Contents

CHAPTER- ONE ....................................................................................................................................................... 2

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................... 2

1.1BACK GROUND OF THE STUDY .................................................................................................................... 2

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ................................................................................................................. 4

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ................................................................................................................................ 3

1.4. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ...................................................................................................................... 3

1.4.1. General Objective ............................................................................................................................... 3

1.4.2. Specific objective .............................................................................................................................. 3
1.5 SIGNIFICANCES OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................................. 3

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY .................................................................................................................................. 4

1.7 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................................. 4

CHAPTER TWO ..................................................................................................................................................... 5

2. LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................................................................... 5

2.1 theoretical frame work ............................................................................................................................ 5

2.2 Empirical studies .................................................................................................................................... 5
2.3 conceptual and operational definition ..................................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................................................................ 5

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................................... 5

3.1 Research design and approaches............................................................................................................. 5

3.2 Population, sample and sampling procedure .......................................................................................... 5
3.3 Research methods/data gathering tools ................................................................................................... 5
3.4 Data analysis ........................................................................................................................................... 5
3.5 variables of the study .............................................................................................................................. 5
3.6 method of data analysis........................................................................................................................... 5
3.7 Ethical consideration............................................................................................................................... 5
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................................... 5
PLAN OF RESEARCH UNDERSTANDING ......................................................................................................... 5

Work plan ..................................................................................................................................................... 5

Budget ........................................................................................................................................................... 5
APPENDICES/ANNEXES ....................................................................................................................................... 5

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 CHAPTER- ONE

INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study,
methodology of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study and organization of the
study.

1.1Back ground of the study

Education sector in Ethiopia has significant contribution to socio-economic development.
Organizational change is an empirical observation in an organizational entity of variations in
shape, quality or state over time (Van deVen and Poole, 1995). The general aim of organizational
change is an adaptation to the environment (Barr, 1992; Child and Smith, 1987; Leana and
Barry,2000) or an improvement in performance (Boeker, 1997; Keck and Tushman, 1993)

Organizations constantly have to undergo change as Rosen cited in (Nadler&Tushman,1990).

Today organizational change has become more and more common in all organizations and forces
them to change or die (Jacobsen,2013:20-21).The only thing that is constant is change and
Kihlgren (2013)shows that the only thing we can be certain about is that everything changes.
As Rosen cited in Kihlgren(2013)argues that not long ago your business career was secured by
one company which was the rule rather than the exception. However, this is not the case today
which is one example of change that is occurring in today’s society. Organizations have a
dominating role in today’s society and have become more complex and thus harder to manage
(Bolman& Deal, 2005:42)

Even though we are dealing with constant change, the failure rate for change programs shows an
extreme number of 70 percent (KellerandAiken2000, Lomberg2012, Senturia,Flees&Maceda
2008). Bolman&Deal(2005:454)claim that the reason for this is too much focus on reason and
structure while ignoring softer human aspects like feelings, motivation and commitment.
Kihlgren (2013) states that what is problematic with change is that they are not acknowledged
before it is too late. No matter the cause of this high failure rate, changes are obviously
problematic for an organization.
Accepting the greatness of organizational change and knowing the fact that practical steps are
needed to make things happen, the next question may arise in minds that “who will take initiative
to bring these changes for organizations, to take practical steps” and “who will be the person in

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charge”. Scholars and researchers also agree on the point that role of a leadership/leader is very
important while managing organizations or addressing the issue of organizational change.
Kennedy believes that role of the leadership is a key while addressing the issue of organizational
change and effective leader can bring effective change for an organization (Kennedy 2000). In
their book Organizational Change, Senior and Fleming discus the role of leadership and claim
that leader is a change agent who can take initiative and bring change for organization (Senior
and Fleming 2006).

Knowing the importance and implication of organizational change and admitting the fact that
organizational change is the demand of a time, for sustainable success and leader/leadership can
play a key role in bringing and implementing these changes, by deciding the desired form of an
organization and taking the practical steps whic h are needed for the process. The next obvious
question which one can have, that what kind of leadership is needed for successful organizational
change?

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 At the point where the authors agrees and accept that the role of a leader is crucial for managing
organizational change, at the same point they also mention that the process of organizational
change is very complex and challenging. A competent and effective leadership is required to
manage the situation. Gruban highlight the fact that the leadership competencies have a great
relation with successful organizational change and a competent leader may prove more effective
in managing the change process successfully (Gruban 2003). Bennis also acknowledges that
special qualities and characteristics are required form a leader to bring successful organizational
change (Bennis, 1987).

As a result, it is important for schools to focus on the ability to have good change management,
i.e. the ability to manage and perform a change (Jacobsen, 2013). By (2005) says that leading
organizational change is the most important task for a manager in today’s society. This
emphasizes the importance of the leader’s role in organizational change which is the main topic
of this thesis. As Normann (2001:269) writes in his book, leadership could be seen as the
art of guiding an organization through structural change. Structural change can be seen as a
reorganization that according to Bolman& Deal (2005:103) is performed with the hopes of an
improvement; however they do not come without risks. To illuminate this problem I will examine
a specific organization in Yeka sub-city in selectede governmental high schools. I will discuss the
involved leaders’ role in this organization and examine the main elements for how a leader should
manage a change.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Now day, organizations are faced with challenges that force them to adjust themselves to the
desired changes (Burnes, 2004). Burnes also states that in particular; regularly organizations have
to go through change processes when having to respond to new development scenarios or simply
as part of their expansion or restructuring processes. The implications of change processes are
under-estimated by senior management and not managed adequately. Ansoff (1987) asserts that
it’s known that leadership can make a great difference, and that its importance for
organizational success is intensifying. Yet we still know too little about the qualities and
practice of effective organizational change management.

Coming to the stage where we believe that not only the leadership but the competent leadership is
required to understand, formulate and implement the most suitable change for organizations, the
next manifest is , what kind of knowledge, skills, talent and competencies are required from a
leader to bring a successful organizational change.

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 It is also important to know, what is the relation of successful organizational change to the
leadership competencies? And this area will be the focus of our thesis. While discussing the
leadership competencies authors admit that organizational change is a process in which a most
desirable and suitable future form of an organization is perceived and route map is decided to
get this new shape. Therefore a visionary leadership with innovative approach is a key to make
this change happen successfully (Gesell, 2010). According to Bennis, vision is a mental image
of a desirable future, so it is important that this future is perceived accurately, which needs a
visionary leadership (Bennis&Nanus, 1985 ). Scholars also highlight that the innovative
approach of a leader can increase the chances of success for a leader to get his vision (Bass
1990). Under the light of scientific articles and journals it can be seen that vision and innovative
approach are two of those important characteristics o f leadership which can make h/her more
effective to address the issue of organizational change.

The role of leadership is well investigated on the basis of its competences and characteristics to
address different organizational issue. Many leadership theories and leadership styles are
presented by the scholars to handle and manage different organizational situations. Defining and
discussing different characteristics of leadership authors also mention that some of these
characteristics are more important, which a leadership should have to address the phenomena of
organizational change successfully, but the relationship between these leadership characteristics
and successful organizational change is not much investigated.

Sensing the gap, we take an initiative to investigate the role of leadership on the basis of h/her
two characteristics which are “Vision” and “Innovative Approach” and to explore relationship
between leadership and the successful organizational change by taking these two characteristics
as variables.

On the basis of literature review, case studies and proposed model, we will see in this thesis that
how Vision and Innovative approach of a leader is related to successful organizational change.

While talking about vision and innovative approach and referring these terms to leadership, this
thesis do not deny the implication of other competencies of a leader. There are also other
characteristics of leadership which are important and the relation between successful
organizational change and leadership can also be investigated on basis of those characteristics

In today’s society were added and hear about organizational reorganizations constantly. The fact
that an organization is performing a change is nothing unusual, it is rather very common. The
statement by Jacobsen (2013:20) that organizations have to change or die is confirmed by
companies constantly changing or closing.
Although it is very common the question is what we know about it.What is Reorganization?

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How extensive is it? What effects does it have? What does it demand of the leaders? What is
their role in a change process? How does a change affect the leaders? These are questions that at
least I asked myself which made this topic an obvious choice. From Kotter and
Rathgeber’s(2006) allegory we see that change is happening and it cannot be ignored. The fact
that changes are this common makes information regarding the topic necessary, we cannot
ignore the fact that changes happen and we need to continue to discuss the topic.

Bolman and Deal (2005:42) express that organizations have a dominating role in today’s society
and have become more complex and thus harder to manage. Large organizations are today
extremely important for a lot of cities. Since they are harder to manage it is extremely important
to highlight issues like these due to the fact that they have such an important role in today’s
society. We have to address these issues and highlight them to make it easier to handle. Changes
are problematic or an organization and difficult to handle which makes it crucial for us to
continue addressing the topic. In order to become successful in managing changes we have to
continue to do research and try to propose solutions for managing them. Leading change is the
most important task for managers today (By, 2005) making the leadership perspective extremely
important for this thesis. Managers do not only control production, they have to handle change
processes that implicate turbulent environment.Hence,more knowledge regarding the topic is
required.

Today there is already existing literature in this field. However, the failure rate of change
processes is still 70percent (KellerandAiken 2000,Lomberg2012,Senturia,Flees&Maceda
2008).Considering this I wanted to study a specific case to see what really happen soutin real
life. I wanted to see what a change really means and how it affects the leaders in real life. I
believe that this could give me an idea of factors influencing change processes and compare It to
the existing literature. I wanted this to give mean idea if the existing literature is too narrow, too
complicated or what the factors for this high failure rate are. Since current theories provide
general “guide lines” for change management already I wanted to make an in depth research and
study how a change process works in reality. Therefore I chose to contact a leader to study areal
case.

With this in mind,a general contribution to the field is limited. However the purpose with this
study is to examine a specific and extensive case for Yeka sub-city to see what was done, how it
was done, how this corresponds to existing literature and if any suggestions or advice can be
given to Yeka sub-city to consider in the future. Since this study makes generalization difficult
the focus is to see if the result can help Yeka sub-city in the future. Nevertheless, this research
could provide clues and suggestions that should be further investigated to see if they could
contribute to the general guidelines.

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1.3 Research questions
 How does a change process operate in ?
 What is the leader’s role in an organizational change process at Yeka sub-city selected
governmental secondary schools?
 How should a leader manage an organizational change Yeka sub-city selected governmental
secondary schools?

1.4. Objectives of the Study

1.4.1. General Objective
The general objective of the study is to assess the role of leadership in schools change
management Government Secondary Schools in Yeka sub-city of Addis Ababa City
Administration. To this end the following specific objectives are formulated.

1.4.2. Specific objective

The following are a specific of objective of the study
1. To explore the extent of involvement of secondary school leaders in managing
change.

2. To explore the roles of school leaders in implementing change management tools

3. To analyze the challenges encountered in implementing change management tools

1.5 Significances of the study

This study will provide a great importance for the organization to identify the challenges of
existing and new management system; this study may forward what additional role and
responsibility for managers beyond their usual role of leadership. And also this study will add
further understanding about change management and it will have great contribution in
providing as literature, resource for other researches and above all for other schools which are
interested to enrich their system about the change management challenges and practices.

And finally, this study will be significant in

that:-

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 • It will inform the management of the organization about the existing challenges
of change management in their organization and alarm them to take appropriate
actions when they implement other change management theories and methods.
• It will also serve as a source document for those who want to pursue further study.

• It will also serve as the voice for the employees; because it lets the concerned parties
get informed of what is on the employees’ side.

• It will also informed the leaders and other schools to which stage of change
management need more attention and help to take action and decision to minimize the
challenge?

1.6 Scope of the study

Due time and resource constraints, the scope of the study is delimited to the role of leadership
in organizational change management in selected Government secondary schools in Yeka sub-
city of Addis Ababa City Administration. Similarly, although there are different actors of
the school system, only selected respondents representing principals, vice principals,
department heads, unit leaders and teachers used for providing data/information of the study.

1.7 Organization of the study

The study consists of five parts. The first part focuses on the introductory aspect of the
study, which includes background, statement of the problem, purpose/objectives of the study,
scope, limitation, and definition of basic terms. The second part contains literature review, in
which different types of related studies have been reviewed as references to the proposed
study. The third part, deals with methodology of the study. The fourth part contains data
analysis; lastly, summary, findings, conclusion, and recommendation are covered in part
five.

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CHAPTER TWO

2. Literature review
2.1 theoretical frame work

2.2 Empirical studies

2.3 conceptual and operational definition

CHAPTER THREE

3. Research methodology
3.1 Research design and approaches

3.2 Population, sample and sampling procedure

3.3 Research methods/data gathering tools

3.4 Data analysis

3.5 variables of the study

3.6 method of data analysis

3.7 Ethical consideration

REFERENCES

Plan of research understanding

Work plan

Budget

Appendices/Annexes

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