Investigating the impact of transformational leadership on change management in government institutions: Case of district & session courts

Abstract

Government institutions usually work under strict legal frameworks. They usually tend to avoid risks and prefer to operate through highly formalised and concentrated decision-making. But, with the dynamicity of the work environments particularly after the pandemic, organisations (public or private) are feeling the urge to adopt change. Rapid developments such as globalisation, digitisation, and work flexibility are required for organisations to remain successful and competitive. However, despite having the urge, the public sector organisations (i.e., government institutions) are at times bound by their strict policies, frameworks, underlying assumptions, and bureaucratic structures. This hurts the change readiness of employees in that organisation and the overall change management process. Transformational leadership is said to be the basic element of successful or failed change management programs. Managers who use transformational leadership style motivate members through dimensions of leadership such as inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and idealised influence. Most of these academic research findings are true for western contexts and their societal and organisational realities. Developing countries such as Pakistan have their unique set of issues when it comes to managing organisational change.  This study investigates how Transformational Leadership impacts Change Management within the relatively complicated structure of the District judiciary in Multan (Pakistan). It also studies the mediating effect of Change Readiness on this relationship. A survey questionnaire was distributed amongst 372 research participants working in the District and Session Courts of Multan.  The quantitative data analysis shows that the adoption of a Transformation Leadership style in a traditional setup of the District and Session court of Multan helps in implementing change and improving Change Readiness. However, the findings also highlight some of the issues and challenges being faced by top personnel of these courts, while managing change. These findings could be useful at the managerial level in taking accurate decisions concerning planning and implementing change for overall organisational development. These findings again reaffirm the stance taken by various researchers about the benefits of adopting the Transformational Leadership style, particularly within complex work environments and when organisations are undergoing significant change.