Transformational leadership in the context of organizational change

TLDR

Leadership is essential for change management, yet the literature has not yet integrated these two fields. This article aims to align transformational leadership theory with change management practice. The authors identify convergent concepts that support transformational leadership in change and preview special issue papers on these themes.

Abstract

The importance of leadership to the change management process is underscored by the fact that change, by definition, requires creating a new system and then institutionalizing the new approaches. While change management depends on leadership to be enacted, to date there has been little integration of these two bodies of literature. Thus, the purpose of this article is to draw parallels between the change literature and the leadership literature; specifically, the transformational leadership literature that is primarily concerned with the capabilities required to enact change successfully. This is done by describing areas of convergence between the two literatures that point to the appropriateness of transformational leadership in enacting change. Finally, the papers in the special issue are previewed by identifying their underlying themes.