The role of leadership in managing change in the fast-moving consumer goods industry.

Abstract

Fast-moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) organisations are continually faced with the need to adjust their structures, objectives, processes, and technologies to develop and maintain a competitive advantage based on cost leadership and differentiation strategies, as modern consumers favour products that meet their specific needs. A leadership gap appears to exist in the current FMCG industry as the traditional FMCG landscape was characterised by mass production. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of leadership in managing change within the FMCG industry in South Africa, focusing on RCL Foods. A non-probability sample comprising 95 leaders was drawn from a population of 102 leaders within RCL Foods Chicken division. Data was collected using an online Google Form questionnaire developed specifically for this study by the researcher. Statistical analysis revealed the overall finding that the role of leadership in managing change is critical. An interesting observation of this study is that most leaders in the FMCG industry make use of transformational leadership attributes to successfully manage change. In some cases, however this may be an espoused or desired leadership style rather than an enacted style, as data revealed that some leaders displayed some transactional and laissez-faire styles while others sometimes adopted autocratic leadership styles. This study also revealed a correlation between leadership practices and effective management of the change process in the FMCG industry. Transformational leadership is therefore recommended in this study as a leadership style capable of influencing effective and sustainable change in the South African FMCG industry. This study recommends that FMCG organisations seek to attract and groom leaders with this type of leadership style, which is adaptive to continual change, to ensure a sustainable corporate culture and thus a competitive advantage. A further recommendation is that FMCG companies devote adequate attention to ongoing training and coaching of leaders in terms of a transformational leadership style and becoming change agents, inter alia, using a structured mentorship programme or attachment with leaders displaying these characteristics. It is also proposed that FMCG businesses develop a formal change management framework to be used as a standard where they adopt expertly designed change management strategies that could be widely used to develop their business model as per the business change management approach. This study encountered certain time and financial constraints and therefore recommends that future studies include a mixed methods approach to include qualitative data from both leaders and followers within other divisions at RCL Foods and within other FMCG companies, both locally and globally.