Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine how cultural differences influence change management in Indian, Chinese and Estonian organisations. The paper focuses mainly on the resistance to change and contributes to management research and management practices in multinational companies by improving the understanding of cultural influences on organisational change management. Design/methodology/approach -The authors interviewed 177 business consultants and managers in India, China and Estonia who had participated in change management projects. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze the impact of national culture to change management. Findings -The cause of resistance was found to be mainly fear, in Indian and Estonian organisations, but in Chinese organizations it was the inertia. Increased stress was the most often experienced negative factor during change management projects in all three countries. Stress was caused mainly by leadership problems in India and by increased workload in Estonia. To overcome the resistance, communication was used in India and education together with communication both in Estonia and in China most often. Still, the content of these activities was different.Research limitations/implications -The interviewees had different relations to the organisations they described and the size of organizations was different. Practical implications -The paper's findings will help managers of multinational companies to understand the causes of resistance to change in different countries and plan the methods to overcome such resistance. Originality/value -Papers such as this, about the effect of culture on change management, are increasingly important due to rapid globalization.

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Purpose This paper aims to present the equine leadership principles which horseback riders are successfully using and which can also be successfully used in leadership of people. Design/methodology/approach This paper relies on semi-structured expert interviews with managers–leaders who are also horseback riders. Findings Based on the expert interviews, the main equine leadership principles which can effectively be used in leadership of people are trust, fair treatment, calmness, assertiveness, control over one’s feelings, confidence, responsibility, consistency (routine and predictability), courage, sense of empathy, and the ability to express gratitude and praise. Practical implications The paper provides a practical insight on relevant leadership principles for leadership trainers, coaches and teachers, as well as executive training organizations who engage in leadership training. It saves busy executives, leadership trainers and teachers hours of reading time by offering concisely the leadership principles which must be fostered in existing and future leaders to make an impact on the employees and contribute toward a better working environment. Originality/value To study the topic leadership, this paper uses an innovative and intriguing context (horseback riding) and couples it with the topic of leadership of people.

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