Toward interdependent leadership culture: transformation in KONE Americas

John B. McGuire and Charles J. Palus

Chapter 28 in Cases in Organization Development and Change, 2026, pp 268-282 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Major Focus of the Case: The focus of this chapter is the development of a leadership culture capable of strategic execution in an organization that is facing the complex challenges of an increasingly interdependent world. Our work indicates that we can improve the probability of success in culture change by following five principles in a four-phase methodology. This is illustrated in the case of KONE Americas and their multi-year, guided transformation journey. It moves from their legacy as an achievement- and conformance-based culture to a much more collaborative, interdependent, and successful industry-leading organization. Key lessons revolve around the idea that culture change is an organic public-learning process with inherent risks and rewards, rather than a step-by-step cookbook approach. Executives do the change work first, link it to the business strategy, and move towards engaging the whole enterprise in corresponding zones of parallel, multi-level development. From the outset, a collaborative learning mindset sets the tone for the change process that advances toward an increasingly more interdependent leadership culture.

Keywords: Interdependent leadership culture; Organizational transformation; Culture change principles; Culture change methodology; Collaborative learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035340965
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