Abstract
With the frequency of organizational change that is seen in for-profit colleges and universities and the impact of organizational change on employees, the discussion of engaging employees during change is critical to successful change management practices. To research the purpose of the study and evaluate the ways in which leadership and their leadership characteristics were able to engage employees during organizational change, the researcher conducted an instrumental case study at the parent company of two for-profit universities that undertook a significant organizational change. This change merged the academic operations of the two universities and created one shared department. The case study involved participant interviews, a review of archival materials related to the change event, and observations to evaluate the current state of the merged department. The study uncovered six main themes that guided the presentation and analysis of the findings. As a result of the findings of the study and evaluation of the themes, the aim was to create leadership training that would help leaders implement the characteristics that were identified as having the ability to create a supportive and engaging environment during and following change. In the evaluation of the themes, a gap was detected in the planning of the change event and the impact that had on engagement. As a result, recommendations were provided to close this gap and improve change planning processes. Leadership characteristics that created the engaging environment under study were identified and linked to servant and inclusive leadership, and recommendations for training developing the characteristics were provided. |Keywords: engagement, transparent leadership, communicative leadership, feedback inclusion, organizational change, servant leadership, inclusive leadership