Organizational Leadership and Change in the Context of Conflict

This chapter explores the experience of organizational actors, in public, private, and third-sector environments, taking decisions and delivering services in situations of conflict and division. Conflict and violence are a reality of life throughout the world. While much is written about the impact of war and disorder, how organizations and the people within them continue to do business through violence and its legacy is poorly understood. Organizational change is often central to peacebuilding endeavors and introduces ethical choices about the role of leaders and managers as agents of conflict transformation. Drawing on studies of leadership and change in Bosnia, the Basque Country, and Northern Ireland, the chapter explores the ethical challenges of leadership in the ‘gray zone’, the impact of complex and deadly political divides on organizational life, and the role of leaders and managers as they navigate violence and its aftermath. The chapter concludes with some reflections on the practices and approaches that facilitate leadership and change in these circumstances and the connections of these practices to conflict transformation.