The Role of Leadership in Organizational Change

Organizational change, therefore, is the process of adapting existing organizational structures to alter current practices to meet certain objectives. Kotter (1996) suggests that leadership goes beyond management; it is the capacity to mobilize and guide others to adopt change. John P. Kotter defined change management as a tactical process in which the first four steps were creating a sense of urgency, creating a change coalition, creating a vision, and finally communicating the vision (Mouazen et al., 2024). These steps aim to reduce or avoid resistance and ensure everyone in the organization is on the same page concerning a new set of strategies.

Several theories explain how change can be managed within organizations. Kurt Lewin's Change Management Model is one of the oldest theories in this field. Lewin's model outlines a three-step process: unfreezing, changing, and refreezing. Unfreezing entails creating awareness that change is desirable, which requires eliminating previous ways of thinking and operating within the organization (Hussain et al., 2018). The change occurs in the changing step, and new procedures or behaviors are initiated. The last is refreezing, in which the latest changes are consolidated into the organizational culture. This model emphasizes the need to plan for change and its management, the process of change, and the maintenance of change.

Effective communication is also another important function of leadership in the management of change in organizations. It is important to engage everyone in the organization to share why change is happening, its value, and what is expected of them. The leaders need to be willing and able to share information, report often on the progress, and answer queries and issues that develop. Such an approach minimizes the resistance to change and increases the level of employees' trust since they are involved in the change process (Bakari et al., 2017). However, communication also includes the process of getting feedback and reacting accordingly if there is a need for a change. A two-way communication process increases employee involvement and ensures that all the staff feel as if they own the change.

Another important role of leadership within the organizational transformation process is the capability to foster and sustain a supporting culture. Positive organizational culture can add value and improve change agendas by making the organizational environment more receptive to new change initiatives (Bakari et al., 2017). Managers are responsible for cultivating such a culture in the organization through their conduct, behavior, and attitudes toward work. This entails acknowledging and valuing individual efforts, ensuring work fulfillment, and promoting organizational identity. Leaders must encourage employees to embrace change and support initiatives to create a new corporate culture.

Moreover, leaders practice transformational leadership during organizational change. Transforming leaders mobilize the subordinates to perform beyond what they are capable of because they motivate them and involve them in envisioning the change (Peng et al., 2020). Transformational leadership has four key components: "idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and individual consideration" (Farahnak et al., 2020). entails providing examples to the followers and gaining their confidence and respect. Inspirational motivation involves the provision of clear goals that inspire employees. Intellectual stimulation involves the creation of new ideas and the search for ideas outside the organizational context. Finally, individualized consideration entails acknowledging each employee's strengths, needs, and circumstances and encouraging him/her to perform optimally (Farahnak et al., 2020). By empowering the people in the organization and inspiring them to look forward to change, transformational leaders can help organizations through change management.

Also, leadership in organizational change entails addressing resistance to change, a customary and prevalent factor experienced in most change processes. Consciously or unconsciously, people can resist change, and this can be at different levels, ranging from the passive level of mere non-compliance to the active level of trying to subvert the change process. This invariably affects the efficiency of change. Managers and leaders should be aware of the signs of resistance and its causes so that they can find ways to deal with it. Some strategies for handling resistance include offering more training, dealing with employees' anxiety/fear, and asking employees to embrace the change. This way, leaders can control the employees' resistance and make sure that the change process is rather trouble-free. (Hussain et al., 2018). If leaders understand and manage resistance to change, they can ensure the change process runs smoothly.

Leadership also has a central role to play in fostering Emotional Intelligence in the organization, especially during the change process (Peng et al., 2020). Emotional intelligence can be defined as the ability to accurately appraise and manage one's emotions and to accurately recognize and respond to the emotions of others (Peng et al., 2020). A high level of EI in leaders helps them to be ready for the change process and manage other people, as this process is always connected with emotions, conflicts, new relationships, etc. This includes understanding the employees' emotions and regulating one's own emotions. With the help of emotional intelligence, leaders can manage organizational changes effectively through the different aspects of change.

Additionally, the leadership in organizational transformation offers a structural approach to management that includes planning and executing strategies. This means defining the change agenda and what needs to be achieved, implementing it, and assessing the change process to check if it is progressing correctly. According to Kotter, the managers and leaders of the organization should have a clear idea of how change will be done, and this means that they should be able to explain the best way of effecting change for the better in any organization (Peng et al., 2020). This suggests planning to pre-empt or capture threats or opportunities and possesses the flexibility to modify the plan when necessary. This suggests that if the leaders within the organization have formulated good plans, then they will be able to guarantee that the change will be successful in the short run as well as the long run.

Lastly, leadership in organizational change is not only about facilitating the change process but also managing change after it has occurred. This involves further practicing reinforcement, support, training, and evaluations to maintain those new behaviors and processes (Stouten et al., 2018). Leaders must be engaged after the implementation of change and continue to observe the developments, difficulties, and shifts that require constant intervention for the sustainability of the change. This may include practices that include appraisals and assessments, employee feedback, and proactive measures like corrective action. In this way, leaders can achieve sustainable development of the organizations and further change management efforts at different stages of an organization's development.

In conclusion, it can be deduced that leadership is imperative in facilitating the process of change in organizations. Leaders must understand motivation and how to motivate employees, communication and how to communicate well, create a positive organizational culture, and deal with counterculture. Leaders should rely on change management theories and frameworks to guide the change and leverage emotional intelligence to effectively manage the complexities of the change process. Through a systematic and strategic approach to change management in organizations, there is a better likelihood of making positive changes that would help support the growth and development of the organization.