Leaders of Change in MENA

The third millennium is marked by ongoing change. Business organizations function in dynamic environments that seem to demand immediate response. Forces for change, at times, appear to be the drivers of adaptation. Contemporary research shows that the third millennium business practice has evolved. Small and medium sized enterprises have successively engaged in change management. Much research holds that the external environment compels business leaders to adapt. Nonetheless, other research studies assert that in the business world, Chief Executive Officers are the drivers of change. Studies have shown that heroic leaders bring about change inside the business context. Small and medium sized enterprises are guided by business leaders who implement planned change management. Such business leaders carefully study their context and move their companies into a new strategy through bureaucratic directives inside rigid static and centralized structures of the industrial age, from the top down. I hold an opposing view. This case study was carried out on 100 business employees in SMEs to evaluate how employees perceived change inside their work context in the Middle East and North Africa. Three research areas were evaluated: (1) in your work context, how is change perceived by employees inside SMEs in the MENA? (2) In your work context, who leads change in SMEs in the MENA? (3) In your work context, which level of management moves change to create structure whereby work falls into place in SMEs in the MENA? The results of the case study reflected an insight on leaders of change in MENA. Many business leaders were perceived to use organizational resources in a novel yet highly productive manner, one that encouraged cooperative team work. The results reflect new-age millennial business leaders who knew that they were only as important as the extent to which they helped others become significant. The results of the study and its main limitations imposed by time indicate that more comprehensive research is required in this area.