A Qualitative Exploration of Managers’ Leadership Transformation within Organizational Change Initiatives in Public Institutions

Abstract

Leadership and management research increasingly recognize the importance of understanding the human experience behind organizational transformation. Within this evolving field, phenomenological inquiry offers a means to uncover how managers construct meaning, embody ethics, and navigate emotional complexity during periods of change. However, despite numerous studies on leadership behavior and change management, little is known about how managers experience transformation as an existential and reflective process. This study addresses this gap by applying an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore the lived experiences of managers leading organizational transformation. To ensure depth and idiographic focus consistent with IPA, the study employed purposive sampling involving twelve managers, selected for their direct and sustained involvement in organizational change initiatives. Using semi-structured interviews with twelve managers from various industries, the study analyzed narratives to identify key themes that capture the essence of leadership as a meaning-making process. The findings reveal that uncertainty functions as a catalyst for self-reflection, ethical decision-making serves as an anchor of stability, and reflective practice fosters resilience and authenticity. Leadership transformation thus emerges as both an emotional and moral journey, emphasizing consciousness and relational depth rather than functional performance. Through these insights, the study extends the theoretical understanding of leadership as a human-centered phenomenon and provides practical implications for developing reflective, ethical, and adaptive leaders. These findings contribute to a more holistic comprehension of leadership transformation and encourage future studies to examine cross-cultural and collective aspects of lived managerial experience.