MPA 507: Leadership and Change Management (elective)

The purpose of this module is to emphasize the role of effective leadership in facilitating organisational change- with focus in the public sector setting. This will be achieved by linking various leadership perspectives to the diverse frameworks, concepts and theories of change management. Ultimately students are expected to appreciate and embrace different skills and approaches on how they can lead a successful and rewarding organizational change initiative. This takes full cognisance of the fact that the work of a leader is to constantly look forward and provide the necessary changes for an organization, being visionary is critical to success in any organization and a key attribute for any organizational leader.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, students should be able to:

  • Explain change leadership and change management in general.
  • Distinguish various leadership theories and evaluate their contemporary relevance.
  • Identify the key models used in planned organisational change and management.
  • Identify the role of culture in leadership and change mainly at group level.
  • Discuss leadership and change management in the Malawi public sector.
  • Analyse a variety of emerging issues in leadership and change management.

1. Introduction to Leadership and Organisational Change

  • Different viewpoints of leadership and organisational change
  • Organisational power and leadership
  • Public sector leadership style in contemporary and historical perspective
  • Change leadership verses Change management
  • Administrative leadership versus management leadership
  • Organizational learning and learning organization
  • Strategic leadership verses Strategic management

2. Theories and Styles of Leadership

  • Traditional Theories of Leadership.
  • Contemporary Theories of Leadership.
  • Generic styles of Leadership.
  • Profile of notable leaders (public and private sector) and their type of style: in Malawi and other countries.

3.Types of Organisational Change

  • Frequency and magnitude of organisational change
  • Principles of understanding change
  • Revolutionary and evolutionary change
  • Reflection on type of change (s) in the Malawi public sector
  • Institutionalarrangement for initiating change in the Malawi public sector

 

4. Managing Groups and Leading teams in Public Service

  • Team verses groups in an organisation
  • Relevance of teams in public sector setting
  • Formal and informal groups- features, advantages and disadvantages
  • Group formation, structures and processes
  • Managing intra and inter group conflict
  • Common intra and inter group conflicts in the Malawi public sector
  • Role and limitations of controlling officers and line managers in managing intra and inter group conflicts in the public sector

5. Leading and Managing Organisational Change

  • Rationale of managing the change process
  • Diverse models for managing change
  • Overcoming resistance and sustaining change
  • Relevance of the Malawi government’s Leadership Development Framework (LDF) to change management
  • Leading and Managing organisational change in the Malawi public sector

6. The Role of Culture in Leadership and Change Management

  • Organisational culture and transformational change
  • Changing organisational culture in chaotic and unpredictable environment
  • Transformational leadership and cultural change
  • Public sector culture, power, politics and conflicts

7. Emerging Issues in Private and Public Sector Leadership and Change Management

  • Positional verses Thought Leadership
  • ‘Leading above the line’ approach
  • Servant leadership approach
  • Challenges in applying emerging leadership issues in change management process.

 Assessment

  • Continuous assessment: 50 %
  • Examinations:                  50 %

Teaching and Learning Methods:

  • Lectures
  • Guest lectures and presentations by practitioners
  • Individual and group students’ presentations

Prescribed Texts

Anderson, D and Anderson, L. 2010. Beyond Change Management.Pfieffer

Cummings, T & Worley, C. 2014.Organisation Development and    Change 10thEdition.Thomson South-Western.

DuBrin, A. 2012.Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills. Cengage Learning.

Kotter, J. 2008. Force For Change: How Leadership Differs from Management. Simon and Schuster

Teelken, C,Ferlie, E and Dent, M (eds).2012. Leadership in the Public Sector: Promises and Pitfalls. Routledge Publications.

Van Wart, M. 2012.Leadership in Public Organizations: An Introduction. M.E. Sharpe

Quinn, R., (2004) Building the Bridge as you walk on it: A Guide for Leading Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Rowland, D., and Higgs, M., (2008) Sustaining Change and Leadership that Works. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

 

Recommended texts

DuBrin, A. 2012.Principles of Leadership.South-Western Cengage Learning

Kotter, J and Cohen, D. 2002. The Heart of Change: Real-life Stories of how People Change Their Organizations. Harvard Business Press.

Pyerson University. 2011. Change Management Leadership Guide. Human Resource Department

Raffel, J,Leisink, P, and Middlebrooks, A (eds). 2009.Public Sector Leadership: International Challenges and Perspectives. Edward Elgar Publishing

Tambulasi R. and Kayuni H. 2013. “Public Sector Reform in Malawi”, in Patel N and Svasand R (eds.), Government and Politics in Malawi, Second Edition, Capital Printing Press, Lilongwe. Pp 294 – 312

TambulasiR.I.C (ed), 2010. Reforming the Malawian Public Sector: Retrospectives and Prospectives, CODESRIA: Dakar.

 

Journal Publications

Ahn, M, Adamson, J, Dornbusch, D. 2004. “From Leaders to Leadership: Managing Change”. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies.Vol. 10.No. 4.Pp112-123.

Gilley, A, MacMillan, H, and Gilley, J.2009. “Organizational Change and Characteristics of Leadership Effectiveness”.Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies.Vol16.Pp 38-47

Kayuni H. 2012. “From Loyal Employees to Fugitives on the ‘Wanted’ list in Malawian Organizations: Proposing ‘Organizational Culture’ as an Explanatory Framework”. Management- Journal of Contemporary Management Issues.Vol. 17. No1, pp 15-31.

McCrimmon, M. 2005. "Thought leadership: a radical departure from traditional, positional leadership", Management Decision, Vol. 43 Iss: 7 pp. 1064 – 1070

Published Apr. 22, 2015 5:25 PM - Last modified Oct. 28, 2020 11:22 AM