This essay will focus on Lizz Truss as a change leader. The first paragraph will focus on the
identification of the change challenges followed by two sections on the analysis of the link
between climate change and the economy of the UK and the other being her leadership
style, that is she possesses a transformational leadership style, Lizz Truss. This will be
further followed by a section on an evaluation of how effective Lizz Truss had been in
leading/managing change. Finally, this essay will draw on the key takeaways from the essay
in the conclusion section.
Lizz Truss's change challenges resulted in causing grave complexities and uncertainties
thus leading to the economic downfall in the UK. The approach led by Lizz Truss was
arguably one of "Evolution" and is transformational change in nature (Balogun,p.23) which
implies that Lizz would be compelled to adopt drastic changes to the economic policies.
The interaction between the change approach and the changing context is significant and of
which if the approach taken is weak will result in complicating the change challenge further
and vice versa (Rowland and Higgs,2005). Her approach to the change challenges is taken
as a directive approach as it was ineffective across most contexts. Furthermore, the
proposed evolutionary changes of her new economic agendas and policies to the (BBC
News,2022) Singapore upon Thames an economic hypothetical model that offered
businesses with low tax rates and low regulation (Davies,2019) meant that the extreme
complexity, ambiguity and risks were the result of tax-cutting, rise in government borrowings
and the mismanagement of stakeholders majorly(Stewart and Allegretti,2022). In the context
of the downfall of the UK economy which already persisted due to the Coronavirus pandemic
and the further change challenges brought by Trussonomics (Gutteridge,2022). This meant
that Lizz would require to adapt well and in being flexible whilst implementing her change
approaches of formulating her 'mini-budget' plans and in swiping off risks brought by the
huge debt accumulated further down the line from the Coronavirus pandemic. As, the
adaptability and flexibility in risky situations in response to the actual outcome or expected
consequences of the change may moderate the estimates of the risk hence leading to either
a surge in elevating the complexity and risk of the situation or in altering it to some extent
(Renn et al.,2011). A culture web (Scholes et al.,1998) analysis suggests that the culture in
the parliament under the leadership of Lizz Truss could be described as a toxic culture as
the colleagues in the government were unresponsive (organisational structure)
(Lansley,2022) which reflected that her leadership style of approach was weak (Stories)
(Giles,2022) thus this lead to miscommunications whilst implementing the strategies to
prevent from the downfall of the economy to happen (Rituals) (Elliott,2022). Therefore,
taking these into account serves as a breeding ground for the formation of toxic culture as
stated by the author Salter (2019). In terms of developed responsibility (power structures),
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Kwasi and the cabinet showed a lack of support as one main reason was a lack of
management and the extreme sexism against Lizz Truss that led to her failed plans of her
(Elliott,2022) procedures in the Parliament including 'mini-budget plans', bank intervention
(Control systems) (Inman,2022). Her colleagues in the government expected a participative,
proactive and democratic approach so Lizz would need to implement her plans more
effectively to achieve the incremental change objectives in the long run even if some tough
decisions were not going to be negotiable. Additionally, what would be particularly difficult
would be stakeholder management (Foo et al.,2011); applying the Burnes framework of
change (2009) suggests that businesses had to pay huge amounts of energy bills to meet
the energy price cap due to the elevation of the wholesale gas prices which is almost three
times higher, this meant that energy suppliers will have to offer a reduction in the energy unit
to the firms and in return, the government will then reimburse the losses that the energy
suppliers face; therefore this comes under the tasks and procedures, as a rapid change as
this was the change that was brought by the businesses to face in the context of their tasks
and procedures in regards with their maintenance issues (Parington and Lawson,2022).
Moreover, this was to deal with the challenge of facing an energy crisis (Parington and
Lawson,2022). Secondly, under Van de Ven and Poole's framework (1995), an evolutionary
change of the procedures and tasks was the thirty billion tax cuts to boost economic growth
to breach the fiscal rule that requires national debt to fall as a share of national income
between 2024 and 25. Therefore, applying the structural conflict rule (Caluwe and Vermaak,
2003,ppg-80) of complexity, there are two tensions and resolutions to overcome those grave
complexities. Which are to resolve the energy crisis through reimbursement by the
government for the losses that the energy suppliers faced through the businesses and apart
from this 5.5 million small businesses were meant to be provided with forty billion pounds to
overcome the energy cost unit production (Kettle,2022).The PESTEL analysis suggests that
economically, the debt owned by the UK government put Lizz at the risk of deficit funding to
the education system and privatisation of nationalised industries, into addition to there was
more money in circulation than ever before thus the wealth gap caused to kill the productivity
(Gutteridge, 2022). Therefore, applying the closed problem framing model (Beech and
Macintosh,2012,ppg-50-52) the change challenge to achieve the reduction in the cost of
living crisis is through alleviating the rise in inflation, energy bills, and fuel poverty and
standardising the wholesale gas prices by setting the implementation of the plan through
meeting with cabinet in the timeframe on an immediate basis(Partington, 2022). Also, the
turmoil caused in the financial markets brought about by instability and full-on risks resulted
in the pound spiralling to its lowest value in US dollars due to which the Bank of England
intervened (Jolly,2022) to protect the pension funds which were on the brink of collapse
(BBC News,2022). The force field analysis (Lewin,1947) suggests that even though the bank
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intervention resolved the high risks in the financial markets to overcome the financial crisis
amongst the financial markets hence caused the rise in inflation although the rise in the
currency market had been resolved by the bank (Jolly, 2022). The risks in the context of
change challenge are inter-related as both are directly proportional and it is the result of the
mediate change, also the high risk comes along with large-scale changes with high negative
consequences as a result of the emergence and widening of the gap between actual and
optimal (Armean, 2013). Complexities and risks are handled as a result of the integration of
tasks and implementation of processes to cope with the vulnerabilities evoked by generic
challenges of different orders of uncertainty (Renn et al.,2011). However, there was
resistance to change as it later emerged that Truss had not told her tax plans to the Bank of
England due to which they were forced to urgently buy up £65bn gilts to protect the pension
scheme (BBC News,2022). According to authors Kotter and Schlesinger (1979), this
resistance is considered a low tolerance to change to acquire stability and security on an
immediate basis. Thus this reflected the sense of urgency (Kotter,1995) by the Bank of
England to act on the change challenge. The other stakeholder environmental agencies and
farming unions have faced an act of ignorance which otherwise if implemented effectively
could have prevented Lizz from scrapping the environmental regulations which also
contributed to the downfall in the economy (Harvey and Horton,2022). Hence her unduly
actions have resulted in a high station of risk resulting in her haste to bring about rapid and
immediate changes to the economy has grounded her to face a grave energy crisis, financial
crisis and climate crisis which left the British economy to plummet dramatically causing
grave complexities and uncertainties.
Climate change in the UK has a direct link to the combination of environmental policies and
the UK economy however Lizz failed to alleviate the mounting climate crisis attributing it as
one of the reasons for the economic downfall thus there are other suggested ways for her to
act on dealing with the climate change stakeholders. Economic structural change which is
the capital accumulation effect and technological advancements determine the link between
GDP and carbon dioxide emissions which ultimately drives the economy in the UK
(Syed,2019). The change in the size and composition of the GDP is directly proportional to
greenhouse gas emissions (Scheraga et al.,1993). The cabinet showed little engagement
with the key stakeholders which included green groups and farming leaders, environmental
agencies, and National Farming Unions resulting in leaving them in an unprecedented state
for further proceedings (Harvey and Horton,2022). Concerning this, there were concerns
raised from the green stakeholders followed by raising complaints and discussions however
the cabinet along with Truss showed an act of reluctance towards them (Savage and Inman,
2022). Therefore, much of this reflected the significance of the act of misbehaviour as much
3
as good management. This act of political deviance (Robinson and Bennett,1995) is brought
by posited financial and economic issues the turmoil in the financial markets,tax-cutting
agendas reducing the issues with living and energy crisis, high mortgage rates on houses,
immigration and regulation of trade-offs through Brexit (Giles,2022) inequity or unjust
treatment meant the sexism and lack of management brought by miscommunication within
the conservative party which otherwise could have ended in the implementation of the
climate change acts and regulations related it to with the green stakeholders in a
precedented manner (Elliott,2022); perceived as provocations insofar as they motivate the
organisational members which necessarily might not lead to the members misbehaving and
that said if the members are free from constraints will result in misbehaving otherwise vice
versa (Shamsudin,2006). Therefore the misbehaviour of ignorance towards the green
stakeholders resulted in a skyrocketing climate crisis which attributed to the downfall of the
economy in the UK (Brown et al.,2005) as climate change impacts inversely affects
economic growth (Tol and Fankhauser,2005). Hence considering the right ways to overcome
these uncertainties with double loop learning cycle theory (Beech and Macintosh,2012,ppg
52-53), an effective way as change leaders often express a transformational leadership style
because this leadership style often suits an uncertain environment (Chong et al.,2017)
however in such environments participative and charismatic leadership styles may be
effective in carrying out the agenda and strategic change actions efficiently which failed to do
(Chong et al.,2017) as though evidence she lacked the motivation and lost the support of her
party allies to make decisions collaboratively to participate in her agenda for boosting the
economic growth and managing her green stakeholders (Ambrose and Nadeem, 2022)
which Lizz could have implemented effectively. From the above, it is clear that climate
change is directly linked to the economy of the UK and thus there were suggested ways that
Lizz could have overcome in dealing with her green stakeholders.
Lizz Truss, according to media reports, had been unsuccessful as a leader and is considered
to have demonstrated transformational leadership. Lizz didn't have many followers and often
her ways of approach included achieving incremental changes that said the true consensus
in aligning individuals and organisations, and thus in true consensus the interests are fully
considered however the final decision may be a failed one (Homrig,2001). And is often
expressed in leaders in the government (Homrig,2001). Therefore, this is true as Lizz Truss
being a political leader formulated incrementally change actions to the challenges that were
complex and uncertain (Allegretti and Mason,2022). This leadership style was in line to
create a sense of urgency (Kotter,1995) to alleviate the aftermath of the domestic financial
crisis and energy crisis. In the context of transformational leadership, change leaders have
often exhibited transformational leadership as they are specially made for uncertain and
4
complex environments and they promote long-term vision and can envision their behaviour
and attitudes greatly to show high task performance (Chong, et al.,2017). However this is
contradicting what Lizz has demonstrated as a change leader as evidence shows that she
failed to achieve her long-term goals and gain support from her party allies as a result she
was many time-restricted from discussing the economic strategies and from taking steps to
prevent the domestic financial crisis (Eardley,2022). The establishment of visions and
strategies (Kotter,1996) of the intervention of the Bank of England wasn't unusual; however,
the establishment of financial strategies for the currency rate in the financial market led to
the rise in borrowings and crash of the financial systems. This resulted from the aspect of
building coalitions (Kotter,1996) Lizz Truss failed to create guiding coalitions with her
colleagues in the government, unions, remainders and green campaigners and was fallen
trap into an argument with her party colleagues but resisted the lack of communication and
cooperation within her party members which later was accompanied by lack of effective
management (Crerar,2022). Drawing from the above, low transformational leadership results
in a low proactive personality which relates positively to work engagement for individuals
with a fixed mindset but not with a growth mindset otherwise could have resulted in positive
outcomes in terms of results (Caneils et al.,2017) by Lizz. Also, low leadership effectiveness
is accompanied by the creation of an atmosphere of lower psychological safety within the
team resulting in negative outcomes (Shams,2014). It has been observed that individuals
with significant management experience tend to believe that women exhibit more
transformational and contingent reward behaviours, while men prioritise inspirational
motivation (Eagly et al.,2011). Moreover, women also place greater emphasis on
individualised consideration, which are both communal and agentic aspects of leadership, to
navigate a route to promotion and success (Eagly & Carli, 2007). It is recommended that
men concentrate on providing inspirational motivation without being hindered by conflicting
gender roles and on the other hand, women often encounter the difficulty of showcasing both
inspirational motivation and communal behaviour, which can have a detrimental impact on
their job or professional life therefore his dual responsibility is a major barrier for women
(Eagly et al.,2011).Moreover, the decisions made by her reflect the garbage-can
decision-making theory (Cohen et al.,1972). Thus according to the colour print thinking
model (Caluwe and Vermaak,2004) she possesses yellow print thinking as according to
Bush (2023) she experienced ‘woke culture’ with the lack of communication and the
catchphrases ‘agree and disagree’ exist. Moreover her main change agents were her party
allies, conservative party members, home secretary, financial stakeholders, members of the
parliament who helped Lizz Truss in making the key decisions for the change challenges.
The required change resulted negatively as she failed to prove her leadership into practice
5
as a change leader and hence the required changes that were meant to take place were
accounted as ineffective.
Lizz Truss as a change leader had been ineffective in executing in summoning the significant
changes following the evidence provided in the news media. Hughes et al., (2022) have
argued that there are no conflicting views on whether she failed to prove her worth as a
prime minister, Lizz failed to run her premiership on a longer term due to her incapability to
gain the support of her party members and allies which lead to her downfall. Moreover, she
caused serious damage to her mission and has now caused the highest taxes for 70 years
(Hughes et al,2022) thereby causing the rise in government borrowings and economic
growth to plummet (Crerar,2022) alongside the rise in inflation and an increase in cost in the
non-essentials and essentials goods (Parington, 2022). Moreover, the rest of the Brexiters’
deregulation agenda started to crumble as a result of Kwarteng’s U-turn on the top rate of
tax made Truss look feeble and worse did not do enough to calm the markets (Hughes et
al.,2022). Additionally, the mounting climate crisis and scrapping of the environmental
regulations over the progress of her tax plans attributed to the downfall of the economy
(Horton,2022). Therefore this means that she failed to achieve her long-term visions and
strategies. From the points mentioned above thus as a change leader, she couldn’t make
any dramatic changes to the large-scale strategic vision she formulated with her party allies.
In conclusion, from the first section, it is clear that Lizz Truss encountered objective change
challenges of reducing the cost of living crisis, alleviating the energy crisis and financial crisis
and mismanaging her key stakeholders. To cope with working in a complex and risky
environment, one needs to be highly adaptable and flexible to the uncertainty involved in the
environment (Renn et al.,2011). The greenhouse gas emissions are directly related to the
GDP and the change in capital accumulation, technological advancements, and economic
structural change drives the GDP ultimately affecting the greenhouse gas emissions
(Syed,2019). However, climate change is inversely related to the economy in the UK. Also,
Lizz is considered to have exhibited a transformational leadership style and envisioned the
strategies to implement the dramatic changes that were about to take place (Sweney and
Lawson,2022). Lizz failed to build guiding coalitions which resulted in a lack of management
and the establishment of strong communication among her party members and allies which
led to resistance to changes miscommunication and the other being low tolerance towards
the changes to achieve the change challenges on an immediate basis to ameliorate the
economy primarily caused by coronavirus pandemic (Crerar,2022). Also, she possessed
yellow print thinking and the required changes that were meant to take place resulted
6
negatively as she failed to prove her leadership into practice as a change leader thus giving
rise to uncertainty and risks of high rates of mortgages, soaring energy bills, chopping of
wholesale prices, rise in inflation, scrapping of transportation costs and environmental
regulations in the context of change challenges of managing stakeholders, handling financial
crisis and energy crisis as well as the costs of living expenses.
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