The Study on the Relationship between Change Leadership and Employee Commitment for Organizational Change

Abstract

The existence of organizations is paramount important for the survival of living being in the globe.  The environment in which Organizations operate is increasingly critical and dynamic in nature. Due to increasingly critical and dynamic environment, organizations are continuously forced with the need to implement changes in strategy, structure, process, policies, operations, technology, and culture.  Successful, organizations must be responsive to the needs of constantly evolving business environment (Leana & Barry, 2000, p. 754). Modern organizations in the business world today have to prepare themselves to face high competition, make quick decisions, introduce innovations and develop the will and competency to cope with constant change (D’Aveni, 1998, p. 183). The implementation of organizational change is a considerable challenge for public sector organizations.  The public sector organizations in Sri Lanka are large in size, providing more variety and volume of services to the citizens. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of leadership in change processes in public sector organizations, but limited empirical evidence exists. Moreover, the contribution of change leadership in organizational change is likely to be dependent on the particular characteristics of public sector organizations. This study concerns the relationship between change leadership and the employee commitment to organizational change. The findings indicate that change leadership contributes to employee commitment for organizational change by providing high quality change communication and stimulating employee participation in the implementation of change.