Participation in the ECMLG 2024 International Conference Dedicated to Leadership

Over the course of its 20-year history, the European Conference on Management, Leadership, and Governance (ECMLG) has been held in France, Belgium, Italy, Northern Ireland, and Finland. Traditionally, representatives from more than 40 countries participate in the conference, including scholars, educators, and practitioners. In 2024 Portugal hosted this significant event. On November 14, at Lusófona University, Anastasia Diakova—a graduate of the Bachelor’s program in Business Management at the HSE University Business School and a current Master's student in Strategic Management: Investments and Consulting—delivered a presentation. Together with her academic supervisor, Candidate of Psychological Sciences and Associate Professor in the Department of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Konstantin Bagrationi and with Department's Lecturer Olga Gordienko, Anastasia presented research findings on the topic "Change-Oriented Leadership in the Context of Transition to Strategic Autonomy”

In their work, the authors investigated employees' reluctance to embrace organizational change, using the implementation of a new employee evaluation system as a case study during a consulting company's exit from a global network. They also developed recommendations to overcome this reluctance based on methodologies within Fishbein and Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior and Amy Edmondson’s concept of Execution-as-Learning.

The results of the study indicate that employees' readiness for organizational change is influenced not only by their attitude structures toward the change, openness to new processes, a desire for self-enhancement, and understanding of the change’s goals, objectives, principles, and potential outcomes, but also by their past failures and how they perceive them.

Employees who view past failures as opportunities for learning and growth tend to be more enthusiastic about organizational changes and adapt to them more readily—an approach that is crucial for successful change implementation. Conversely, employees who regard past failures negatively and focus on avoiding mistakes and maintaining stability demonstrate lower readiness to embrace change.

The presentation garnered significant interest, reflecting the growing influence and recognition of HSE University Business School’s contributions to the academic field. Achievements such as this continue to strengthen the department's position on the international stage and highlight its commitment to advancing research in the field of management in general and leadership in particular.