Strategic organisational change and artist-leadership in the K-pop industry : a narrative analysis approach

The shape of K-pop small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular has undergone a dynamic transformation over the past two or three decades, marking a turning point in the history of the K-pop industry and leading to major changes in both its management and leadership. This phenomenon was led by the three major artist-led companies: SM, YG and JYP Entertainment (also known as the 'Big Three') in the K-pop industry. The transformational change in both their leadership and their organisation will be qualitatively interpreted based on a case analysis of their artist-leaders (Soo-man Lee, Hyun-suk Yang and Jin-young Park). Taking into account the analysis, this thesis proposes a framework of 'Strategic Organisational Change (SOC)' to develop both conceptual and contextual understanding of anticipatory patterns of organisational and a leadership change in the culture and creative industries (CCI). The SOC of artist-leadership sets out the three main phases of organisational change of K-pop SMEs: entrepreneurial stage, established stage, and the transformational change in between. The principal findings of this study demonstrate that charismatic leadership with heroic storytelling enabled the early success of the idol system while the artistic competence of artist-leaders compensated for their lack of managerial competence. However, later, vision-driven leadership was needed to redefine the organisational vision. This symbolic role of artist-leaders during the transformational paradigm change was conducted by retelling and remaking stories so that new meanings have been discursively recontextualised into large and established organisations in Korean CCI. Finally, even though artistleaders lose the charismatic power during organisational change, the symbolic communication can make them sense of the need for change and give sense of SOC to organisational members.