An integral view on leadership and organizational transformation in public sector organization

Abstract: In the past decade the extent and the complexity of socio-economic challenges the modernsocieties are facing has grown dramatically. Balancing often on the brink of crisis, these globalchallenges force organizations to overthink their approaches and look for new ways to respond toexternal changes. Thus, research on organizational transformation needs to focus on models thatprovide a big-picture lens, offering holistic and integral solutions to modern challenges. AnIntegral theory makes an important contribution to the research of organizational transformationby suggesting a metatheoretical AQAL model (all-quadrants, all levels) that integrates four-dimensional perspective of objective, interobjective, subjective and intersubjective reality in itsanalysis. The AQAL model is a comprehensive view to the reality, accommodating multipletheoretical perspectives and methodological pluralism. Against this backdrop this master thesisaims to explore an Integral Approach, focusing on leadership and organizational transformationin one public sector organization addressing individual or microlevel perspectives. The keyquestions, which are driving this research are: how do values and worldviews impactorganizational transformation in public sector environment? How can organizational capacity todevelop an agile response to external changes be improved in public sector organizations? Whatrole leadership plays in the process of public sector transformation? The main findings of thiswork suggest that organizational capacity to successfully overcome changes is paired with themind-set of its employees and in particularly leadership. Structural changes introduced due toteleworking and digitalization impact organizations on a deeper level, bringing shifts towardsnew culture of work, re-definition of processes and strategies, resulting in global shifts in thewhole organization. These new practices and emerging new organizational cultures require alsonew models of leadership and new skill-set for leaders, who will need to meet the task of“walking” the organizations through modern challenges.