7005MHR – Leadership: Towards Mastery of

Leading change and Inclusivity

Dr Knowledge Mpofu
Leading organisational change and institutional complexity
 Module Overview
Week Topics
1 Introduction: What is Strategic Leadership? Engaging with leadership blogs
- Role and impact of strategic leadership in organisations
- Engaging with leadership blogs – participating in debates and contemporary themes in leadership
- Leadership as an evolving multidimensional construct – from a variety of perspectives (eg: global business, global healthcare, international
fashion management, HR management, marketing and finance).
2. Leading and managing organisational change
- Leading and managing change - role and impact of strategic leadership
- Change management models
- Dealing with resistance to change, managing conflict and institutional complexities
3. Professional development Workshop 1 - Leadership in action (team-based activity and reflection)

4. Professional development Workshop 2 - Leadership in action (team-based activity and reflection)

5. Ethical Leadership and impact on organisations and society

- What is ethical leadership? Does it matter in organisations and society?
- Role and impact on ethical leadership in organisations and society
6. Organisational behaviour and impact on society
- Organisations with high impact on society: with what activities, innovative products and services?
- What is the role and impact of ethical leadership on activities and success of an organisation?
7. Building high performing teams
- Building high performing and inclusive teams – role and impact of strategic leadership
- Characteristics of high performing teams in organisations
8. Leading - Diversity and Inclusivity practices in global organisations – does it matter?

9. Leading with Emotional Intelligence

- Social awareness, building and managing relationships as a leader
- Leadership in a VUCA world (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) - global environment
10 Developing as a leader: Leadership for the future
- Bringing it all together - Professional development as a future leader
- Experiential learning – value of learning from experience and reflective practice
11 Module Review: Revision, Coursework progress check and feedback

12 Coursework submission
 Module Learning Outcomes

LO1. Comprehensively evaluate the role and impact of strategic leadership in

organisational transformative change, locally, nationally and globally.

LO2. Critically evaluate research on the impact of organisational behaviour on

society and the role of ethical leadership in this context.

LO3. Apply judgement and originality of thought when evaluating the impact
of strategic leadership in creating a high performing and inclusive workforce.

LO4. Systematically analyse and discuss the role of emotionally intelligent

leadership in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world.

This module is about Leadership as a living practice through the mastery of strategic and ethical leadership.
➢ The key focus of the module is to align effective and ethical leadership with transformative organisational
change.
Students will engage via a number of learning blocks in the
module:
Knowledge & Understanding: This block is concerned with the
sharing of academic theory and concepts to ensure students
have mastered a critical appreciation of current and relevant
research in the subject area.
Application: This block brings the knowledge and
understanding ‘to life’ by relating it to current practice. It takes
a critical view of the theory and concepts as they are employed
in the workplace in order to encourage students to evaluate
their significance and merit.
Analysis & Problem Solving: This block requires students to
develop and demonstrate their analytical skills and present a
rationale and strategic set of decisions, which identify risks and
generate a range of hypotheses to understand their cause and
effect.
We aim to provide a transformative learning experience for all
our students, by providing them with space for their personal
development and encouraging them to become engaged and
involved in their academic areas of interest and the wider
community.
Module Aims
This module offers a critical perspective that allows students to examine leadership from theory to
practice, as a strategic mechanism for change in a globally complex world and connect these to own
leadership practice.
The module helps to gain a deeper understanding of the pivotal role of strategic leadership in
articulating vision, establishing direction, building a supportive organisational climate and culture,
motivated and highly performing teams that are fully committed to the strategic agenda of an
organisation.
The module allows students to critically explore and examine a range of relevant leadership themes that include, but
not limited to, authentic leadership, ethics, ethical leadership, morality, emotional intelligence, leading and managing
change, motivation, high performing teams, adaptability, institutional complexity, decision making, diversity and
inclusivity practices in an action-based and reflective learning environment.
The leadership styles, qualities, skills and behaviour covered in this module offer students the
opportunities to learn how to develop, influence, persuade and lead others, as well as understanding
the behavioural dynamics of how groups and teams work together within organisational contexts.
The module is supported by leadership development workshops with a value adding coaching element from an
industry perspective. The leadership in action simulation provides an opportunity for students to combine the
theoretical learning with practical hands-on leadership scenarios. This special feature of the module helps to explore
aspects of change, leading self and others in an action-based learning activity. The workshop activities present
opportunities for students to experience ambiguity and complexity in a controlled setting and working in teams.
You will apply relevant concepts, tools, models and frameworks and draw on draw on a range of
relevant sources from leadership theory, industry research and best practices as well as real-time case
studies and practitioner insights into global organisations, their activities and impact on society.
 Today we focus on...

Leading organisational change and institutional complexity

▪ Leading through change and Institutional complexities
▪ Challenges of leading and managing in the middle – from an institutional complexity perspective
▪ Institutional complexity - strategies for dealing with conflicting hybrid logistics (interests) of diverse stakeholder groups
Leading change and Institutional Complexity - Challenges of
Managing in the Middle
Institutional Complexity - Challenges of Managing in the Middle

Institutional complexity theory – concepts and perspectives

• Organisations as contested space (environment) with diverse stakeholder groups with different and
sometimes competing demands (interests, expectations, logics, power and influence)
• Complexity of leading and managing organisations characterised by ‘hybrid logics’ or competing demands from different stakeholders.

• The need to identify key stakeholders of an organisation, their power/influence and interests (logics),
Stakeholder management, managing conflict within organisations

• Mechanisms for managing external complexity (Oliver, 1991) model

Michael Smets’ model for dynamically balancing competing stakeholder demands and contextual application
with reference to Pache and Santos (2013)

• Institutions: - include examples such as State, community, family, marriage, handshake, market/customers,
religion, Suppliers, Industry/Competitors etc
• Challenges for the organisation: Institutional complexity, external complexity, internal complexity

Adapted from Iszatt-white (2017); MacKay et al (2020); Zander (2020); Manning & Curtis (2022)
Institutional Complexity - Challenges for leadership

• Lack of (and/or limited) resources & capabilities, poor decision-making, biases, diverse
stakeholder interests and conflicting logics, institutions also create constraints that affect
achievement of organisational goals and therefore present institutional complexities.

• Some examples of institutions include boards of directors, shareholder committees, laws, and
codes of conduct, which are all important to consider for effective ethical leadership.

• Effective strategic and ethical leadership needs to create an institutional framework in which
the organisation’s norms and values are widely shared and its reputation for integrity is so
strong that everyone within the organisation is motivated and fully committed to achieving
strategic goals and want to win collectively the right way for the good of the organisation and
its stakeholders.

Adapted from Iszatt-white (2017); Johnson et al (2019); MacKay et al (2020); Zander (2020); Manning & Curtis (2022)
 Challenges for leadership – institutional complexity

Challenges for leadership:

• Hybrid logics
(perspectives/interests/expectations of
stakeholders)
• Unpredictable complexity
• Dealing with diversity – requires
Rules of the game guided by:
recruitment of cosmopolitans
• What ends to meet (achieve)?
• Articulating vision and aligning followers
• What means (resources & capabilities) to
to strategic direction
employ? Under what constraints?
• Resistance to change
• Standards to measure (performance,
• Requires emotional intelligence
achievement and success)? Adapted from Iszatt-white (2017); MacKay et al (2020)
Institutional Complexity – Response strategies

Responding to external complexity (strategies)

• Avoidance: conceal, buffer, escape
• Defiance: dismiss, challenge, attack
• Manipulation: Co-opt, influence, control

Responses to internal complexity

• Managing change and conflicting demands
• Accommodating, collaboration,
segmenting/separating to reduce conflict, bridging,
selective coupling, blending complementary logics,
demarcating (creating and maintaining boundaries
between conflicting logics)
• Embracing complexity (change) as source of urgency,
creativity and innovation
Adapted from Iszatt-white (2017); Johnson et al (2019); MacKay et al (2020); Manning & Curtis (2022)
 Prepare for practice activities
Task: Managing people through change
Institutional complexity – Challenges of managing in the middle

Case study scenario: You are the CEO of a new start up online retail shop in a city
where you live. After six months in business, you decided to carry out a survey to see
where your business stands on the market. The customer survey results are in: An
overwhelming number of users report frustration with your website and online shopping
experience. Clearly, there’s a problem. But where do you start to solve it?
• What do you think you as the leader (CEO) of the company wish you known or done
differently?

• How much damage do you think such a failure has caused to the company?
• Apart from customers, who are the other key stakeholders for the company? What
are their interests (logics), power & influence?
• What are the complexities facing the organisation with such diverse stakeholder
groups and ‘hybrid’ logics? (institutional, external and internal challenges?)

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 Prepare for practice activities
Institutional complexity – challenges of managing in the middle

Case study scenario: You are the CEO and Corporate training director for a large restaurant chain (eg McDonalds,
Subway, KFC, Nandos or any other fast food restaurant of your choice).

One of your restaurants, a branch in a city where you live, recently suffered a foodborne illness outbreak, causing hundreds
of customers to get sick. The mistake was easily preventable, and all of your employees take food safety training.

(a) Discuss what you think went wrong? How can you as a leader help employees within the organisation to avoid similar
mistakes in the future?

(b) As CEO of the company, what are the challenges of ‘managing in the middle’ from an institutional complexity
perspective?
• Discuss with specific examples of different key stakeholders for the company.
• What are the complexities facing the organisation with such diverse stakeholder groups and ‘hybrid’ logics?
(institutional, external and internal challenges?)
• Identify and discuss their logics (interests), power & influence from an institutional complexity perspective.

(c) What strategies (approaches) can you apply as a leader (CEO) to manage conflicting and competing demands of the
different stakeholders?

Discuss with specific examples drawn from the complexities facing the company. The strategies (approaches) may include
but not limited to:

• Avoidance: conceal, buffer, escape

• Defiance: dismiss, challenge, attack
• Manipulation: Co-opt, influence, control
• Accommodating, collaboration, segmenting/separating to reduce conflict, bridging, selective coupling, blending
complementary logics, demarcating (creating and maintaining boundaries between conflicting logics)
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 Thank you
Any questions?
Further Reading
Essential Reading List
• Zander, L. (2020). Research Handbook of Global Leadership: Making a Difference. Germany: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
Recommended Reading List
• Adair, J. (2010). Strategic Leadership: How to Think and Plan Strategically and Provide Direction. India: Kogan Page.
• Avolio, B.J. and Gardner, W.L. (2005). Authentic Leadership Development: Getting to the root of positive forms of Leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 16(3): 315-338.
• CIOs and the Digital Transformation: A New Leadership Role. (2017). Germany: Springer International Publishing.
• Ciulla, J. B. (2014). Ethics, the Heart of Leadership, 3rd Edition. United States: ABC-CLIO.
• Doğan, A., Schroevers, S. (2019). Exploring Global Leadership. Netherlands: CCBS Press.
• Duehring G. L. (2001). Delegation: developing the habit. Radiology management, 23(4), 16–24.
• Fang, Y., Dai, X., & Zhang, X. (2021). An empirical study of the relationship between inclusive leadership and business model innovation. Leadership & Organisation Development
Journal.
• Gardner H. (2007). The ethical mind. A conversation with psychologist Howard Gardner. Harvard business review, 85(3), 51–142.
• Goffee, R., & Jones, G. (2000). Why should anyone be led by you? Harvard business review, 78(5), 62–198.
• Goleman, D. (2012). The Brain and Emotional Intelligence: New Insights, Kindle Edition
• Goleman, D., McKee, A., Boyatzis, R. E. (2002). The New Leaders: Transforming the Art of Leadership into the Science of Results. United Kingdom: Little, Brown.
• Goleman, D. (1996). Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Hames, R. D. (2015). The Five Literacies of Global Leadership: What Authentic Leaders Know and You Need to Find Out. Germany: Wiley.
• Issah, M. (2018). Change Leadership: The role of emotional intelligence. SAGE Open, 8(3), 2158244018800910.
• Iszatt-white M. and Saunders C. (2017) Leadership. Publisher Oxford University Press.
• MacKay B, Arevuo M, MacKay D and Meadows M (2020) Strategy: Theory, Practice, Implementation. Publisher Oxford University Press.
• Maniscalco, C. (2019). Distributed Leadership and Digital Innovation: The Argument For Couple Leadership. United States: Taylor & Francis.
• Neugebauer, T., Kreutzer, R. T., Pattloch, A. (2018). Digital Business Leadership: Digital Transformation, Business Model Innovation, Agile Organisation, Change Management.
Germany: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
• Nye, J (2008). The Powers to Lead. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Price, T. L. (2020). Leadership and the Ethics of Influence. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.
• Randel, A. E., Galvin, B. M., Shore, L. M., Ehrhart, K. H., Chung, B. G., Dean, M. A., & Kedharnath, U. (2018). Inclusive leadership: Realising positive outcomes through belongingness
and being valued for uniqueness. Human Resource Management Review, 28(2), 190-203.
• Robbins, S.P., Judge, T. & Campbell, T. (2010) Organizational Behaviour, 1st European ed., Harlow: FT Prentice Hall.
• Roe, K. (2017). Leadership Practice and Perspectives. Publisher Oxford University Press.
• Szkudlarek, B., Mendenhall, M. E., Reiche, B. S. (2019). Advances in Global Leadership. United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing Limited.
• Vincent, M. N. (2020). Leveraging Digital Transformation: Proven Leadership and Innovation Strategies to Engage and Grow Your Organization. (n.p.): AVIVA PUB.
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