Background: The business world is changing fast, and a lot of organisational changes fail. One reason for that are disruptive innovations. The automotive industry is about to face the greatest change since the invention of the automobile: the electrification of the powertrain of the car.

Purpose: The purpose of this master thesis is to identify how change leadership implements organisational change in times of disruptive innovations. We will do this by addressing the research question: How does the change leadership of car manufacturers and car part suppliers address the problem of adapting to the electrification of the powertrain of the car? We will focus on the German market as it holds a leading role in the global automotive market.

Method: A systematic review of the literature about change leadership and disruptive innovations was conducted to give us a profound frame of reference as a basis for the empirical research and the analysis. A case study of three car manufacturers and three car part suppliers in Germany was conducted. Here nine employees and one disruptive innovation expert were interviewed with a semi-structured interview guide with questions derived from the frame of reference.

Conclusion: The results of the study show that in times of disruptive innovation change leadership must address the organisational culture and values as the disruptive innovation can lead to identity problems. In addition, open communication about the change and the leader’s ability to motivate and to guide the employees during the change is important. Also, the change leadership makes sure that resources are invested with a sense of proportion and aims to rather shift than to switch to the new technology. Further, the change leadership puts special effort in the skill management due to the new required skill set of the disruptive innovation and addresses the potential reservation towards the change caused by the special characteristics of the disruptive innovation. Finally, based on these results, this study contributes to the literature by establishing three new change leadership approaches in times of disruptive innovations.