Transformational leadership and change readiness and a moderating role of perceived bureaucratic structure: an empirical investigation

  • Published March 28, 2017
  • Author(s)
    Badri Abbasi
  • DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.15(1).2017.03
  • Article Info
    Volume 15 2017, Issue #1, pp. 35-44
  • TO CITE АНОТАЦІЯ
  • Cited by
    8 articles
  • 2341 Views
  • 971 Downloads

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between transformational leadership and change readiness through perceived bureaucratic structure among government employees in Rasht. As a methodology, descriptive method was applied using questionnaire to collect data. The studied population consisted of 600 employees from three state organizations including Municipality, Gilan Tax Department and Gilan Justice Court. According to Morgan table, the sample size was estimated at 234. This study examined six hypotheses, which were tested using multiple regression method. The results showed that transformational leadership had a positive direct effect on employee change readiness and its dimensions. However, substitution of the bureaucratic structure in the model eliminated the effect. Finally, the hypothesis on the effect of transformational leadership on change readiness through perceived bureaucratic structure was rejected.

view full abstract hide full abstract
    • Fig. 1. Conceptual framework
    • Fig. 2. Confirmatory factor analysis for transformational leadership
    • Fig. 3. Confirmatory factor analysis for change readiness
    • Fig. 4 Confirmatory factor analysis for bureaucratic structure
    • Table 1. Distribution of samples in organizations
    • Table 2. The results of confirmatory factor analysis
    • Table 3. Cronbach’s Alpha
    • Table 4. Demographics of respondents
    • Table 5. Descriptive study
    • Table 6. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for variables
    • Table 7. Regression analysis
    • Table 8. Multiple regression analysis of transformational leadership on employee change readiness through perceived bureaucratic structure
    • Burnes, B. (2011). Introduction: Why does change fail, and what can we do about it? Journal of Change Management, 11 (4), pp. 445-450.
    • Chaghari, M., Tofighi, S., Amerian, A. & Karimi-Zarchi, A. (2012). Different effects of organizational change and transformation on organizational health, Basij strategic studies, 15 (54), pp. 83-96.
    • Dhillon, G., Syed, R. & Pedron, C. (2016). Interpreting information security culture: An organizational transformation case study, Computers & Security, 56, pp. 63-69.
    • Dimock, M.E. (1944). Bureaucracy self-examined, Public Administration Review, 4 (3), pp. 197-207.
    • Frazja, M. & Khademi, M. (2012). The relationship between trasformational and interactive leadership styles and organizational change readiness, New ideas in Educational Sciences, 6 (4), pp. 49-70.
    • Geijsel, F., Sleeger, S.P., Leithwood, K. & Jantzi, D. (2003). Transformational leadership effect on teacher’s Commitment and effort toward school reform, Journal of Educational Administration, 41 (3), pp. 228-256.
    • Gill, R. (2010). Theory & practice of leadership. British, London, Sage Publication.
    • Holloway, S.D. (2015). Leading and Engaging Sustainable Change: Achieving Organizational Transformation through the Transformative Methodologies of the Change Acceleration Process and Lean Six Sigma (Doctoral dissertation, Cardinal Stritch University).
    • Isett, K.R., Glied, S.A.M., Sparer, M.S. & Brown, L.D. (2012). When change becomes transformation: A case study of change management in Medicaid offices in New York City, Public Management Review, 15 (1), pp. 1-17.
    • Jalilian, H., Moradi, M. & Kamaei, H. (2010). Transformational leadership and creativity of employees, Police Human Resources, 7 (32), pp. 59-72.
    • Juechter, W.M., Fisher, C. & Alford, R.J. (1998). Five conditions for high-performance cultures, Training And Development-Alexandria-American Society For Training And Development, 52, pp. 63-68.
    • Kickert, W.J.M. (2010). Managing emergent and complex change: The case of the Dutchagencification, International Review of Administrative Sciences, 76 (3), 489 p.
    • Linstone, H.A. & Mitroff, I.I. (1994). The challenge of the 21st century: Managing technology and ourselves in a shrinking world. SUNY Press.
    • Malhotra, N. & Hinings, C.B. (2015). Unpacking continuity and change as a process of organizational transformation, Long Range Planning, 48 (1), pp. 1-22.
    • Mousavi, S.-A. (2005). Organizational change and transformation, Correcting and training, 43, pp. 44-46.
    • Nabavi, A., Hasanzadeh, A. & Alameh, S. (2013). Effect of bureaucratic characteristics on work alleniation of employees, Social problems of Iran, 4 (2), pp. 131-154.
    • Pawar, B.S. (2003). Central Conceptual issues, in transformational, Leadership Research & organization Development Journal, 24 (7), pp. 397-406.
    • Pearce, C.L., Sims Jr, H.P. Cox, J.F. Ball, Go, Schnell, E. (2003). Transactors, Transformers and beyond, Journal of inanagement Development, 22 (4), pp. 273-278.
    • Raeeisi, A. (2006). Change management in state and police organizations, Police knowledge, 8 (2), pp. 99-117.
    • Rahmanseresht, H. & Moghaddam, A. (2007). The role of subjective models in organizational change process, Management Knowledge, 78, pp. 3-24.
    • Robbins, S.P. (2002). Organizational Behavior, 9th edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc.
    • Russ, T.L. (2008). Communicating change: A review and critical analysis ofprogrammatic and participatory implementation approach, Journal of ChangeManagement, 8 (3-4), pp. 199-211.
    • Shamir, B., House, R.J. & Arthur, M.B. (1993). The motivational effects of charismatic leadership: A self-concept based theory, Organization science, 4 (4), pp. 577-594.
    • Soltani, I. (2005). The role of public relations in strategic leadership of organizational change, 8th art, 38, pp. 19-23.
    • Thistle, B.M. & Molinaro, V. (2016). Driving Organizational Transformation Through Strong Leadership Accountability: It’s Time For HR Leaders to Step Up, People and Strategy, 39 (3), pp. 28-31.
    • Tseng, S.H. (2010). The correlation between organizational culture and behavior modification on corporate performance, Journal of knowledge management, 14 (2), pp. 269-284.
    • Van der Voet, J. (2014). The effectiveness and specificity of change management in a public organization: Transformational leadership and a bureaucratic organizational structure, European Management Journal, 32 (3), pp. 373-382.
    • Van der Voet, J., Kuipers, B.S. & Groeneveld, S. (2016). Implementing Change in Public Organizations: The relationship between leadership and affective commitment to change in a public sector context, Public Management Review, 18 (6), pp. 842-865.
Related Articles

  • Transformational leadership for organizational change in the Lebanese public sector

    Bissane HarbORCID , Dina SidaniORCID doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.17(2).2019.15
    Problems and Perspectives in Management Volume 17, 2019         Issue #2         pp. 205-216 Views: 2679 Downloads: 1250 TO CITE АНОТАЦІЯ

    The public sector is facing multiple changes. In a constantly changing environment, that is more and more demanding in terms of innovation and performance, the concept of leadership is of particular importance, as it is one of the few tools available to public managers.
    Based on the transformational leadership theory, the aim of this study is to explore how transformational leadership characteristics influence organizational change within the public sector in Lebanon. To serve this purpose, a qualitative approach is adopted based on a series of semi-focused interviews conducted with ten public managers running 10 public administrations. These administrations have undergone significant changes over the past five years.
    The results point out the importance of transformational behaviors adopted by public managers in leading change within the public sector in Lebanon, despite the multiple obstacles. They confirmed the role of two transformational dimensions related to idealized influence and inspirational motivation in the successful implementation of organizational change. This study contributes to better understanding of the role of transformational leadership in promoting change in the public sector.

  • Impact of transformational leadership on employees’ reactions to change and mediating role of organizational trust: Evidence from service companies in Hungary

    Khadija Aya HamzaORCID Researcher ID, Ayman AlshaabaniORCID Researcher ID, Najd SalamehORCID , Ildiko RudnakORCID Researcher ID doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.20(2).2022.43
    Problems and Perspectives in Management Volume 20, 2022         Issue #2         pp. 522-535 Views: 1671 Downloads: 355 TO CITE АНОТАЦІЯ

    In the context of organizational change, employees can have different reactions, where some of them accept and engage with it, and others completely refuse and resist it. Hence, companies should permanently settle for the best and introduce a fruitful leadership style along with a good change management strategy to ensure the company’s prolonged survival and prosperity.
    This investigation aims to examine the influence of transformational leadership on employees’ affective commitment and intention to support change. Both were chosen to constitute the main dimensions of employees’ reactions toward organizational change and highlight the importance of organizational trust as a mediator in that correlation.
    To confirm the hypotheses subtracted from the literature review, a quantitative study was managed by a survey devoted to 428 employees working for diverse service companies in Hungary and going through different change cases.
    Structural equation modeling (SEM) was then applied to hold out the favorable findings, which reveal that transformational leadership is a booster for employees’ intention to support change but not for affective commitment. It was also found that organizational trust firmly mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and employees’ reaction to change.
    This statement justifies that both transformational leadership and organizational trust are able to reduce change complexity and lead to its acceptance, openness, and support.

  • Leadership and social responsibility from the perspective of gender

    Juan Manuel Andrade NaviaORCID Researcher ID, Elías Ramírez PlazasORCID Researcher ID, Yenny Catherine DiazORCID doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.17(2).2019.23
    Problems and Perspectives in Management Volume 17, 2019         Issue #2         pp. 303-312 Views: 1503 Downloads: 183 TO CITE АНОТАЦІЯ

    This study established the relationship between transformational leadership and social responsibility practices in women’s organizations that produce special coffees in southern Colombia. To measure these variables using Likert scales, two questionnaires were applied: the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5X short version (MLQ-5X) to measure transformational leadership, and a tool developed by the researchers to measure social responsibility. Cronbach’s Alpha (α) values for the two variables showed excellent consistency (α = 0.95 and 0.90 for transformational leadership and social responsibility, respectively). For the analysis of the information, the structural equation model was used to validate the hypothesis using the SPSS AMOS software. The results indicate a significant and positive correlation between the transformational leadership practices and the perception of social responsibility, especially in the dimensions of idealized influence (behavior and attributed) and intellectual stimulation of transformational leadership, and in the dimensions of labor issues and social responsibility. These findings are consistent with existing literature, and complement aspects not addressed before (e.g. correlation between transformational leadership and social responsibility practices in women’s organizations) in the framework of gender in non-conventional organizations.

Download Preview
Close
Problems and Perspectives in Management
Problems and Perspectives in Management