Leadership during the transition to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP)

The purpose of the qualitative case study was to explore the role of leadership during the transition to a wholly employee-owned company of less than 200 members, based in Broadview, Illinois. The study population consisted of all employee owners of the exemplar company. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 volunteer participants. Interview data were triangulated with archival data and field notes for the analysis. The results of the study conclude change management during the transition to an ESOP was not used as expected since the desire of the CEO and leaders in the exemplar company was to keep the same family culture, not change it. While the organizational structure changed from privately owned to employee owned, the goal was to maintain the leadership values and corporate culture during the transition to an ESOP. By referencing all employees as the fourth generation owners, executive leaders, mid-level managers, and front-line workers accepted the ESOP as a gift of love from the CEO and embraced the ESOP as employee owners. The employee owners' long-term employment previous to the ESOP transition was a prelude to harnessing their new ownership and taking on the responsibility of upholding the family legacy as fourth generation owners. Preserving the leadership values and corporate culture was supported by a tenured and strong family culture, reinforced ESOP communication from leaders, and leadership integrity throughout the transition process.