The New Book Launch “Pemimpin dan Perubahan: Langgam Terobosan Profesional Bisnis Indonesia”

The book launch of “Pemimpin dan Perubahan: Langgam Terobosan Profesional Bisnis Indonesia”, published by Elex Media Komputindo, was held on Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia on January 19^th, 2013. 

In this era of globalization, change, whether in small or large scale, is unavoidable in any organization. In that context, and the ability to manage change has become one key success factor to enhance company’ ability to compete. Organizations today need to be proactive in anticipating external changes, to ensure that change emerges continuously and to manage change successfully. In the implementation phase, well-planned and systematic organizational change process depends largely on the role of leaders.

The topics of leadership in organizational change are elaborated by the three authors of “Pemimpin dan Perubahan: Langgam Terobosan Profesional Bisnis Indonesia”, each standing with a rich background as professional and experienced practitioners in the various institutions within and outside Indonesia. The book highlights dynamics of change in business organizations and the role of leaders in managing change, with psychology perspective under the specific context of Indonesian society. The research data are derived from analysis with grounded theory from in-depth interviews (with 20 C-Level executives from national and multinational companies in Indonesia), which is also part of big scale research in six countries (joint-research by Tjitra Management Consulting, Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesian, and Columbia University).  

Core discussion of the book lies in large-scale change management model developed by the authors. The model presents how change is managed in an Indonesian business organization from two components, namely, the dynamics of the process of change (Stages of Change) and the role of leadership change (Change Leadership). These two components cannot be separated and must be managed optimally to ensure that the change goes smoothly. Stages of Change elaborates the whole picture of change, and also challenges and strategies implemented during change process. Change Leadership describes business leaders’ approach or strategy in managing people as agents of change. This section includes the art of managing change, which plays a leading role in the process and is the key to successful leadership.

As leadership cannot be separated from leaders’ culture background, Prof. Hora Tjitra and Dr. Hana Panggabean highlight the uniqueness of Indonesian leaders – by nature are relation-oriented and strong in interpersonal skills. In some ways, Indonesian leaders accentuate human aspect other than the strategic and grand plan of change in implementation. Emphases on human aspect as the key point of Indonesian leaders are also confirmed by the reviewers. Mr. Erwin Tenggono, CEO of Anugrah Argon Medica Dexa Group, adds two aspects that are important for becoming great leaders: continuing adaptation and openness to learn something new. Prof. Dr. Andreas Budiharjo, an expert in Human Resources Management, states that in leading change, “human approach is very important, otherwise employees will feel uncomfortable”. Under this context, teamwork and empowerment become key factors in all interviews. Ogi Prastomiyono, Bank Mandiri’ Compliance & Human Capital Director, shares his view about the large transformations in Mandiri. He speaks highly of the uniqueness of this book in Indonesia, and considers it a good reference. Mr. Junardy, Chairman of Rajawali Corpora, says that the authors’ efforts to do the mapping of Indonesian leaders is highly appreciated. This book provides deep insights about what the leaders have done and the consequents impact for the change process per se. This book has been published in Gramedia book store since 14th December 2012, and has been a best seller in several Gramedia book stores in Jakarta.

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Global Indonesian Network – who has written 31 posts on Global Indonesian Network.

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