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ABSTRACT
This study proposes major changes to the Burke and Litwin (1992) leadership, change, and performance model against the background of significant changes in the external environment and new developments in business management. Improvements include, first, a more logical structuring without being subject to a specific leadership paradigm - a limitation that caused distortions in the original model. Second, by incorporating business processes reengineering, the strategy pillar of the adapted model has been significantly rationalised and strengthened. Third, culture is expanded to a fully-fledged pillar in the model, while human capital is included due to its growing contribution to organisational effectiveness and performance. Fourth, by modelling external contextual factors surrounding the adapted model, the new model systematically explores the interaction between leadership and the external environment. Understanding the impact of these dynamic factors is crucial in preventing well-functioning organisations from being affected by global financial disasters. Last, the reconfigured model extends the original model by adding a thorough discussion of the outcomes of leadership - namely, performance and effectiveness at the organisational, team, and individual levels.
INTRODUCTION
In 1992 Burke and Litwin developed and published a leadership, change and performance model for diagnosing organisational effectiveness (see Figure 1). It was intended to be used as an organisation development (OD) instrument. Beckhard (1969), an OD practitioner and researcher, defines OD as an organisational intervention that is planned, takes place across the organisation or unit, is managed from the top, and increases organisational effectiveness and health by means of planned interventions in the organisation's processes based on behavioural science knowledge. The principles of OD are still used today (Martins and Coetzee, 2009; French, Bell and Zawacki, 2005; Waddell, Cummings and Worley, 2004).
The Burke-Litwin model predicts behaviour and performance outcomes within a cause-effect paradigm, with cause being oiganisational conditions and effect being results. This cause-effect model guides both organisational diagnosis and planned, managed change (Martins and Coetzee, 2009). Research furthermore confirms well-defined cause-effect relationships between the organisation's internal and external environments, linked to organisational effectiveness (Chawane, Van Vuuren and Roodt, 2003; Burke and Litwin, 1992). While the model is considered relatively complex, its contribution to the outcomes of the organisational diagnostic process in cross-cultural research settings is considered significant (Martins and Coetzee, 2009; Jones and Brazzel,...