How Adaptive Leadership Shapes Organizational Resilience During Strategic Change: A Qualitative Inquiry
Keywords:
adaptive leadership, organizational resilience, strategic change, qualitative inquiry, thematic analysis, Tehran, organizational adaptationAbstract
This study aimed to explore how adaptive leadership shapes organizational resilience during strategic change in organizations operating in Tehran. This qualitative inquiry was conducted using an interpretive research design. Participants included 24 senior managers, middle managers, project leaders, and organizational development specialists from Tehran-based organizations that had recently experienced strategic change, including restructuring, digital transformation, market repositioning, or process redesign. Participants were selected through purposive sampling, followed by snowball sampling, based on direct experience with leadership and change implementation. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews lasting 45 to 75 minutes. Theoretical saturation was achieved after the twenty-first interview, and three additional interviews were conducted to confirm the adequacy and stability of the emerging categories. All interviews were audio-recorded with participant consent, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis. NVivo software was used to organize transcripts, manage codes, compare categories, and retrieve supporting quotations. Analysis revealed four main categories explaining how adaptive leadership contributed to organizational resilience during strategic change: diagnostic sensemaking and reframing of change, participatory mobilization and psychological safety, flexible resource reconfiguration, and learning institutionalization. Participants described adaptive leaders as individuals who reduced ambiguity, challenged rigid assumptions, created space for dialogue, redistributed authority, protected employees from emotional overload, and converted disruption into collective learning. These mechanisms strengthened resilience by enabling organizations to absorb uncertainty, maintain operational continuity, adapt routines, and transform experience into durable organizational capability. The findings suggest that adaptive leadership shapes organizational resilience not through command-and-control responses, but through continuous diagnosis, inclusive mobilization, behavioral flexibility, and embedded learning. During strategic change, resilient organizations appear to depend on leaders who can regulate anxiety, preserve meaning, encourage experimentation, and align short-term adaptation with long-term strategic renewal.
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