
htm
Bennis, W. (1999). Five Competencies of New Leaders. Executive Excellence, 16(7), 4-5.
Birnbaum, R. (2000). The life cycle of academic management fads. Journal of Higher Education, 1-16.
Boje, D. M., & Rhodes, C. (2005). The virtual leader construct: The mass medialization and simulation
of transformational leadership. Leadership, 1(4), 407-428.
Christopher, M., & Peck, H. (2004). Building the resilient supply chain. International Journal of Logistics
Management, 15(2), 1–14.
Colville, I., & Murphy, A. (2006). Leadership as the enabler of strategising and organising. Long Range
Planning, 39(6), 663-677.
Drucker, P. F. (2004). What Makes an Effective Executive. Harvard Business Review, 58-63.
Eisenbach, R., Watson, K., & Pillai, R. (1999). Transformational leadership in the context of
organizational change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 12(2), 80-89.
Elkin, G., Jackson, B., & Inkson, K. (2004). Organizational Behaviour in New Zealand. Aukland: Prentice-
Hall.
Frese, M., Rousseau, D. M., & Wiklund, J. (2014). The Emergence of Evidence-Based
Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 210-216.
Gill, R. (2003). Change management or change leadership? Journal of Change Management, 3(4), 307–318.
Goleman, D. (1998). What Makes a Leader? Hardvard Business Review, 93-102.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2013). Primal Leadership: Unleashing the Power of Emotional
Intelligence. Harvard Business Press.
Goodman, P. S., & Rousseau, D. M. (2004). Organizational change that produces results: The linkage
approach. Academy of Management Executive, 18(3), 7-19.
Hamel, G. A., & Valikangas, L. (2003). The quest for resilience. Harvard Business Review, 81(9), 52–63.
Hart, S., & Milstein, M. (1999). Global sustainability and the creative destruction of industries. Sloan
Management Review, 41(1), 23–33.

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Jackson, B., & Parry, K. (2011). A very short, fairly interesting and reasonable cheap book about studying leadership.
London: SAGE Publications.
Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning experience as a source of learning and development. New Jersey: Prentice
Hall.
Kotter, J. (2011, July 12). Change Management vs. Change Leadership -- What's the Difference? Retrieved April
13, 2014, from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkotter/2011/07/12/change-
management-vs-change-leadership-whats-the-difference/
Kotter, J. P. (1990a). What leaders really do. Harvard Business Review, 68, 103-111.
Kotter, J. P. (1990b). A force for change: How leadership differs from management. New York: Free Press.
Kotter, J. P. (2014). Accelerate. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.
Lunenburg, F. C. (2011). Leadership versus Management:A Key Distinction—At Least in Theory.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, BUSINESS, AND
ADMINISTRATION, 14(1), 1-4.
Meaney, M., & Pung, C. (2008). McKinsey global results: Creating organizational transformations. The
McKinsey Quarterly, August, 1–7.
Moore, S. B., & Manring, S. L. (2009). Strategy development in small and medium sized enterprises for
sustainability and increased value creation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 17, 276–282.
Pascale, R. T. (1990). Managing on the edge: How the smartest companies use conflict to stay ahead. New York:
Simon & Schuster.
Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, R. I. (2006). Hard facts, dangerous halftruths and total nonsense: Profiting from evidence-based
management. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Rousseau, D. M. (2012). The Oxford handbook of evidence-based management. Oxford UK: Oxford University
Press.
Ryan, C. L., & Siebens, J. (2012). Educational Attainment in the United States: 2009. Washington DC: U.S.
Census Bureau.
Sirkin, H. L., Keenan, P., & Jackson, A. (2005). The Hard Side of Change Management. Harvard Business
Review, 83(10), 108.
Slattery, J. (2013). Change Management. Journal of Strategic Leadership, 4(2), 1-5.
Stace, D. A. (1996). Dominant ideologies, strategic change and sustained performance. Human Relations,
49(5), 553-570.
Starr, R., Newfrock, J., & Delurey, M. (2003). Enterprise resilience: managing risk in the networked
economy. Strategy and Business, 30(1), 1-150.
Tredgold, G. (2014, April 03). FAST Leadership Presentation. Stoke-on-Trent.

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