The United States civil engineer transformation initiative : A case study of successfully leading CRE organisational change management

Corporate real estate (CRE) constitutes a large percentage of fixed assets of an organisation. Changing economic, regulatory and financial situations causes organisations to undertaken corporate reorganisation and restructuring. The Air Force Director of Civil Engineers — the CRE director for the United States Air Force — is responsible for providing facilities, infrastructure and installation support functions at a total of over 180 US Air Force (AF) bases worldwide with an annual budget over US$11bn. This paper provides a case study of three successive AF Civil Engineer directors who, faced with a 30 per cent annual operating budget reduction and a 20 per cent reduction in workforce, led the effort to conduct a whole organisational change management intervention which successfully transformed the systematic manner in which 60,000 personnel provided installation facility and infrastructure technical services across large, geographically separated real estate portfolios located in the US, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The paper provides a review of the literature on the organisation leadership theories delineating the behavioural actions of each director, which give information on their ability to lead and manage change as the chief executive decision maker of a mechanistic organisation, bound by a common cultural connection. Through the supplemental use of a retrospective interview, coupled with a literary review and an experiential perspective, the study examines the organisation leadership behaviour actions and the practical application of organisational change management theoretical concepts by each director in turn, resulting in the successful execution of the Air Force civil engineer transformation initiative during one of the most fiscally uncertain periods in modern Air Force history.