1.0 Introduction

In the contemporary business environment, leadership is core for success of organisations. As evidenced in Canterino et al. (2020) when organisation change occurs, speculation, frustration and job security issues arise. These are informed by misunderstanding of change drivers and end result expectations. Also, the change could fail as a result of issues with poor communication and lacking confidence in their operations. In this regard, through an embrace of effective leadership strategy, it is possible to enhance holistic management of all their activities which are involved as part of the change process. As evidenced in Vennebo and Aas (2022) this is while ensuring that the business requirements are prioritised and appreciative of employees considerations. Hence, in light of this background information, this report intends to evaluate the relevance of leadership in guiding success embrace of change. In particular, by evaluating the case of Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs (MNG-HA) which is a government-funded multi-speciality accountable health system which operate in entire Saudi Arabia.

1.1 MNG-HA Organisation Background

The Ministry of National Guard of Health Affairs (MNG-HA) is a public sector organisation operating as a multispecialty tasked with a responsibility of management of healthcare system of veterans. Through a target of the veterans group, they are able to pursue successful clinical care services, capacity development and research and development while integrating modern technologies. As evidenced in HIMSS (2022), from the start in 1982, the organisation has succeeded in provision of high quality services for the veterans and armed forces in Saudi Arabia (KSA). In the recent past, the organisation has been mandated to ensure that COVID-19 pandemic is successfully managed through a change embrace. Hence, the organisation has been playing an instrumental role in guiding change in KSA healthcare sector and the overall government in public sector operations. One of a recent invention from the successful organisation change is the setting of King Abdullah Bin AbdulAziz Arabic Health Encyclopaedia (KAAHE), a State-of-the-art simulation center. This is an institution tasked with operating academic and research practices in various clinical training initiatives. However, there is no clear evidence on the scope in which the organisation integrate appropriate leadership structure for success in change.

In order to leverage on optimum practices, MNGHA leadership has been core to embrace change strategy as shown in figure 1 company leadership structure;

Figure 1: MNGHA Organisation Structure

Today, the organisation is lead by CEO who is Dr Bandar Al Knawy (Moller Institute, 2022). The leader has been at the helm of the organisation since the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic. From the time the leader took helm of the organisation change, the previous lethargy in terms of embrace of leadership has since changed. With the previous leadership, with the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic, the organisation could not have managed to be successful in their operations (see figure 2);

Figure 2: Challenges of MNG-HA leadership

Source: Internal MNG-HA documentation

As illustrated in figure 3, past leadership has been ineffective for MNG-HA which could entail miscommunication in the entire hierarchy earlier illustrated in figure 1. Since Dr Bandar Al Knawy being CEO has been in a position of harnessing successful change in their practice. Contrary to the different leaders in the hierarchy, their traits are differing as illustrated in figure 3;

Figure 3: Leadership traits possessed by MNG-HA CEO

Hence, as informed from the information provided, in this report, the intention is to evaluate MNGHA leadership before and after the global economic recession. This is to ensure they succeed in change.

2.0 Impact of Leadership and Change in MNG-HA in KSA

In Cahyono et al. (2022) study focusing on KSA business environment and using respondents of approximately 3,500 highlighted that they attain 85% of increased success I change. This is particularly the case when these organisations invest in transformational leadership. Also, the respondents in the report who were leaders had hypothesised that through an embrace of both short and long-term leadership, they are able to successful achieve change demands with more than 90% success rates. Considering the situation in KSA Healthcare industry, Muzafar and Jhanjhi (2020) argued that the best leadership strategies are in a position of successfully embracing holistic change process as shown in figure 4;

Figure 4: Hindrances of Change

For MNGHA, change process barriers have been prevalent in the recent past. This has worsened owing to the prevalence of COVID-19 pandemic. The organisation had for instance been ineffective in 2016/17 management of MERS-COV which had impacted their operations significantly. The leader of that time was Dr. Ahmed Alaskar whose capacity to manage change was ineffective. According to Alkarar et al. (2020), the prevalence of MERS-COV had been ineffectively managed which has not been the case in COVID-19 pandemic. The turnaround is particularly credited by the CEO ability to initiate a centrally backed Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system (Arabi et al., 2022).

Hence, it is elaborately clear that the CEO of MNG-HA possess relevant sills which are core for successfully harnessing change in their modern business environment. This is a significant success where the leader has been in a position of harnessing an active collaboration for harnessing success in management of the different issues affecting their operations. This is as the organisation continue to operate competitively in their business environment.

In a recent survey pursued by MNG-HA management, they intended to gather from their employee on their views and consideration on the leadership role in embracing change. Form this survey, appropriate findings were hained. In particular, since the initiation of the EMR system by their current CEO, their success has been evidenced as illustrated in figure 5;

Figure 5: Employees input on leadership and change process in MNG-HA

Considering my management position working in MNG-HA organisation, I am best positioned to appreciate the need for successful change process and highlighting evident disruptions by internal and external occurrences. For instance, late last year, I recommended to the Ahmed Afyatan who is the executive director of the employees to come up with a remote working arrangement. As a result of the global financial crisis, there was an option for the organisation to prefer on workplace business environment. This is with some of the employees being called upon to take part in early retirement and retrenchment. There were several recommendations which I ended up making to the Executive director of HR and gladly accepted them and integrated as part of change process.

Despite of the success of the change recommended in MNG-HA, there were issues which were encountered which affected capacity to embrace change and also pursue sustainable practices. This is while succeeding in their leadership position. When uncertainty prevail, Thompson and Glasø (2018) through an evaluation of situational leadership theory identified the initiation of a leader-follower congruence strategy intended to promote a holistic relationship amongst the engaged stakeholders. This form of leadership would have influenced Ahmed Afyatan efforts of ensuring that they are holistically embracing the best modern strategy for managing the change embrace.

3.0 Uncertainties Derailing MNG-HA Vision and Mission (Strategies)

For MNG-HA, their vision is “Ensuring maintenance of global effectiveness of operations through effective leadership in healthcare sector in KSA Military officers and war veterans”. According to Lamm et al. (2018) owing to the prevalence of the economic issues and social…..

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