How executives describe empowering employees during corporate change : a multiple case study.
This study explored how corporate leaders who led companies through change described the strategies they believed successfully empowered employees through the transition. While corporate change must occur for organizations to remain viable, employee disengagement as a result of change can hamper or counteract any positive effects of that change. If employee anxiety goes unmitigated, employees may become disengaged and decide to depart the company, which can cause gaps in business continuity. I conducted a qualitative multiple case study to identify how corporate leaders who led companies through change described the strategies they believed successfully empowered employees through the transition. I selected empowerment theory (Zimmerman, 1995) as the theoretical framework for the study. Data sources included questionnaires, interviews, and resumes. I collected questionnaires from corporate leaders who led change in their organizations within the last 10 years. From the respondents, I purposefully selected five participants who led change at a company for which they no longer worked, and who considered the change successful. I then conducted a semi-structured interview with each participant and collected their resume. I uncovered six themes, which became the study's findings. The first theme is that corporate leader participants communicated transparently with a clear future vision to empower employees. Second, corporate leader participants enacted a variety of employee engagement activities to empower employees. Third, corporate leader participants supported the company's top leaders to enact change and empower employees. Fourth, after implementing processes to empower employees, corporate leader participants perceived success of the business change. Fifth, after implementing processes to empower employees, corporate leader participants observed what they described as strong leadership in the face of change. Sixth, after implementing processes to empower employees, corporate leader participants observed what they described as anecdotal and measurable improvements in employee engagement. This research adds to the literature in the change management field related to empowering employees during change. The study has implications for chief executive officers, communications leaders, and human resources leaders who are preparing for or managing company change.
Change management., Organizational change., Change communications., Change leadership., Organizational transformation., Employee empowerment.
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