Transformational leadership for organizational change in the Lebanese public sector

• Main Authors: Bissane Harb, Dina Sidani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: LLC "CPC "Business Perspectives" 2019-05-01
• Series: Problems and Perspectives in Management
• Subjects: organizational change; public sector in Lebanon; transformational leadership
• Online Access: https://businessperspectives.org/images/pdf/applications/publishing/templates/article/assets/11971/PPM_2019_02_Harb.pdf

The public sector is facing multiple changes. In a constantly changing environment, that is more and more demanding in terms of innovation and performance, the concept of leadership is of particular importance, as it is one of the few tools available to public managers.Based on the transformational leadership theory, the aim of this study is to explore how transformational leadership characteristics influence organizational change within the public sector in Lebanon. To serve this purpose, a qualitative approach is adopted based on a series of semi-focused interviews conducted with ten public managers running 10 public administrations. These administrations have undergone significant changes over the past five years.The results point out the importance of transformational behaviors adopted by public managers in leading change within the public sector in Lebanon, despite the multiple obstacles. They confirmed the role of two transformational dimensions related to idealized influence and inspirational motivation in the successful implementation of organizational change. This study contributes to better understanding of the role of transformational leadership in promoting change in the public sector.