Leadership: Emotions, Change Management, and Organizational Impact

This report delves into the critical role of emotions in leadership and change management within organizations. It begins by defining emotions and exploring various theories, highlighting their impact on leadership styles. The report emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence, detailing its various aspects and benefits for leaders. It then examines organizational change, focusing on employee resistance and the influence of emotions on change implementation. The report uses the case of Alcon to illustrate these concepts, discussing the challenges and transitions faced by the company. The conclusion stresses the significance of emotional intelligence for leaders in navigating change effectively. This report emphasizes that understanding and managing emotions are essential for successful leadership and organizational adaptation.

Running head: LEADERSHIP 0
LEAD AND MANAGE
PEOPLE
What is the role of emotions in leadership and change process?

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Abstract:
This study is conducted in order to analyse various literature regarding the importance of
involving the emotions in leadership and change management. The scope of the study is that it
provides various benefits to the companies to bring changes in the company processes by making
prior preparations. Alcon faced many challenges in order to adapt the changes which were the
results of merger of Alcon and Novartis. It has been suggested in the report that involvement
emotion is the expression of an individual in response to any of the stimuli occurs. Involvement
of emotions in leadership is called emotional intelligence which is the skill that needs to be
developed by all the leaders. Change management is also the process that can become easier
when the emotions are involved in making the change decisions. This is because the employees
get very much affected by the changes that are implemented in the company.
Table of Contents

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Introduction:................................................................................................................................................2
Literature review:........................................................................................................................................2
What are emotions?................................................................................................................................2
Theories of emotions:..............................................................................................................................2
Emotions and leaders:.............................................................................................................................2
Emotional intelligence:............................................................................................................................2
Organisational change:............................................................................................................................2
Emotions and organisational change:......................................................................................................3
Analysis of company examples:...................................................................................................................3
Conclusion and recommendations:.............................................................................................................3
References:..................................................................................................................................................4

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Introduction:
The major focus of the organisations these days is bringing change in its processes and functions
in order to compete with the competitor organisations. For bringing change in the organisations,
it is required to have efficient leaders. This is because if the leaders of the organisations are not
efficient then it is not possible to bring the change effectively. Leadership can be defined as the
capability of the person to influence others and in change process; it is required to influence the
employees so that they can adapt the change effectively (Northouse, 2015). It has been analysed
that leadership gets affected by many factors of the organisations and one of the major factor is
emotions of the leaders as well as the followers. This is the reason why emotional intelligence is
the new skill that is required to be developed by the leaders in them so that they can manage the
organisation not just in pragmatic view but can also consider the emotional aspect and regulate
the same (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee, 2013). Emotional intelligence is about identifying and
regulating the emotions of others as well as of self so that the situation can be handled Various
researches have been conducted in order to analyse the impact of emotions on leadership and
thus on change that needs to be inculcated in the organisations. This is the report that focuses on
the discussion of emotions as the very important part of leadership at the organisations and its
role in managing the change at the workplace. Considering emotions at the workplace bring
changes in the processes. This report also throws some light on the theories and concept of
emotional intelligence and the benefits of involving the same in leadership and change process.
The discussion is made considering the examples of the company called Alcon. This company is
selected to understand the concept because it is facing many transition issues in its functioning
since years. Understanding the theories and implementing it on the practical situation helps in
better learning of the subject.
Literature review:
What are emotions?
Emotion can be defined as the expression of an individual in response to any of the stimuli
occurs. It can be expressed by the individual in many forms. Various terms has been given to

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different types of emotions such as anger, excitement, frustration, surprise, happiness, shock etc.
thus a term emotional reactions has been concluded for these reactions.
Theories of emotions:
There are various theories that have been introduced by many theorists regarding emotions. It
has been analysed that most of the organisations are consisting emotions in their leadership and
change process and thus it is required to understand these theories and their impact.
Evolution theory of emotions: The naturalist, Darwin suggested that emotions are the element
that helps the humans and animals to survive. As per this theory emotions play an adaptive role
and thus allow the humans to adopt the things and the changes around them. Emotions act as the
motivating force that drives the people to respond quickly to particular stimuli.
James Lange theory of emotions: This is the theory that involves psychological reactions. This
theory believes that it is the physical and psychological reaction of the individual that assist him
to generate some kind of emotion.
The Cannon bard theory: He criticized the theory of James and Lange and suggested that it is not
the psychological reaction that drives the emotion but it is the emotion that drives the
psychological physical changes in the body. The emotions can be felt before any physical change
(Holodynski, 2013).
Schachter-Singer Theory: It is the two factors theory that argues about physical as well as
emotions aspect. It has been argued in this theory that the physiological reaction arouse first and
then the person has to identify the emotions that he or she is feeling put of that reaction. This
theory also suggests that many emotions can be linked to a single physical reaction.
Cognitive appraisal theory: as per this theory, thinking is the prior action to emotions. This
theory suggests that when events occur in a sequential manner then stimulus generates and that
stimulus require the response.

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Facial feedback theory: As per this theory, emotions are directly linked to the facial expressions
of the person. When any of the emotion generated, it leads to change in the facial expression of
that person.
Above all are the theories of emotion that has been given by various theorists. These theories can
be implied on organisations functions in order to understand the nature and emotions of the
employees working in the organisations so that they can be managed effectively. Leaders play a
very important role in this.
Emotions and leaders:
The positive mood of the leader results in beneficial consequences for the department, but, this is
not correct in every phase or situation. Sometimes even the negative mood of the leader assists
him to deal with the situation (Gooty, Connelly, Griffith and Gupta, 2010). Thus, diversity of
feelings affects the effectiveness of the leadership. Negative mood can also results in positive
outcome. For instance, in the case of sexual harassment at the workplace, it is required for the
leader to be angry about the fact and take actions accordingly (Nordin, 2011). Various scenarios
can be constructed that requires the judgment of the leader to deal with the situation with a
particular mood. Suppose, if a leader frequently have negative mood then it may be the situation
that he does not make good relationship with the employees and thus affect the working
environment in negative way while the leader in the positive mood may not be able to analyse
the shortfalls of the employee performance (Lee, Son and Lee, 2011). Thus, inquiring about the
moods of the leaders and their nature cannot facilitate the effective leadership. But, it is the
intelligence of the leaders to identify the situation and then show the response as per that
situation. This is called emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence:
Emotional intelligence can be defined as the ability of the individual to perceive the emotions
and to regulate the same as per the situations. Emotional intelligence is required to be developed
in the leaders so that they can regulate their emotions to handle the situations. There are different
aspects of emotional intelligence (Giorgi, 2013). The first one is appraisal and expression of
emotions, next is knowledge about emotions, third is cognitive process and decision making and
the last one is management of the emotions (Rockstuhl, et al. 2011). Appraisal of the expression
of emotions is the aspect that requires leaders to be aware of their own emotions and also to be

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aware of other’s emotions. The use of emotions in decision making and cognitive processuggests
that the leaders should use their emotional intelligence in making the decision as it provides tem
with lots of alternatives from different point of views. It is also required by the leaders to have
knowledge about various emotions and their related expressions (Hess and Bacigalupo, 2011).
This helps the leaders to manage and handle the situation. Management of emotions the most
important aspect of emotional intelligence, the leaders with this skills know how to regulate their
emotions and which emotions need to be share at which what time.
Organisational change:
Employee resistance is one of the major factors that act as the biggest restriction of bringing
change in the company’s processes (Anderson and Anderson, 2010). Organisational change
results in modifying one or the other processes of the organisations that affect the normal
working of the employees and thus it requires extra efforts by the employees along with positive
behaviour to accept those changes.
Emotions and organisational change:
Behaviour of the employee towards the change in the organisation is very much related to the
emotional intelligence level of the employees and the leaders as well. Change in any of the
function of the organisation leads to development of various challenges for the employees. These
challenges may trigger the negative emotions of the employees such as anxiety, stress,
defensiveness etc. that also leads to low job satisfaction, negative working environment and this
ultimately acts as the biggest obstruction for implementing the change. Using the emotions
intelligently and developing positive behaviour towards change implementation process can help
the leaders and the organisations to bring change easily (Avey, Wernsing and Luthans, 2008).
Emotions have been studied with regard to implementation of the change in the organisations
because it develops the positive attitude and behaviour of the employees. It has been analysed
that it is not possible for the organisations to appoint the leaders who are capable of resolving the
issues every time, thus, it is required to make the employees capable enough so that they can
support their leaders to implement the changes in the organisational functions.
It has been analysed from the researches that organisation does not require the leaders or the
employees who can take up any of the change that comes in their way. But, it is required that the
employees question the changes that are being implemented and remain flexible to adopt the

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same. When any of the organisational change is introduced in the company, it requires the
organisation to follow a particular process to bring that change effectively (Huy, Corley and
Kraatz, 2014). The employees of the organisations should be informed with such changes before
their implementation. This helps the company as well as the employees to be informed about the
obstacles that the employees will face at the time of change implementation. Emotions of the
employees need to be judged at that time. This is because at the time of change, pressure on the
employees increases. This results in development of different emotional responses amongst the
employees that needs to be managed by themselves as well as by leaders. Training is the ultimate
solution to develop such competencies in the employees. The HR department of the company
should focus on practicing the training activities at the time of change so that the employees and
the leaders can develop the skills in them. Change brings opportunity as well as threat for the
company and its employees. It is the nature and the attitude of the employees towards the change
that makes it difficult or easy.
The literature concludes that emotion plays very important role in leadership and managing
change at the organisations. It has been analysed that different types of emotions are shown by
the employees in different situations and leaders have their own emotions. Emotional
intelligence is the skills that need to be developed so that the individual can regulate their
emotions as per the situations. This helps the company to implement changes effectively because
the employees at the organisations are flexible enough to take up the changes and also results in
effective implementation and better leadership. The study suggests that the positive attitude of
the employees and the positive emotions of the employees towards work help the organisations
to bring change more effectively.
Analysis of company examples:
The company that has been studied in this report to understand the concept is Alcon
Pharmaceuticals. It is the company that is based at America. This organisation has started its
operations in 1945 (Alcon.com, 2017). As far as the revenue of the company is considered, it has

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been analysed that the company earns around 10 billion USD and it provides employment to
around 23000 employees.
Nestle was the parent company of Alcon from the year 1977 to 2010. At this time, a unique and
distinct organisational culture has been developed in the company. As Nestle is the company that
serves the customers with the brands and the products range that are very different from Alcon
products thus it helps the company to develop its own autonomy. In the year 2010, Alcon was
acquired by Novartis (U.S., 2017). This is the time when the company has started experiencing
drastic change. When the decision of merging the operations of Novartis with Alcon has taken
place, the restructuring of the company was done (Mullin, 2017). It has been analysed that the
changes that were conducted was not efficiently monitors an implied and thus it leads to different
organisational and operational issues in the company.
When Novartis become the parent company of Alcon, the situation worsened with time. The
employees at the company are still unclear that whether it is a merger or the acquisition. As
Novartis is the very big company and already supporting any brands thus it can be considered as
acquisition only (Zhang and Zhang, 2011). The company also lost its independence. The
company has to directly report to the Novartis management while in some other countries, the
operations has been transferred to Novartis on partial basis. The overall discussion of the
company suggests that the change that has been implemented in the company has not resulted in
very good outcomes (Forbes.com., 2017). There can be several reasons for the same. As far as
this case is considered, it has been analysed that there must be some internal issues that were
faced by the company due to which it would not be able to adapt the changes that has happened
in the company (Ezrachi and Han, 2015). The first change that has been observed in this case is
transition of the organisational structure. It has been analysed that change in the organisational
structure was not adapted by the employees of the company and thus the change implemented in
the company have not resulted in effective outcomes (Webb, 2011). The various internal
transition issues faced by the company as per the case are:
Issues at change process: It has been analysed from the case that the company is facing so much
of issues in change process (De Groot, et al. 2010). This is because so much of changes are

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taking place so frequently and the change has not been implemented all over the organisation. It
has also been realised that the merger or the acquisition that has taken place in the company was
not throughout. This means that some of the functions or the departments of the organisation
were under the parent company that is Novartis and some were partially reporting to the Novartis
management (Heine, 2015). This is the reason why the company was facing so much of issues in
implementing the change. The change process of the company was not appropriate enough to be
conducted.
Planning issues: as per the analysis, it has also been analysed that the company must have not
planned the things properly. Planning is the most important element that is required to implement
the change in the company. It has been analysed that conduction of planning helps the company
to design proper and sequential steps that needs to be followed in order to bring the change in the
company or the processes of the company.
Resistance to change: The major resistance to change in the company is experienced by the
employees. This is because they are the one who have to work under certain condition and have
to adapt the changes in the organisational structure and culture. The change in organisational
structure and culture affect the working condition and thus also affect the performance of the
employees in the company (Naghibi and Baban, 2011). Employees who are not skilled enough
show resistance to the changes and here comes the role of emotional intelligence that has been
discussed in the literature part of this report. Employees feel demotivated when any of the
change is being implemented in the company and the process without their concern. This is
because they have to make extra efforts in adapting those changes and developing new skills to
work as per the new techniques and procedures.
Improper information flow:In order to bring changes in the company, it is required to inform the
people about the changes implemented. As per the case discussed above, it has been analysed
that the information of the changes that needs to be implemented in the company was not being
communicated clearly to the employees. This is because some of the departments were working
independently while some of the departments were under the control of Novartis management.
This shows that if the employees were not being informed with the proper information, then it
will be very difficult for them to adapt those changes.

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Ineffective leadership: leadership at Novartis can be observed to be ineffective as it failed to
reshuffle the management properly. It has been analysed that the merger of Alcona and Novartis
has affected the working environment of the company and the management of the company was
not able to implement the cages as it needs to be done. There is no actual evidences present on
this context but from a leading professional site where employees can share their experiences of
the company and its working condition, it has been analysed that most of the employees at Alcon
suggested that earlier when Alcon was an independent company, it was easier to work there and
the management as well as the organisational culture was fine. But, after 2010, it becomes
difficult for the employees to work there. This is because of the merger of Novartis and Alcon.
Things have changed for employees and improper leadership at that time has ruined the working
environment of the company.
As per the overall discussion of the company called Alcon, it has been analysed that due to
improper management, the company was not able to adapt those changes and thus it becomes a
difficult task to bring the changes in the company's processes. The issue that has been discussed
in the literature is emotions and its impact on leadership and change management of the
company. As far as the company like Alcon is considered, it has been analysed that the distance
of change has been faced by the company from the employee’s side because the leadership was
not effective, at the time of making the changes in the company, the values and feelings of the
employees were not being considered. This develops the feeling of demotivation amongst the
employees and thus it becomes difficult for the company to handle the same.
Conclusion and recommendations:
It has been concluded from the overall discussion that emotions is the element that plays a very
important role in dealing with the employees by the leaders. Emotions of the person are the
feelings that can be expressed by the person at the time of series of events occurred with the
person. There are various theories that have been introduced by the theorist in concern with
understanding the nature of emotions in the process of their expression. It has been analysed
from the report the emotions play their role at the workplace as well in order to manage the
people. Thus leaders of the companies have to include the emotional perspectives of the
employees as well as their own emotions at the time of making decision. Emotional intelligence
is concept that has also been discussed in the report in regards to its connection to the leadership

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skills that are required by the leaders these days. This is because emotional intelligence helps the
leaders to monitor and regulate their own emotions as well as allow them to understand about the
emotions of the employees. It has been also analysed in the report that emotions are very
important for bringing change in the organisation. This is because most of the change that occurs
at the organisation affects the employees working at the company. Change in the organisation
alters the processes and bring modifications in the various functions of the company. Change in
any of the function of the organisation leads to development of various challenges for the
employees. These challenges may trigger the negative emotions of the employees such as
anxiety, stress, defensiveness etc. that also leads to low job satisfaction, negative working
environment and this ultimately acts as the biggest obstruction for implementing the change.
Using the emotions intelligently and developing positive behaviour towards change
implementation process can help the leaders and the organisations to bring change easily. The
example of Alcon is discussed in the company. This company has faced some of the challenges
at the time of making changes in the company due to merger of the company with Novartis.
Recommendations:
There are several recommendations that have been made for the company which can be
implemented at the time of making changes.
Proper planning: Planning is the most important factor that helps in making changes in the
company process. Novartis should have made plans before implementing the changes that has
been made in the company after merger of Novartis and Alcon. This is because the improper
planning by the management has risen to many of the issues at the internal functioning of the
company (Doppelt, 2017).
Communication: Communication is very important at the time of making changes. This is
because if the changes are not being communicated properly then it becomes difficult for the
people to adapt those changes (Martinez, Bastl, Kingston and Evans, 2010). This may create the
chaos in the company in terms of working just like what happened in Alcon. When Novartis has
taken charge of the company, some of the departments were working independently and some
were reporting to Novartis management.

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Effective leadership and emotional intelligence: It has been analysed that bringing change
requires effective leadership. In today’s era, emotions are of very much value at the workplace.
People wants work life balance and thus their emotional perspectives need to be included at the
time of making any of the decisions by their leaders (Paton and McCalman, 2008). The leaders at
Alcon or Novartis should have shown their emotional intelligence skills at the time of making
changes in order to avoid the issue of resistance to change by the employees.
Training of employees: employee training is also one of the major to bring is changes. Provision
of training to the employees about the change that needs to be implemented prior to bring the
change helps the employees to adopt the changes effectively. It also motivates the employees to
work in the new working conditions as their do not have to make extra efforts and can prepare
them to face the changes.

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