ISSN 2039-2117 (online) ISSN 2039-9340 (print) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy Vol 7 No 5 September 2016 84 The Effects of Cultural Intelligence and Transformational Leadership Style of Managers on Employee Resistance to Change Fakhriyeh Hamidianpour * Assistant professor in Human Resources Management, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran Corresponding Author: Fakhriyeh_hamidianpour@yahoo.com Majid Esmaeilpour Assistant professor in Business Management, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran Razie Zarei Graduate student of Business Management, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran Doi:10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n5p84 Abstract One of the most important challenges faced by organizations is the environmental factors’ change and increasing global competitions. In response to this challenge, it should be noted that change management is a difficult task. Most of organizational changes fail. Lack of personnel’s agreement with the change and their resistance are among the most important factors that cause the failure of organizational change. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of two factors of cultural intelligence of managers and transformational leadership style on employees' resistance to change. The population of this research includes managers and employees of Jam Petrochemical Company (Iran). The sample consisted of 260 employees and 60 managers of various units of the company. Data were collected using the tool of questionnaire. To analyze the data SMART PLS structural equation modeling software was used. The findings of this study show that cultural intelligence of managers both directly and through transformational leadership style has a positive and significant impact on the resistance to change and also the transformational leadership style has a positive and significant impact on the resistance to change. Keywords: Transformational Leadership Style, Cultural Intelligence of Managers, Resistance to Change Introduction 1. With a brief review of management literature, it is possible to see the general trend towards constant changes. Organization theorists have noted the growing process of changes in communities and organizations (Dean & Ackerman, 2001). Change is among the most important implications of the of today's world and must be designed and managed to build constructive and effective developments in organizations. The necessity of organizational changes has made the leaders to be interested in organizations which enable people’s potentials, solve the crises and emergencies (Mavidnia, 2006). The researchers believe that many organizational changes fail. This can be caused by the fact that the changes cannot be fully analyzed and the inhibiting factors of the change are not being consistently evaluated. There are many barriers to change, but what matters more than anything, is the resistance to change by managers and employees. Identifying the source of the employees' resistance to change and its influencing factors are among the most important topics studied in the current researches (Shahmohammadi, 2005). One of the factors affecting the level of staff’s resistance to change is the leadership style (Schermerhorn, 1989). The selection Approach of leaders has a profound impact on organizational transformation. Personal ability of the leaders for change, change strategies selected by them, style of decision-making, communication patterns and the consequences of their behavior can strongly affect the organizational changes (Dean & Anderson, 2001). Communication and strong leadership are a vital part in preparing any organization to change (Box, 2012). Diverse global workplaces have created the need for culturally competent leaders (Brannen, 2016). In the companies where the leaders and staff need to decode their intentions for a set of goals and future plans, Multi-cultural conflicts happen. Transformational leadership of the twenty-first century, need inspiration, motivation and modernization plans, so that the opportunity to include a potential strategic vision for the organization is created. Staff’s skill sets and