The lack of leadership leading to misguided organizational change

Abstract

Organizational change continues to be a focal point for most American organizations.
Although, American firms have been successful in promoting organizational change in the
workplace, unrealistic expectations continue to be endorsed in most organizational
structures. Consequently, this organizational dilemma has led to misguided expectations
resulting in dissatisfaction in the workplace, leading to dysfunctional organizational
behavior. Additionally, studies have suggested that the lack of leadership is blamed for
disproportioned organizational behavior issues leading to misguided organizational change in the workplace. In so doing, recommendations will be offered in an effort to streamline organizational change in the workplace, which will lead to improved work productivity.

Full text

© 2013. Orlando Rivero, D.B.A. This is a research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-
Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non-commercial use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Global Journal of Management and Business Research
Administration and Management
Volume 13 Issue 12 Version 1.0 Year 2013
Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal
Publisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA)
Online ISSN: 2249-4588 & Print ISSN: 0975-5853
The Lack of Leadership Leading to Misguided Organizational
Change
By Orlando Rivero, D.B.A
Carlos Albizu University, United States
Abstract-
Organizational change continues to be a focal point for most American organizations.
Although, American firms have been successful in promoting organizational change in the
workplace, unrealistic expectations continue to be endorsed in most organizational structures.
Consequently, this organizational dilemma has led to misguided expectations resulting in
dissatisfaction in the workplace, leading to dysfunctional organizational behavior. Additionally,
studies have suggested that the lack of leadership is blamed for disproportioned organizational
behavior issues leading to misguided organizational change in the workplace. In so doing,
recommendations will be offered in an effort to streamline organizational change in the
workplace, which will lead to improved work productivity.
Keywords:
organizational development, learning organizations &training and development.
GJMBR-A Classification : FOR Code:150304 JEL Code: M10
TheLackofLeadershipLeadingtoMisguidedOrganizationalChange
Strictly as per the compliance and regulations of:

The Lack of Leadership Leading to Misguided
Organizational Change
Abstract-
Organizational change continues to be a focal point
for most American organizations. Although, American firms
have been successful in promoting organizational change in
the workplace, unrealistic expectations continue to be
endorsed in most organizational structures. Consequently,
this organizational dilemma has led to misguided expectations
resulting in dissatisfaction in the workplace, leading to
dysfunctional organizational behavior. Additionally, studies
have suggested that the lack of leadership is blamed for
disproportioned organizational behavior issues leading to
misguided organizational change in the workplace. In so
doing, recommendations will be offered in an effort to
streamline organizational change in the workplace, which will
lead to improved work productivity.
Keywords: organizational development, learning
organizations & training and development.
I. Introduction
rganizational change is unavoidable and
continues to be the focal point for most
organizations in the United States. The
organizational competitive nature continues to ignite
new product lines and services; however, this has led to
organizational expectations to be unreachable. The lack
of leadership to support change in the workplace
continues to hinder certain organizations to reach
revenue expectations. In so doing, recommendations
will be offered to promote positive leadership behavior
that will coincide with seamless organizational change
initiatives in the workplace.
II. Cause and Effect – Reasons for
Organizational Change
Resistance
Organizational leaders are faced with
tremendous challenges with minimum operational
resources and increased work responsibilities, which
have led to dysfunctional organizations. Unfortunately,
this is a common trend that continues to be embraced
by most mid/large organizations throughout the United
States. Studies have suggested that communication
breakdown is to blame for organizational change
resistance (Ford, Ford and D’Amelio, 2008). Other
studies have suggested that leaders who promote trust
in the workplace are far more successful, as opposed to
others who do not exhibit this behavior (Matthew, 2009).
Unfortunately, this has led to unproductive work
environments leading to disastrous results for certain
organizations (Bass & Avolio, 1993). As listed in Figure
1, according to Gilley, Gilley, & McMillan (2009), 60% of
organizational change will fail in some capacity. Most
alarming in Figure 2, Kotter (2008) states that “it is
estimated that 70 percent of needed change either fails
to be launched or completed (p.12).
Figure 1 :
Organizational Change Effectiveness
Author:
Carlos Albizu University e-mail: orivero01@yahoo.com
Figure 2 :
Organizational Change Effectiveness
Moreover, this has rooted surfaced a false
sense of urgency among management personnel. This
Failure
60%
Success
40%
Source: Gilley et al, 2009, p. 78
Success
30%
Failure
70%
Source: Kotter, 2008, p.12
O
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Orlando Rivero, D.B.A.

type of behavior (false sense of urgency) leads
intangible battles among management and staff, which
leads to a dysfunctional organizational setting (Rivero,
2013). In so doing, it is vital to understand that
managers and employees must be able to exchange
ideas, that transcend into a shared vision and respect
for all parties involved during organizational transitional
stages (Blau, 1964).
III. Understanding Historical
Information – Organizational
Cultural Changes
Prior to promoting changes in the workplace, it
is vital to understand an organization’s historical
information. Knowing an organization’s history can
solidify the organization’s vision which can contribute to
a change to the organization’s mission statement thus
promoting change in the workplace. Bass and Avolio
(1993) further state “…..promotions should be made to
ensure that these older values can survive despite the
necessary changes. …..values of trusting employees
and respect will hopefully transcend over time” (p. 115).
Consequently, this will reinforce innovative efforts, which
will coincide with the new mission statement. The
objective is that the founder’s vision remains intact; but
most importantly, should the founder’s beliefs and
values come into question, changes should be
forthcoming and should not be considered as part of
organizational change initiatives (Bass & Avolio, 1993).
IV. Organizational Change –
Readiness
During organizational transition, employees are
uncertain of the future, which can have an effect on the
transitional stages of an organization. This is a critical
stage that will determine how quickly the organization
can transcend its business processes. This being said,
it is important that an organization promotes
organizational change readiness. This leads to
successful change agents that promote a positive work
environment. In most instances, employees are eager
to understand the new forecasted changes to the
organization. As Weiner (2009) points out, “….unfreeze
the existing mindsets and develop a sense of urgency,
before the change is actually set in motion for
implementation.” Moreover, the objective is to promote
a seamless transition in an effort to make sense of
organizational changes that will take place (Bercovitz &
Feldman, 2008).
In an effort to promote organizational change
readiness, it is important to understand employees’
relationship initiatives with the organization. According
to Bateh, Castaneda, & Farah (2013), “some employees
are more loyal to relationships, while others are more
loyal to structural components of an organization, which
are often based on principles such as efficiency,
tradition or creating an acceptable fit”. This further
validates the importance of being flexible during the
transitional stages of an organization.
V.
Leading Organizational Change
A seasoned transformational leader should be
at the helm during major organizational overhaul
initiatives. A transformational leader is able to promote
a sense of urgency that encourages growth potential for
subordinates to think critically when it comes to
organizational changes in the workplace (Bass, 1999). In
most cases, from an organizational strategic level, most
organizational changes are too broad and are directed
to a larger audience, which may be misinterpreted
(Carter, Armenakis, Field, & Mossholder, 2012). This
being said, it is vital that open dialogue remains intact
among managers and employees, which will enhance
the social exchange among parties involved for
common goals and objectives (Blau, 1964).
VI.
Recommendations for
Streamlining Organizational
Change
The author of this article proposes the following
recommendations for the improvement of Organizational
Change Initiatives:
1.
Improve the communication gap between mid-
management/managers and subordinates
before\during\organizational change initiatives.
2.
Defuse false sense of urgency stigma among
staff/management by establishing an open dialogue
among all parties involved. This will prevent this
kind of behavior from ever taking place.
3. The organization’s historical values/belief should be
preserved and implemented as part of the
organizational change initiatives. Moreover, should
the founder’s values/beliefs come into question,
changes should be immediate.
4. Organizational change should be a seamless
process and employees should be involved from its
infancy to maturity stages. This will solidify loyalty
among all parties involved during organizational
change initiatives.
5. At times, an organizational strategic plan could be
difficult to understand. With this being said, it is
recommended that managers have informal
meetings with staff in order to discuss the
organization’s strategic plan as it pertains to staff
responsibilities in order to prevent an array of
miscommunication.
VII. Conclusion
Organizational change initiatives will continue to
be vital components among American firms.
The Lack of Leadership Leading to Misguided Orga nizational Change
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Competition is the driving force that supports change

within an organizational structure. It is important that the
organization does not promote unrealistic expectations
among staff members, which can later lead to a
dysfunctional organizational setting. Certainly, change
will not cease to exist and organizations throughout
America need to be able streamline organizational
change initiatives accordingly.
Moreover, it is vital that the organization
appoints a transformational leader who is able to
streamline organizational change initiatives by
promoting an open dialogue with all parties involved. By
doing so, the organization is better prepared for the new
initiatives that will come to pass. Most importantly,
employees should be involved during each transitional
stage from beginning to the end. This will promote
loyalty among employees and changes to the
organizational structure will be acceptable by all parties
involved.
References
Références Referencias
1.
Bateh, J., Castaneda, M. E., & Farah, J. E. (2013).
Employee resistance to organizational change.
International Journal of Management & Information
Systems (IJMIS), 17(2), 113-116.
2.
Bass, B.M. (1999). Two decades of research and
development in transformational leadership.
European Journal of Work & Organizational
Psychology, 8(1), 9-32.
3.
Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (1993). Transformational
leadership and organizational culture.
Public
Administration Quarterly, 17(1), 112-121.
4.
Bercovitz, J., & Feldman, M. (2008). Academic
entrepreneurs: Organizational change at the
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5.
Blau, P.M. (1964). Exchange and power social life.
New York, Jossey-Bass.
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Carter, M. Z.., Armenakis, A. A., Feild, H. S., &
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incremental
organizational change. Journal of Organizational
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Ford, J. D., Ford, L.W., & D’Amelio A. (2008).
Resistance to change: The rest of the story.
Academy of Management Review, 33(2), 362-377.
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Gilley, A., Gilley, J. W., & McMillian, H. S. (2009).
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Kotter, J. P. (2008). A sense of urgency. Boston:
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Matthew, C. T. (2009). Leader creativity as a
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Rivero, O. (2013). Misguided organizational change
initiatives and how it promotes a destructive work
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Weiner, B. J. (2009). A theory of organizational
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