When best-laid plans falter: recalibrating organizational change

Linda Ronnie and Sarah Boyd

Chapter 9 in Cases in Organization Development and Change, 2026, pp 85-90 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Major Focus of the Case: This case examines the challenges of implementing a change initiative and maintaining momentum in a private banking context. FSI, a South African financial services institution, launched Project Go to enhance client engagement among its private bankers. Despite initial success under Bryan Johnson's leadership – which had previously transformed the bank's performance from significant losses to substantial profits – the initiative faced unexpected setbacks. After achieving 45.7% of client engagements in the first four months, activity levels suddenly dropped by 50% in the fifth month. The case explores FSI's distinctive approach to change management, characterized by participative leadership and treating private bankers as partners rather than subordinates. While this approach initially generated buy-in, it may have complicated efforts to maintain momentum and address resistance. Key challenges included balancing organisational values with performance demands, managing resistance masked as capacity constraints, and achieving ambitious engagement targets. Through FSI's experience, the case illustrates critical tensions in organizational change: maintaining urgency while building consensus, addressing both surface-level and deeper resistance, and sustaining leadership focus beyond initial implementation. It raises important questions about the importance and effectiveness of change approaches in driving concrete business results.

Keywords: Organizational change; Resistance to change; Change approaches; Leadership; Financial services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035340965
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035340972.00019 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:23661_9

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().