Leadership requirements for successful large-scale cultural change using continuous process improvement methods: A mixed methods research study

The once great American manufacturing and service organization is in jeopardy. Quality effective leadership is absent or declining across American organizations while the United States economy struggles to emerge from turmoil unlike anything we have seen since the great depression. In the wake of these leadership and economic calamities many organizational leaders have turned to continuous process improvement strategies and techniques to restore their financial and operational competitiveness. If not led effectively these large-scale organizational and cultural transformations may fail and organizational effectiveness along with them. Organizational leaders carry the burden of this responsibility, and yet, the leadership requirements necessary for facilitating these large-scale organizational and cultural transformations have not been clearly identified. This study proves the preceding claims through vigorous research and rigorous citation from the literature. The purpose of this study is to define the necessary leadership behaviors, skills, strategies, competencies, technologies, processes and protocols that have allowed some organizations to successfully navigate their own life-saving cultural transformations. Through triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data the study validated important cultural change strategies and leadership practices, then organized them into a best-practices cultural transformation model. Documenting the leadership requirements for successful cultural transformation may assist other organizations with their own successful cultural transformations.;Key Words: Cultural Change, Organizational Transformation, Organizational Development, Leadership Development, Continuous Process Improvement, Lean, Process Engineering.