Leadership for Organizational Change : A case study of how insurance companies can develop their leadership to better manage organizational change

Abstract: Rapid development and changes in customer needs places high demands on companies to constantly adapt to new customer requirements in order to stay competitive. This places further demands on companies’ ability to put the customer in focus and quickly develop, produce and offer what the customers expect, which often implies organizational changes. Organizational changes can contribute to making employees feel confused and insecure concerning their new role, which in turn contributes to low motivation and inefficiency among employees. Research has shown that a critical success factor for changes is employees’ ability to cope and adapt to change. Leaders have a decisive role in this and can help employees considerably when it comes to this aspect. The problem is a lack of knowledge about which aspects of leadership are most important for companies to develop in order to better manage organizational changes.  This research has investigated leadership deficiencies in insurance companies that prevent them from managing organizational changes effectively. Furthermore this  research has examined how insurance companies may rectify the leadership deficiencies that have been identified in this research. The research consisted of a case study at Trygg--‐Hansa, which included both interviews and questionnaires. The results indicated that leaders have deficiencies within Self--‐Awareness, Communication, Lead Employees, Manage Change and Strategic Planning. Furthermore, the most important deficiency to improve is Communication since it is the foundation for the others in some extent. The  findings in this research have both research and managerial implications. Regarding the research implications, this research identifies important leadership shortcomings that prevent insurance companies from manage organizational changes effectively. Regarding the managerial implications, the findings in this study may be too firm specific for urging other companies and organizations to use the results and suggested recommendation of this research.