Leadership Behaviors in Change Implementation

Leadership Behaviors and Change Implementation

• Higgs and Rowland (2000, 2005) identified five leadership competency areas linked to successful change implementation:

  • Creating the case for change
  • Creating structural change
  • Engaging others in the change process
  • Implementing and sustaining changes
  • Facilitating and developing capability

• Higgs and Rowland (2005) analyzed leadership behaviors in 70 change stories and identified three broad sets:

  • Shaping behavior: leader-centric actions directly related to change (e.g., accountability, individual focus)
  • Framing change: establishing starting points for change (e.g., journey design, guiding principles)
  • Creating capacity: building individual and organizational capabilities

• Leader-centric behaviors (Shaping) negatively impacted change success across various contexts, while group-focused behaviors (Framing and Creating) were positively related to success.

Change Approach Coding Frame

• The study incorporated a Change Approach Coding Frame based on Higgs and Rowland (2005), considering two dimensions:

  • Core assumptions: linear vs. complex
  • Degree of regulation of implementation: standardized vs. distributed

• The study categorized change approaches into four types:

  • Directive: Linear and standardized implementation
  • Master: Complexity recognized but standardized implementation
  • Self-Assembly: Complexity recognized with distributed implementation
  • Emergent: Complexity embedded with distributed implementation

Research Questions and Methods

• The study aimed to answer two research questions:

  • Does combining "Framing" and "Creating" behaviors lead to more effective change implementation compared to other behavior combinations?
  • Do leader-centric (Shaping) behaviors have a less negative impact on change success when combined with facilitating behaviors?

• Data was collected from 65 change stories provided by leaders from 33 organizations across private, public, and third sectors.

Findings

• Less successful change initiatives were associated with Directive and Self-Assembly approaches, while more successful initiatives showed higher proportions of Master and Emergent approaches.
• Less successful changes exhibited a higher proportion of Shaping behaviors and a lower proportion of "Framcap" behaviors (combination of Framing and Creating).
• More successful changes showed a dominance of "Framcap" behaviors.

Explore the key leadership behaviors identified by Higgs and Rowland that are essential for successful change implementation. This quiz delves into five competency areas and the impact of leader-centric versus group-focused behaviors on change success. Test your understanding of effective leadership in organizational change processes.