Proceedings of the 2nd World Conference on Business, Management, and Economics
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Perspectives on Leading Change: Exploring Change Readiness Strategies Used in the Bahamian Financial Services Sector
Dr. Tanya C. McCartney
ABSTRACT:
The financial services sector in The Bahamas is experiencing tremendous change driven largely by regulatory initiatives and technological innovation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the perspectives of senior executives in this context on organisational readiness for change and its perceived impact. A social constructionist ontology and interpretivist epistemology were employed. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews. The study revealed key themes of communication, capacity building, leadership, cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder engagement. Participants perceived there to be a high level of readiness. It was expected that there would be a greater appreciation for the role played by senior executives, this was not the case. Participants intimated that creating readiness was a task for external consultants and change agents other than themselves. It became clear, considering strategic leadership and relational awareness theory, that there was an opportunity to provide a mechanism that would highlight the vital role of senior executives in creating change readiness. The provision of a “strategic readiness awareness” tool is proposed. Capacity building was identified as a precursor to change readiness. It was anticipated that a comprehensive knowledge management strategy would have been proffered as an enabler. This was not the case. The misalignment of cultures between global head offices and Bahamas based subsidiaries readiness was also revealed. Contributions are made to knowledge and practice.
keywords: Social-constructionist, relational-awareness, stakeholders, leadership, culture