The Effectiveness and Specificity of Change Management in a Public Organization: Transformational Leadership and a Bureaucratic Organizational Structure

There is an extensive private sector literature on organizational change management. However, recent studies have suggested that the specific context of public organizations may have consequences for the management organizational change. This study examines to what extent different change approaches and transformational leadership of direct supervisors contribute to the effective implementation of organizational change in public organizations, and to what extent the bureaucratic structure of public organizations makes the implementation of organizational change s3pecific. The implementation of an organizational change in a Dutch public organization is studied using quantitative methods and techniques. The results indicate that bureaucratic organizations may effectively implement organizational change with both planned and emergent change approaches. The contribution of transformational leadership depends on the type of change approach and organizational structure. Transformational leadership behavior of direct supervisors contributes little to planned processes of change, but is crucial in emergent processes of change in a non-bureaucratic context. Although the literature on change management mostly emphasizes the leadership of senior managers, the leadership role of direct supervisors should not be overlooked during organizational change in public organizations. 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction of organization change often fails (Beer & Nohria, 2000; Burke, There is an extensive private sector literature on organizational change management (Armenakis & Bedeian, 1999; Beer & Nohria, 2000; Burke, 2010; Self, Armenakis, & Schraeder, 2007). However, recent studies have questioned to what extent private sector change management techniques are applicable in a public sector context, and have suggested that the differences between the public and private sector could play a role (Boyne, 2006; Karp & Helgø, 2008; Kickert, 2013; Klarner, Probst, & Soparnot, 2008; Rusaw, 2007). Several authors have suggested that the specific context of public organizations may have consequences for the management organizational change (Burnes, 2009; Coram & Burnes, 2001; Isett, Glied, Sparer, & Brown, 2012; McNulty & Ferlie, 2004), but there is little empirical evidence concerning this issue. A recent literature review of research on change management in the public sector by Kuipers et al. (2013) found that most studies emphasize the content and context of change, instead of the implementation process. Moreover, Kuipers et al. conclude that many studies did not address the outcomes or success of a change intervention. Although there is substantial evidence that the implementation 2010; Burnes, 2011; Kotter, 1996), there is relatively little evidence about how organizational change can be effectively managed in the public sector (Fernandez & Pitts, 2007; Kickert, 2010). This study aims to contribute to research on change management in public organizations by addressing the effectiveness and specificity of change management in public organizations. First, this study aims to identify what factors contribute to the effective implementation of organizational change in the public sector. As the implementation of organizational change ultimately depends on the support of employees (Bartunek, Rousseau, Rudolph, & DePalma, 2006; Herold, Fedor, & Caldwell, 2007). The concept of employee willingness to change is used to assess the degree to which employees support the implementation of change (Metselaar, 1997). Following the emphasis on the role of leadership in the change management literature (e.g. Gill, 2002; Higgs & Rowland, 2005, 2010; Karp & Helgø, 2008; Kotter, 1996), this study examines to what extent leadership contributes to employee willingness to change in the public sector. Attention is focused on the transformational leadership behavior of direct supervisors. In addition, this study accounts for the effects of different change management approaches that are outlined in the literature on change management (Beer & Nohria, 2000; By, 2005). We refer to these approaches as planned and emergent change (cf. Bamford & Forrester, 2003; Burnes, 1996, 2004; Kickert, 2010).