Introduction

Change is a continuous natural organizational process. For an organization to be successful, it must implement change at three major levels: individual, team, and organization. In each of these levels, leadership has a significant role as it is the practical role of a leader to manage the people who make up the organization and make their efforts be in the best interest of change for the organization (Stiglitz, 2010). Change management is a critical area of focus for the successful growth of an enterprise, it is essential even for the existence of any organization in today’s business world (Burnes and By, 2011). According to the CIPD (2017), a century of research in the concept of leadership has demonstrated that leadership is a major factor in influencing organizational, individual performance, and effectiveness McColl-Kennedy and Anderson, 2012). Over the ages, many theories, including behavioral theories, contingency theories, and post-heroic models have been presented to provide to elucidate the place of leadership in a changing organization. In this essay, though, more recent theories: value-based leadership theories, transformational leadership theory, and relational leadership theories will be employed to show the importance of leadership in times of change, especially on leadership in the human resource management. With agreement on the thesis, that leadership is an important element in change management; this paper will link leadership and the human resource management in ensuring success in an organization.

 

Definition of Leadership

There are varied definitions of leadership as the concept is termed as one that is hard to define. Some ages ago, Stogdill stated that there are almost as many variations in defining leadership as there are scholars who have made attempts to define the concept. According to Bennis (2010), there were around 650 different definitions of leadership in various sources at the close of last century. Of course, the number of definitions of leadership has increased over time and currently there are over 1,400 definitions of the terms leadership and leader (Dennis and Bocarnea, 2005). In satisfying the daunting task of defining leadership, Stone (2014) abridged the recurring notions regarding leadership in the great man theory. According to Stone, leaders are exceptional people or heroes who have the ability to use intelligence, charisma, political skills, and wisdom to have influence and power over other people. Although his notions remained significant, House et al. (2014) noted that such heroes were the outcomes of their context or societies, anticipating the modern discourse regarding leadership.

Historically, leadership had been perpetually defined as a personal quality, but after the Second World War, a novel trend began. Stogdill referred to leadership as the act or process of influencing the activities of teams in its endeavors toward goal achievement and goal setting (Dennis and Bocarnea, 2005). Kotter’s proposition added a new perspective to the concept of leadership, citing it as the process of moving teams in a particular direction through non-coercive methods. In keeping with this definition, the application of coercive methods is not analogous to leadership, since followership should be voluntary. Warren, who disagrees with the Kotter’s non-coercive concept, expressed that leadership is an equilateral triangle that has three aspects – the leader, the context, and the followers. According to Warren (2012), leadership is important, but followers are also as important as the leader. In line with the above discussion, this paper employs a cross-cutting leadership definition as the process of interactive influence that takes place when some people accept an individual as their leader to achieve mutual goals. This definition implies that leadership is a process, and not merely a personal attribute, that is characterized by the interactive influence between the leader and the supporters or followers.

 

Leadership and Change

An effective leader can spur effectiveness, create harmony, and provide direction for positive change. In this case, normal leadership and change leadership differs. Change leadership entails various phases of change – together with the emotions that come with such phases – and employees in the organization must react and navigate when change is continuous (Sendjaya, 2008). Change leadership needs leaders, as well as the people they lead, to address mindsets and beliefs and to gain behaviors and practices that assist people to adapt to change (Stiglitz, 2010). In distinction to change management, which brings about influence from the external environment, change leadership brings about influence from inside.In change management, value based theories have gained increased attention, in the recent decade, as many transformational and charismatic leaders in organizations lacked an authentic, moral, and ethical aspect. Change management literature has also touched on the need for ethics and morality in corporate leaders, with some scholars expanding the discourse of VBL to subsume a leadership style that does not involve a congruence of the values of a leader within the values of the organization. As such, a plethora of constructs has been proposed in response to the various challenges and failures of leaders in the 21st century. Most common constructs proposed by value based leadership include stewardship, servant leadership, self-sacrificial leadership, connective leadership, complex leadership, authentic transformational leadership, shared leadership, contextual leadership, and spiritual leadership.

The above constructs are all essential when an organization needs to change for the purpose of remaining competitive, becoming more efficient, or introducing new products (Stiglitz, 2010). In such instances, value-based leadership concepts advocate that leaders have to lean on values, including the values of the organization, to ensure performance and success. Leaders must lean on the values of the organization to drive performance, especially during times of change. In order to ensure maximum output and high performance of leaders, they must have skills and competencies of highly effective people as identified by Covey (1991) in his book ‘The 7 habits of highly effective people’. An organization's values should be the bedrock of why the company exists, how it makes decisions and its true purpose (Vasilaki et al., 2016). They must be authentic and relatively specific, so they actually resonate with the team (Jung et al., 2013). In evaluating the success and performance, the leader will also use value based leadership principles, where evaluation is based on a certain set of values and not some milestones and metrics. Transformational leadership theory serves as a model that has transitioned from older concepts of leader-centered theories to novel perspectives of process centered concepts. However, as much as this method provides new ways of looking at the matter, it remains with a little attention placed on the values of the leader (Jung et al., 2013). According to theorists in this school of thought, a transformational leader is one who has internally driven visionaries and can perceive political exchanges, technical competences, and beyond. In addition to that, transformational leaders have been terms as leaders who act within a formal moral system, gain power from a set of values, offer behavioral integrity, are self-authoring, communicates efficiently, and have highly complex strategies. Research notes that the transformational leader also has an inherent ability to realign and adapt their perspectives to the mechanics of a continually evolving environment (Vasilaki et al., 2016). These characteristics are a great strength, as note by external observers who usually became followers.

Scholars laud transformational leadership theory in its ability to steer change in an organization. Research links this theory with effective change as transformational leaders have the ability to note the need for change, develop the change, and share compelling perspectives with employees, offer guidance during changes, and inspire the employees to complete the daunting goal of institutionalizing change (Jung, et al. 2013). According to Prosci’s change management model, the first step in managing any kind of organizational change is to understand way of managing change with single individual. Research has shown that this concept work in both Western and non-Western organizations and societies and correlates with both team and individual level job performance (Jamaludin et al. 2010). In in-depth studies, the mediating factors involve, which actually elucidate how transformational leadership influences the performance of employees in change contexts, in reality, are assessed. The relationship leadership theory furthers the discourse on change management, offering novel insights. In this respect, relational leadership refers to the trend of reciprocal interrelating between managers and workers to ensure a change situation makes sense and to determine what needs to be done in a change context (Macleod, 2009). According to this theory, every party in the organization learns from one another, with employees contributing a lot of in-depth knowledge related to their functions while the managers are offering the broader perspective of the less focused information that is concerned with their functions. Together, the two parties develop an integrated comprehension of a change process or situation (Jamaludin et al. 2010). According to Lewin’s three phase change model, an organisation should follow three main steps for managing change effectively. These are unfreezing, movement and refreezing. The reciprocal interrelating process needs communication through sharing of knowledge, sharing of goals, paying attention to the insights and needs of parties, exercising mutual respect, and triggering cognitive relationships in the form of shared knowledge and goals. Moreover, according to the Iceberg Theory, it is stated that individuals in an organisation should focus on indepth information or knowledge rather than just focusing on the information that is in front of this, as there might be a possibility that hidden information is actual information.

In the conventional bureaucratic organizational structure, by contrast, the relationship between the employee and the manager is marked by norms of power and hierarchy instead of power with. Also, this hierarchy is nestled in roles that offer some safeguard against utter domination succession (Warren, 2010). In the complete relational, organizational structure, members exercise influence by their personal attributes rather than their functions (Macleod, 2009). The upside of this concept is that employees have to earn the loyalty and commitment of other key members of the organization. The downside of the concept is that the absence of role based power implies that the formal limits to apply the authority, which depreciate to nepotism and despotism, can arise. In critically analyzing the role of leadership in change management, various key companies such as Apple Inc. are mentioned. Apple Inc. stands as one of the best examples of organizations that have implemented monumental organizational changes successfully because of good leadership. Steve Jobs, the long-term leader of the company, enabled the company to make up for its losses and steer the organization to a whole new level through transformational leadership. The leader used innovative approaches and transformational leadership qualities to help the firm to develop capabilities of producing digital products that changed the world. Workers were recognized for exploring and proposing innovative ideas. Through the transformational leadership perspective, Jobs will always be cited for his skills and talents of great innovation and vision.

 

 

Relationship to the Human Resource

In discussing the place of leadership in human resource management, it should be first noted that human resource management in this current century is a process that expends knowledge and skills of the employees to make the attainment of organizational goals possible (Warren, 2010). Various researchers have dwelt on human resource related topics, explaining that it is the role of the human resource department to address the concerns and benefits of employees as they play a significant role in the success and continuity of any business or organization (Stiglitz, 2010; Stogdill, 1990; Burnes and By, 2011). It is also noteworthy that the human resource relates to the management of workers in an organization, which essentially translates into a leadership role that uses specific leadership qualities. Drawing from this argument, it is evident that effective leadership entails managing people, and when it boils down to managing people, every human resource manager should be concerned to some extent with hiring, staff retention, staff development, staff adjustment, and managing change in the organization – which involves and affects employees (Warren, 2010). Staffing entails identifying the requirements of work in an organization, determining the people and skills set needed to complete certain work, hiring, choosing, and promoting competent workers. Retention, on the other hand, entails rewarding the workers for making reformations in their work, ensuring there is harmony in work relations, and maintaining a healthy, safe working environment. Development is a role whose goal is to enhance and preserve the competence of employees. On the basis of performance of employees, they must be rewarded in order to motivate them. After recruitment and selection of individuals, they are required to be provided with learning and talent development opportunities. According to this, individuals must be provided with various training opportunities in order to enhance their skills and learning. This can help individuals to fulfill their short term and long term ambitions and they feel motivated to perform.

Needless to state, the above activities depend on individuals, teams, or unit levels that comprise of good leaders and leadership skills. It is argued that leadership in human resource department is important to ensure that the behavior of employees profits the organization. On that, employee involvement, communication, teamwork, development, training, all of which have a positive impact on the performance of employees, are essential (Warren, 2010). Employee engagement is one of the important elements of transformational leadership, according to which leaders give considerable importance to the involvement of employees. Employees are motivated to get involved in important tasks and decision of organisations, due to which they feel motivated and their performance level is enhanced. Transformational leadership characteristics and behaviors of personnel in the human resource department or the human resource manager have a moderating role in the identification of employees with an organization and their behavior. Both in the discourse on the roles of managers and human resource devolution, scholars claim a protracted role immediate supervisors in managing the issues of people. Mintzberg noted the ‘leader’ role as one of the major roles of line managers, citing that they should motivate employees, and develop a conducive working environment. A significant number of studies have used Mintzberg‘s model and recognize the role of leadership in human resource management (Mintzberg, 1990). Moreover, various authors from human resource devolution discourse contend that the responsibilities of managing people have increased significantly in the past decades because of the emergence of human resource management as a successor to personnel management, and the pressure of the former to make strategic contribution to organizations. To add to the organization’s strategy attainment, leadership is essential in human resource (Macleod, 2009). After all, human resource managers spend most of their time noting the major business objectives and might thus have a more direct influence on the motivation, discretionary behavior, and commitment of employees.

Scholars, in assessing the role of leadership in human resource management, have looked at the impact of integrating leadership in planning processes and deployment of managerial personnel. An important aspect that emerges from the discourse is the role of managers in a mentoring relationship in places of work and hence invoking performance. Among other tasks, mentoring relationships entails discussions concerning career planning, development of competencies, including leadership competencies, and assessment of areas of improvement and areas of core strengths. Human resource managers are also actively involved in identifying potential talent and examining the bench strengths of their working units. As great potential talent emerge, human research managers are engaged in delivering activities that will develop leadership skills, creating important functions outside the functional background of employees, and facilitating projects for action learning succession (Warren, 2010). In essence, the leadership of the human resource department goes a long way in ensuring the development of both the individual workers and the organization at large.

Another important function of leadership is developing other leadership talents. This is in addition to the main role in developing workable mentor networks. Identification and labeling leadership talent are essential in the organization ensures the human resource personnel are fully engaged in the identification and codification processes of talent and avoids replacement approach when it comes to succession (Warren, 2010). The consensus exhibited by human resource managers is that organizations are better served when they invest a significant amount of their time in ensuring that they note and develop potential managers and leaders to ensure continuity and flexibility of executive successions. Indeed, studies show that organizations with a great reputation of leadership development plans, including Colgate-Palmolive and Sonoco Products, employ a very adaptable and fluid framework to succession planning (Kur and Bunning, 2012). In essence, employees move on and off fluidly in the list of diverse and high potential of candidates through leadership and mentorship programs, not merely on direct reports.

In addition to the flexibility and fluidity concerning the list of potential workers, another benchmark of exemplary leadership in human resource management is a sharp focus on action-based development activities meant to improve leadership competencies that are aligned with the goals of the organization. Human resource managers can do this through action learning projects, stretch assignments, and internal courses (Kur and Bunning, 2012). While such methods are consistent with research on personnel development, active participation of the human resource department, as well as other levels, is critically required. Concerning stretch assignments, it has been noted that there are many developmental benefits including offering invaluable working experience, exposing workers to myriad experiences, and collecting important data on the potentials of workers to inform on staff development and succession planning (Kelley and Lee, 2010). As such, action based development activities are a major way that human resource managers can demonstrate and exercise their leadership skills in a manner that is in keeping with the goals of the organization for the benefit of both the workers as well as the organization.

Importantly, human resource departments have the capability to reinforce leadership development and appropriate leadership styles in the organization. This can only be done through a strong commitment to the human resource management team as far as leadership development is concerned (Burnes and By, 2011). Research strongly upholds the notion that despite the actual leadership style and leadership development methods, the acquisition of leadership skills is accentuated by a visible human resource manager, other senior executive support, and a strong organizational culture that treasures learning as well as development (Kur and Bunning, 2012). For supporting true leadership the culture of organisation must support that leadership and learning. An organizational culture includes artefacts and symbols, espoused values and other basic underlying assumptions. They all must support strong leadership with commitment towards fulfilling organizational goals. Human resource managers must go beyond their comfort zones and offer more than just gratuitous support. Without robust support from the human resource department, employees will naturally perceive leadership development as unimportant and give priority to their efforts accordingly.

Conclusion

The major purpose of this paper was to discuss the role or importance of leadership in change management. As such, the introduction denoted the importance of change; every organization has to go through some form of change to align itself with the market environment or improve its competitive advantage. In the course, various definitions of leadership were provided, highlighting that the concept is more of a process rather than about individual attributes as past theories tended to imply. Through the use of modern theories – the value based theories, transformational leadership theory, and the relationship leadership theory – this essay labored to show the importance of leadership in change management. The value-based leadership theories contend that true leadership is leadership bent on organizational values. The transformational leadership theory lauds the ability of the leader to assess the need for change, develop processes needed to implement change, and share outcomes or best practices. Relational leaders, on the other hand, stand as a replacement of the bureaucratic leaders and leadership styles of past decades and ensure that the working relationships between managers and employees are not constrained. This paper has also attempted to show the implications of leadership and leadership attributes in human resource management. In this section, the paper discussed the importance of ensuring human resource personnel provide good leadership, and at the same time, hunt for potential leaders and develop them. From this discourse, it has been shown that companies such as Colgate-Palmolive practice good leadership skills and strategies ensuring that there is continuity of good leadership in an organization. As such, the implications of leadership in human resource, are two-fold – to exercise leadership qualities and promote the development of the same within an organization. Of course, with proper leadership and leaders, an organization is bound to succeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Burnes, B. and By, R.T. (2011) Leadership and change: the case for greater ethical clarity, Journal of Business Ethics, doi 10.1007/s10551-011-1088-2).

CIPD. (2017). Leadership in the Workplace. Retrieved May 1, 2017, from https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strategy/leadership/factsheet

Dennis, R. S., & Bocarnea, M. (2005). Development of the servant leadership assessment instrument. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 26(8), 600–615.

Gregory Stone, A., Russell, R. F., & Patterson, K. (2014). Transformational versus servant leadership: A difference in leader focus. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 25(4), 349–361.

House, R., Javidan, M., Hanges, P., & Dorfman, P. (2014). Understanding cultures and implicit leadership theories across the globe: an introduction to project GLOBE. Journal of World Business, 37(1), 3–10.

Jamaludin, Z., Rahman, N.M.N.A., Makhbul, Z.K.M., & Idris, F. (2011) Do transactional, transformational and spiritual leadership styles distinct? A conceptual insight. Journal of Global Business & Economics, 2, 73-85.

Jung, D.I., Chow, C., & Wu, A. (2013) The role of transformational leadership in enhancing organizational innovation: Hypotheses and some preliminary findings.

Kelley, D., & Lee, H. (2010) Managing innovation champions: The impact of project characteristics on the direct manager role. Journal of Product Innovation

Kur, E. and Bunning, R. (2012). Assuring corporate leadership for the future, Journal of Management Development, Vol. 21 No. 9, pp. 761-79.

Lankua, M.J. and Scandura, T.A. (2002). An investigation of personal learning in mentoring relationships: content, antecedents, and consequences. Academy of Management Journal, Leadership Quarterly, 14, 525.

Macleod, C. and By, R.T. (2009) Organizational change management in public services: key findings and emerging themes: International Issues, Challenges and Cases, pp. 241–249 Routledge, UK: Milton Park. Management, 27, 1007-1019.

McColl-Kennedy, J., & Anderson, R.D. (2012) Impact of leadership style and emotions on subordinate performance. Leadership Quarterly, 13, 545-559.

Mintzberg, H. (1990). The design school: reconsidering the basic premises of strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 11(3), 171–195.

Sendjaya, S., Sarros, J. C., & Santora, J. C. (2008). Defining and measuring servant leadership behaviour in organizations. Journal of Management Studies, 45(2), 402–424.

Stiglitz, J. (2010) Freefall: Free Markets and the Sinking of the Global Economy, London: Allen Lane.

Stogdill, R. M. (1990). Personal factors associated with leadership: A survey of the literature. The Journal of Psychology, 25(1), 35–71.

Vasilaki, A., Tarba, S., Ahammad, M. F., & Glaister, A. J. (2016). The moderating role of transformational leadership on HR practices in M&A integration. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(20), 2488–2504. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2016.1204556 Vol. 45 No. 4, pp. 779-90.

Warren G. B. (2010). Managing the Dream: Leadership in the 21st Century. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 2(1), 6–10. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534818910134040

Warren G. B. (2010). Managing the Dream: Leadership in the 21st Century. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 2(1), 6–10. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534818910134040

 

 

 

Introduction

Change is a continuous natural organizational process. For an organization to be successful, it must implement change at three major levels: individual, team, and organization. In each of these levels, leadership has a significant role as it is the practical role of a leader to manage the people who make up the organization and make their efforts be in the best interest of change for the organization (Stiglitz, 2010). Change management is a critical area of focus for the successful growth of an enterprise, it is essential even for the existence of any organization in today’s business world (Burnes and By, 2011). According to the CIPD (2017), a century of research in the concept of leadership has demonstrated that leadership is a major factor in influencing organizational, individual performance, and effectiveness McColl-Kennedy and Anderson, 2012). Over the ages, many theories, including behavioral theories, contingency theories, and post-heroic models have been presented to provide to elucidate the place of leadership in a changing organization. In this essay, though, more recent theories: value-based leadership theories, transformational leadership theory, and relational leadership theories will be employed to show the importance of leadership in times of change, especially on leadership in the human resource management. With agreement on the thesis, that leadership is an important element in change management; this paper will link leadership and the human resource management in ensuring success in an organization.

 

Definition of Leadership

There are varied definitions of leadership as the concept is termed as one that is hard to define. Some ages ago, Stogdill stated that there are almost as many variations in defining leadership as there are scholars who have made attempts to define the concept. According to Bennis (2010), there were around 650 different definitions of leadership in various sources at the close of last century. Of course, the number of definitions of leadership has increased over time and currently there are over 1,400 definitions of the terms leadership and leader (Dennis and Bocarnea, 2005). In satisfying the daunting task of defining leadership, Stone (2014) abridged the recurring notions regarding leadership in the great man theory. According to Stone, leaders are exceptional people or heroes who have the ability to use intelligence, charisma, political skills, and wisdom to have influence and power over other people. Although his notions remained significant, House et al. (2014) noted that such heroes were the outcomes of their context or societies, anticipating the modern discourse regarding leadership.

Historically, leadership had been perpetually defined as a personal quality, but after the Second World War, a novel trend began. Stogdill referred to leadership as the act or process of influencing the activities of teams in its endeavors toward goal achievement and goal setting (Dennis and Bocarnea, 2005). Kotter’s proposition added a new perspective to the concept of leadership, citing it as the process of moving teams in a particular direction through non-coercive methods. In keeping with this definition, the application of coercive methods is not analogous to leadership, since followership should be voluntary. Warren, who disagrees with the Kotter’s non-coercive concept, expressed that leadership is an equilateral triangle that has three aspects – the leader, the context, and the followers. According to Warren (2012), leadership is important, but followers are also as important as the leader. In line with the above discussion, this paper employs a cross-cutting leadership definition as the process of interactive influence that takes place when some people accept an individual as their leader to achieve mutual goals. This definition implies that leadership is a process, and not merely a personal attribute, that is characterized by the interactive influence between the leader and the supporters or followers.

 

Leadership and Change

An effective leader can spur effectiveness, create harmony, and provide direction for positive change. In this case, normal leadership and change leadership differs. Change leadership entails various phases of change – together with the emotions that come with such phases – and employees in the organization must react and navigate when change is continuous (Sendjaya, 2008). Change leadership needs leaders, as well as the people they lead, to address mindsets and beliefs and to gain behaviors and practices that assist people to adapt to change (Stiglitz, 2010). In distinction to change management, which brings about influence from the external environment, change leadership brings about influence from inside.In change management, value based theories have gained increased attention, in the recent decade, as many transformational and charismatic leaders in organizations lacked an authentic, moral, and ethical aspect. Change management literature has also touched on the need for ethics and morality in corporate leaders, with some scholars expanding the discourse of VBL to subsume a leadership style that does not involve a congruence of the values of a leader within the values of the organization. As such, a plethora of constructs has been proposed in response to the various challenges and failures of leaders in the 21st century. Most common constructs proposed by value based leadership include stewardship, servant leadership, self-sacrificial leadership, connective leadership, complex leadership, authentic transformational leadership, shared leadership, contextual leadership, and spiritual leadership.

The above constructs are all essential when an organization needs to change for the purpose of remaining competitive, becoming more efficient, or introducing new products (Stiglitz, 2010). In such instances, value-based leadership concepts advocate that leaders have to lean on values, including the values of the organization, to ensure performance and success. Leaders must lean on the values of the organization to drive performance, especially during times of change. In order to ensure maximum output and high performance of leaders, they must have skills and competencies of highly effective people as identified by Covey (1991) in his book ‘The 7 habits of highly effective people’. An organization's values should be the bedrock of why the company exists, how it makes decisions and its true purpose (Vasilaki et al., 2016). They must be authentic and relatively specific, so they actually resonate with the team (Jung et al., 2013). In evaluating the success and performance, the leader will also use value based leadership principles, where evaluation is based on a certain set of values and not some milestones and metrics. Transformational leadership theory serves as a model that has transitioned from older concepts of leader-centered theories to novel perspectives of process centered concepts. However, as much as this method provides new ways of looking at the matter, it remains with a little attention placed on the values of the leader (Jung et al., 2013). According to theorists in this school of thought, a transformational leader is one who has internally driven visionaries and can perceive political exchanges, technical competences, and beyond. In addition to that, transformational leaders have been terms as leaders who act within a formal moral system, gain power from a set of values, offer behavioral integrity, are self-authoring, communicates efficiently, and have highly complex strategies. Research notes that the transformational leader also has an inherent ability to realign and adapt their perspectives to the mechanics of a continually evolving environment (Vasilaki et al., 2016). These characteristics are a great strength, as note by external observers who usually became followers.

Scholars laud transformational leadership theory in its ability to steer change in an organization. Research links this theory with effective change as transformational leaders have the ability to note the need for change, develop the change, and share compelling perspectives with employees, offer guidance during changes, and inspire the employees to complete the daunting goal of institutionalizing change (Jung, et al. 2013). According to Prosci’s change management model, the first step in managing any kind of organizational change is to understand way of managing change with single individual. Research has shown that this concept work in both Western and non-Western organizations and societies and correlates with both team and individual level job performance (Jamaludin et al. 2010). In in-depth studies, the mediating factors involve, which actually elucidate how transformational leadership influences the performance of employees in change contexts, in reality, are assessed. The relationship leadership theory furthers the discourse on change management, offering novel insights. In this respect, relational leadership refers to the trend of reciprocal interrelating between managers and workers to ensure a change situation makes sense and to determine what needs to be done in a change context (Macleod, 2009). According to this theory, every party in the organization learns from one another, with employees contributing a lot of in-depth knowledge related to their functions while the managers are offering the broader perspective of the less focused information that is concerned with their functions. Together, the two parties develop an integrated comprehension of a change process or situation (Jamaludin et al. 2010). According to Lewin’s three phase change model, an organisation should follow three main steps for managing change effectively. These are unfreezing, movement and refreezing. The reciprocal interrelating process needs communication through sharing of knowledge, sharing of goals, paying attention to the insights and needs of parties, exercising mutual respect, and triggering cognitive relationships in the form of shared knowledge and goals. Moreover, according to the Iceberg Theory, it is stated that individuals in an organisation should focus on indepth information or knowledge rather than just focusing on the information that is in front of this, as there might be a possibility that hidden information is actual information.

In the conventional bureaucratic organizational structure, by contrast, the relationship between the employee and the manager is marked by norms of power and hierarchy instead of power with. Also, this hierarchy is nestled in roles that offer some safeguard against utter domination succession (Warren, 2010). In the complete relational, organizational structure, members exercise influence by their personal attributes rather than their functions (Macleod, 2009). The upside of this concept is that employees have to earn the loyalty and commitment of other key members of the organization. The downside of the concept is that the absence of role based power implies that the formal limits to apply the authority, which depreciate to nepotism and despotism, can arise. In critically analyzing the role of leadership in change management, various key companies such as Apple Inc. are mentioned. Apple Inc. stands as one of the best examples of organizations that have implemented monumental organizational changes successfully because of good leadership. Steve Jobs, the long-term leader of the company, enabled the company to make up for its losses and steer the organization to a whole new level through transformational leadership. The leader used innovative approaches and transformational leadership qualities to help the firm to develop capabilities of producing digital products that changed the world. Workers were recognized for exploring and proposing innovative ideas. Through the transformational leadership perspective, Jobs will always be cited for his skills and talents of great innovation and vision.

 

 

Relationship to the Human Resource

In discussing the place of leadership in human resource management, it should be first noted that human resource management in this current century is a process that expends knowledge and skills of the employees to make the attainment of organizational goals possible (Warren, 2010). Various researchers have dwelt on human resource related topics, explaining that it is the role of the human resource department to address the concerns and benefits of employees as they play a significant role in the success and continuity of any business or organization (Stiglitz, 2010; Stogdill, 1990; Burnes and By, 2011). It is also noteworthy that the human resource relates to the management of workers in an organization, which essentially translates into a leadership role that uses specific leadership qualities. Drawing from this argument, it is evident that effective leadership entails managing people, and when it boils down to managing people, every human resource manager should be concerned to some extent with hiring, staff retention, staff development, staff adjustment, and managing change in the organization – which involves and affects employees (Warren, 2010). Staffing entails identifying the requirements of work in an organization, determining the people and skills set needed to complete certain work, hiring, choosing, and promoting competent workers. Retention, on the other hand, entails rewarding the workers for making reformations in their work, ensuring there is harmony in work relations, and maintaining a healthy, safe working environment. Development is a role whose goal is to enhance and preserve the competence of employees. On the basis of performance of employees, they must be rewarded in order to motivate them. After recruitment and selection of individuals, they are required to be provided with learning and talent development opportunities. According to this, individuals must be provided with various training opportunities in order to enhance their skills and learning. This can help individuals to fulfill their short term and long term ambitions and they feel motivated to perform.

Needless to state, the above activities depend on individuals, teams, or unit levels that comprise of good leaders and leadership skills. It is argued that leadership in human resource department is important to ensure that the behavior of employees profits the organization. On that, employee involvement, communication, teamwork, development, training, all of which have a positive impact on the performance of employees, are essential (Warren, 2010). Employee engagement is one of the important elements of transformational leadership, according to which leaders give considerable importance to the involvement of employees. Employees are motivated to get involved in important tasks and decision of organisations, due to which they feel motivated and their performance level is enhanced. Transformational leadership characteristics and behaviors of personnel in the human resource department or the human resource manager have a moderating role in the identification of employees with an organization and their behavior. Both in the discourse on the roles of managers and human resource devolution, scholars claim a protracted role immediate supervisors in managing the issues of people. Mintzberg noted the ‘leader’ role as one of the major roles of line managers, citing that they should motivate employees, and develop a conducive working environment. A significant number of studies have used Mintzberg‘s model and recognize the role of leadership in human resource management (Mintzberg, 1990). Moreover, various authors from human resource devolution discourse contend that the responsibilities of managing people have increased significantly in the past decades because of the emergence of human resource management as a successor to personnel management, and the pressure of the former to make strategic contribution to organizations. To add to the organization’s strategy attainment, leadership is essential in human resource (Macleod, 2009). After all, human resource managers spend most of their time noting the major business objectives and might thus have a more direct influence on the motivation, discretionary behavior, and commitment of employees.

Scholars, in assessing the role of leadership in human resource management, have looked at the impact of integrating leadership in planning processes and deployment of managerial personnel. An important aspect that emerges from the discourse is the role of managers in a mentoring relationship in places of work and hence invoking performance. Among other tasks, mentoring relationships entails discussions concerning career planning, development of competencies, including leadership competencies, and assessment of areas of improvement and areas of core strengths. Human resource managers are also actively involved in identifying potential talent and examining the bench strengths of their working units. As great potential talent emerge, human research managers are engaged in delivering activities that will develop leadership skills, creating important functions outside the functional background of employees, and facilitating projects for action learning succession (Warren, 2010). In essence, the leadership of the human resource department goes a long way in ensuring the development of both the individual workers and the organization at large.

Another important function of leadership is developing other leadership talents. This is in addition to the main role in developing workable mentor networks. Identification and labeling leadership talent are essential in the organization ensures the human resource personnel are fully engaged in the identification and codification processes of talent and avoids replacement approach when it comes to succession (Warren, 2010). The consensus exhibited by human resource managers is that organizations are better served when they invest a significant amount of their time in ensuring that they note and develop potential managers and leaders to ensure continuity and flexibility of executive successions. Indeed, studies show that organizations with a great reputation of leadership development plans, including Colgate-Palmolive and Sonoco Products, employ a very adaptable and fluid framework to succession planning (Kur and Bunning, 2012). In essence, employees move on and off fluidly in the list of diverse and high potential of candidates through leadership and mentorship programs, not merely on direct reports.

In addition to the flexibility and fluidity concerning the list of potential workers, another benchmark of exemplary leadership in human resource management is a sharp focus on action-based development activities meant to improve leadership competencies that are aligned with the goals of the organization. Human resource managers can do this through action learning projects, stretch assignments, and internal courses (Kur and Bunning, 2012). While such methods are consistent with research on personnel development, active participation of the human resource department, as well as other levels, is critically required. Concerning stretch assignments, it has been noted that there are many developmental benefits including offering invaluable working experience, exposing workers to myriad experiences, and collecting important data on the potentials of workers to inform on staff development and succession planning (Kelley and Lee, 2010). As such, action based development activities are a major way that human resource managers can demonstrate and exercise their leadership skills in a manner that is in keeping with the goals of the organization for the benefit of both the workers as well as the organization.

Importantly, human resource departments have the capability to reinforce leadership development and appropriate leadership styles in the organization. This can only be done through a strong commitment to the human resource management team as far as leadership development is concerned (Burnes and By, 2011). Research strongly upholds the notion that despite the actual leadership style and leadership development methods, the acquisition of leadership skills is accentuated by a visible human resource manager, other senior executive support, and a strong organizational culture that treasures learning as well as development (Kur and Bunning, 2012). For supporting true leadership the culture of organisation must support that leadership and learning. An organizational culture includes artefacts and symbols, espoused values and other basic underlying assumptions. They all must support strong leadership with commitment towards fulfilling organizational goals. Human resource managers must go beyond their comfort zones and offer more than just gratuitous support. Without robust support from the human resource department, employees will naturally perceive leadership development as unimportant and give priority to their efforts accordingly.

Conclusion

The major purpose of this paper was to discuss the role or importance of leadership in change management. As such, the introduction denoted the importance of change; every organization has to go through some form of change to align itself with the market environment or improve its competitive advantage. In the course, various definitions of leadership were provided, highlighting that the concept is more of a process rather than about individual attributes as past theories tended to imply. Through the use of modern theories – the value based theories, transformational leadership theory, and the relationship leadership theory – this essay labored to show the importance of leadership in change management. The value-based leadership theories contend that true leadership is leadership bent on organizational values. The transformational leadership theory lauds the ability of the leader to assess the need for change, develop processes needed to implement change, and share outcomes or best practices. Relational leaders, on the other hand, stand as a replacement of the bureaucratic leaders and leadership styles of past decades and ensure that the working relationships between managers and employees are not constrained. This paper has also attempted to show the implications of leadership and leadership attributes in human resource management. In this section, the paper discussed the importance of ensuring human resource personnel provide good leadership, and at the same time, hunt for potential leaders and develop them. From this discourse, it has been shown that companies such as Colgate-Palmolive practice good leadership skills and strategies ensuring that there is continuity of good leadership in an organization. As such, the implications of leadership in human resource, are two-fold – to exercise leadership qualities and promote the development of the same within an organization. Of course, with proper leadership and leaders, an organization is bound to succeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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