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Building trust in times of crisis: Storytelling and change communication in an airline company
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to argue for and apply a polyphonic approach to corporate storytelling and organisational change communication. A participatory action research project demonstrates how recently developed inclusive methodologies that seek to create employee participation have been applied in a case company.
Design/methodology/approach
Case study based on a constructionist approach and four methodological foundations: participatory action research, co‐productive methods (such as organisational photography), appreciative inquiry and strategic change communication teams.
Findings
Results of the organisational change process in the case company show that the application of a polyphonic approach to organisational change communication and storytelling, appreciative inquiry and strategic change communication teams created involvement in and enactment of organisational change based on employees, own values and stories in the case company.
Research limitations/implications
Further research is needed that applies the methodological foundations of this study in other organisational contexts and under different circumstances.
Practical implications
The methodologies and approaches applied in this case cannot be transferred to other organisations directly, but the paper seeks to inspire practitioners with regard to inclusive and empowering approaches to change communication and storytelling.
Originality/value
Argues theoretically, presents and applies recently developed constructionist approaches and co‐productive methods.
... Managers must develop capacities to recognize these contradictions and to propose a different manner of framing new issues. Langer and Thorup (2006) Langer and Thorup (2006) propose the organizational-photography approach, which enables actors to visualize (through a visual description or photographs) the organization's tangible and intangible issues. ...
... Managers must develop capacities to recognize these contradictions and to propose a different manner of framing new issues. Langer and Thorup (2006) Langer and Thorup (2006) propose the organizational-photography approach, which enables actors to visualize (through a visual description or photographs) the organization's tangible and intangible issues. ...
... The authors proposed using questions such as: This process brings out the organizational issues in a context of change and brings participants back to the fundamental values that must endure during change. Langer and Thorup (2006) proposed another activity they referred to as the postcard exercise designed to assess the evolution of values during the change process. It leads employees to a type of personal reflection about the organization. ...
It has to be accepted that results have just not been forthcoming in the time since conducting change with respect to transformation projects has been a topic for discussion. According to Making Change Work, a 2008 IBM study, successful changes remain the exception. Indeed, 60% of projects fail to achieve their initial objectives! The objectives herein aim at questioning the relevance of planned change-management approaches in a highly turbulent and complex context. Moreover, they suggest that the teachings of the leading contributions in this field merit review. This article begins by presenting the meager success achieved with change-management practices and calling back into question the strategy of planned management of change. After gleaning lessons from these analyses, the second section brings to the forefront the contributions of research that consider learning as a lever for organizational change, mainly with respect to the development of learning routines and the importance of developing reflexivity. Although these contributions shed valuable light on the discipline, the approaches proposed by field practitioners appear to have rejected by more than one of them due to the scarcity of concrete means for implementing them, on the other. This article proposes the foundation to guide practitioners and posits that a better understanding of the interpretative processes related to change would help managers achieve greater success in their change projects. It suggests a number of reflective initiatives that make it possible to stimulate experimentation, questioning, and brainstorming, since the idea is not changing once, but on a continual basis.
... Members of the organisation commonly hear very different things in these situations and therefore the expectations of senior management are often not met (Schein, 1993). Successful organisational change communication is instead based on the creation of opportunity for the organisational members to be part of the communication and contribute to the organisational framework (Langer & Thorup, 2006;Weick, Sutcliffe & Obstfeld, 2005). Similarly, it has been found that psychological empowerment can be enhanced by one's degree of content generation on the Internet (Leung, 2009). ...
... Weick (1979) is among the scholars that have gone as far as to argue that communication constitutes organisations and that people organise in order to solve equivocal information. A transmission view, i.e. top-down communication with the idea of the organisation as a single body and the senior management's voice as the one and only (Langer & Thorup, 2006), would in that sense be fatal for the organisation. ...
... However, we learnt that those that felt like involved and active participants were more likely to prefer video, were more satisfied and perceived a greater effect on cognition and behaviour. As mentioned previously, research on organisational change communication in traditional settings has showed that creation of opportunity for the organisational members to be part of the communication and contribute to the organisational framework is key (Langer & Thorup, 2006;Weick, Sutcliffe & Obstfeld, 2005). ...
In this paper, we explore the impact of the use of an interactive video website, comprising videos promoting a company’s core values, on organizational learning. More specifically, we studied how the use of a video website affected the awareness of a company’s core values and whether or not this would also influence the behaviour of the employees. Two web surveys were designed for the study. The first survey was conducted prior to introducing the video website. The second survey was a follow-up survey in order to assess cognitive and behavioural effects. As a complement, we also conducted focus groups. We identified a slightly negative effect on cognition and behaviour. A number of factors that might explain the negative effect were identified. Employees that perceived themselves as active participants were more likely to prefer video, were more satisfied and perceived greater positive effect on cognition and behaviour.
... Therefore, communication is critical for implementing a new work strategy and achieving the desired results. Studies on the role of communication during organizational change focus on issues such as the design and adoption of the change process, the creation of employee participation [23], and the role of management communication [24]. By [25] has emphasized the importance of everyone moving in the same direction and it is further argued, when looking at organizational development, deployment, and success, pitting employees and managers against each other does not encourage a team approach or a sense of shared responsibility. ...
... Interviewees mentioned the above as an obstacle the city would need to consider carefully and find a solution for. Similarly, Langer et al. [24] have argued that digital equality is essential to ensure all groups can not only help, but also take advantage of the improved services. ...
This study concentrates on how change can be effectively managed within the public sector to enhance sustainability. Public institutions are vital in promoting societal well-being and must be capable of adapting to changing circumstances while embracing sustainable practices. The study discusses the importance of digital development and inclusion in the public sector, highlighting the need for organizations to adapt to a changing world and prioritize information technology and user needs. The research methodology involves qualitative research, including semi-structured interviews with employees from the city of Reykjavík, Iceland. The findings emphasize the importance of leaders and middle managers being on board and taking ownership of the digital transformation process. The study also highlights the significance of sustainability in resource management and the innovation in service provision that comes with digital transformation. Overall, the study contributes to understanding change management and digital development in the public sector and provides insights for organizations that are seeking to promote sustainability and adapt to digital advancements.
... First hypothesis found a positive relationship between change communication and employee trust. This finding is in line with the established fact that effective and relevant communication at times of crises such as organizational (structural ) change creates an environment of safety and trust leading to adaptation to change more successful (46) . ...
Objective : The purpose of present study is to investigate the relationship between Change Communication and employees' readiness for change. Additionally , the study has attempted to address the mediating effect of employees trust on Change communication-employees' readiness relationship. Furthermore , the study reports the moderating effect of employees' openness on relationship between Change communication and employees trust. Method: Data collected from employees of telecommunication sector in Pakistan i.e PTCL, Ufone, Mobilink, Telenor undergoing through structural change. A two-step method to partial least square-structural equation modeling used in the study. Findings: Testing the Kurt Lewin theory of change providing empirical evidence on the hypothesized relationships found that communication was positively associated with employee readiness. However, employee trust mediates this link. The relationship between communication and trust depends on higher levels of employee openness to change. Novelty: This study will be among few studies that have highlighted the importance of change communication in developing trust by removing fears and uncertainties and making employees ready to accept the change during mergers, acquisitions and divestitures using the lens of Lewin's three-step model.
... First hypothesis found a positive relationship between change communication and employee trust. This finding is in line with the established fact that effective and relevant communication at times of crises such as organizational (structural ) change creates an environment of safety and trust leading to adaptation to change more successful (46) . ...
... This was found to be the case with SAS, where a series of consultations with internal stakeholders (i.e. employees) and external consultants were designed to reduce levels of risk and distrust by using integrated storytelling in the process of implementing change (Langer and Thorup, 2006). In contrast, Fraher (2013) found that US pilots were suspicious and mistrusting of their employers' downsizing strategies despite the financial troubles many US carriers were experiencing at the time. ...
In management, it is important to know what the likely feedback effects of employee-employer relationship outcomes might be on levels of ongoing employee trust. This paper looks to apply this important question to a case application of the air transport sector by testing the impact of recent changes in a case sample of air transport companies using a modified aggregate trust model. The findings of this study suggest that occupational group (flight crew/non-flight crew), airline type (Full Service Airline - FSA, Low Cost Carrier - LCC, Charter), and level of seniority (management/non-management level) all have an important bearing on levels of trust in the employee-employer relationship. Pre-existing labour agreements and legacy arrangements with senior and certain occupational groups were found to have a more damaging effect on the trust relationship than anything else. An underlying level of resentment and defensiveness has developed due to historical labour agreements being changed and have been observed most notably among FSAs, flight-crew and middle-management staff. The mediating role of the unions in the employee-employer trust relationship was found to be insignificant among the sampled air transport organisations mainly due to the perceived weakness among the sampled employees of unions to make any meaningful interventions.
... According to Auvinen, Aaltio, and Blomqvist (2013), managers tell stories to subordinates to build social and interpersonal trust. In fact, managers use stories as an influence strategy to directly inspire and shape subordinates' behaviors (Auvinen et al., 2013 (Langer & Thorup, 2006). In sales encounters, buyers are wary of overly persuasive and pushy salespeople, so they look for hints and indications that salespeople are trustworthy. ...
This research investigates stories about buyer-seller experiences in B2B advertising. In two studies, the authors explore the impact of stories and narrative transportation in advertising on decision makers’ attitudinal responses. In Study 1, findings from a Fortune 100 company's buyer panel indicate that stories told using narrative advertising were positively related to the decision maker's trust in the supplier, ability to form personal connections with the supplier and the tendency to advocate for the supplier. Moreover, the organizational status of the decision maker (C-suite versus non-C-suite executives) was examined. Results demonstrate that the effect of these relationships were stronger for C-level decision makers than non-C-level decision makers. In Study 2, depth interviews were conducted with C-level decision makers. Findings reinforce results from Study 1 and provide additional insight into C-level decision makers’ perspectives on stories and narrative transportation. Implications for how stories about buyer-seller relationships can benefit organizational decision making are discussed.
... According to Auvinen, Aaltio, and Blomqvist (2013), managers tell stories to subordinates to build social and interpersonal trust. In fact, managers use stories as an influence strategy to directly inspire and shape subordinates' behaviors (Auvinen et al., 2013 (Langer & Thorup, 2006). In sales encounters, buyers are wary of overly persuasive and pushy salespeople, so they look for hints and indications that salespeople are trustworthy. ...
Past academic research addressing storytelling has mainly been approached from the business-to-consumer (B2C) context. These studies have credited stories as a fundamental source for emotional buying behavior in consumers. Although storytelling has the ability to evoke greater emotions in consumers, marketing research has not examined its application in the business-to-business (B2B) context, particularly within the advertising realm. Drawing on the B2C literature, this study offers an exploratory examination of the benefits of storytelling in B2B advertising. The authors reveal that stories told to organizational buyers foster a deeper, emotional connection to the selling firm. Results directly indicate that there is indeed power in telling stories to members of the buying center because it influences their purchase behavior and decision-making process. We also demonstrate that there is significance in telling stories to organizational buyers who have been historically thought of as purely rational beings. In fact, our findings debunk the notion that organizational buyers respond to marketing communications on the basis of economic value alone. At the heart of this research, we establish that storytelling can be fruitful in B2B advertising.
... For example, Langer and Signe Thorup (2006) draw attention to the use of storytelling, in a case study carried out with an airline company during a period of organizational change. According to Xavier (2015, p. 3), storytelling can be defined as "one of the techniques for plotting and linking together scenes by giving them a meaning that attracts people´s attention and allows them to assimilate a central idea". ...
ERP systems can be defined as information systems that aim of integrating and processing data for business organizations. At the beginning of the years 2000, organizations began to invest in these systems with a view to obtaining competitive advantage in the market. The literature shows a wide range of critical factors that account for the success of the installation of ERP and the communication of low quality is regarded as one of the main factors of fails. This article sets out a communication process designated by the acronym CEI, the purpose of which is to structure communication between the leaders and participants for ERP installation systems. CEI makes use of BPM concepts and the sensemaking. Two assessments were carried out: the first assessment involved the conception and the second concerned the usability of the CEI. Both yielded positive results and included several suggestions for improving the CEI.
... The answers provided in the research to the question of how strategic communication deals with the problem of lack of credibility are considerably less developed. Possible strategies are the avoidance of contradictions e.g. by means of integrated communication (Langer and Thorup, 2006), promises of transparency (Vujnovic and Kruckeberg, 2016;Wehmeier and Raaz, 2012) or the involvement of independent experts (Hovland et al., 1953;Pornpitakpan, 2004). But what happens if even these strategies are unable to dissolve the stalemate in a strategic communication situation? ...
This article focuses on the issue of how players in strategic communication situations deal with apparently hopeless situations. The theory is that players in such situations sometimes engage in strategic communication play. Essentially, what strategic communication plays do, is help to continue communication. This article develops a theoretical concept of strategic communication. It is shown that strategic communication plays are found both in direct interpersonal communication and in communication via the mass media. Pursuant to the communication sociological approach, the theoretical basis is a differentiated and paradoxical definition of play, following Bateson, embedded in Goffman’s frame analysis. On this basis, two functions of strategic communication play are identified. These are as follows: on the one hand, expanding the sphere of possibilities and, on the other, by means of self-reference, the likelihood of increasing attributions of likability and trustworthiness.
... Unofficial stories are not controlled by an organisation and originate from employees (based on Boje, 1995). Langer and Thorup (2006) use the metaphor of an orchestra to illustrate the challenge for managers in coordinating multiple stories within an organisation to create a "polyphonic harmony". However, this may be difficult in practice. ...
Purpose
Storytelling is claimed to be an effective way of communicating corporate strategy within organisations. However, previous studies have tended to focus holistically on storytelling in organisations rather than investigating how different groups may use and be influenced by stories. The purpose of this paper is to address these gaps in the literature by investigating how storytelling in internal communication can either support or subvert corporate strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study was conducted into storytelling in two large companies in the UK energy industry. Data were collected through 70 semi-structured interviews, documentary research, and observation research. Impression management theory was used to analyse how stories supported or subverted corporate strategy.
Findings
Storytelling by employees in the corporate and customer service areas of the organisations showed the greatest support for corporate strategy. There was more subversive storytelling in the operational areas, particularly by lower level employees. Stories subverted corporate strategy by recounting incidents and encouraging behaviour that contradicted the organisation’s vision/goals and values.
Originality/value
The study shows the important contribution of employees to the collective sensemaking process in organisations, by narrating supportive or subversive stories. Engaging employees in storytelling can enhance support for corporate strategy, however, managers should also see subversive stories as an opportunity to identify and address problems in the organisation.
... Communication management exists, according to Langer and Thorup (2006) to facilitate and coordinate all these voices in order to create opportunities for expression and contribution to a new organisational framework. Storytelling should not be used to orchestrate all voices to one singular (management) story and what needs to be done and how the CEI must be shaped, as one might expect to see occurring if introducing a monolithic branding strategy in a top down manner across a large organisation, as in our case study. ...
The purpose of this paper is to investigate and measure employees’ perception of actual and desired corporate ethical values as a component of corporate identity within a major UK financial institution, against a comparison with their employees’ own individual ethical values.
The paper shows that employees’ perceive managements’ ideal identity to be significantly different to the operational reality that “is” the company, especially in relation to ethical values. These gaps also vary between major divisions within the organisation, as well as between differing staffing levels, adding empirical support to existing theories that corporate identity and corporate brand management will need to take into account many sub-cultures within any large organisation, as well as the individual values of its employees, and that a top down communication programme that fails to take this into consideration will face many difficulties.
... Third, the change agent must be credible (Armenakis & Bedeian, 1999; Lewis et al., 2006). It is worth noting that the change agent is not always the boss, and the target is not always the employee: " change communication must be based on a multifunctional team representing a diversity of voices and interests in the organisation " (Langer & Thorup, 2006, p. 379). Organizational issues are sometimes " sold " upward with coalitions of peers and organizational outsiders to prompt support for change (Dutton et al., 2001 ). ...
Hostile challenges to planned organization change are common and challenging to deal with effectively. Little research has explained successful responses to such stakeholder hostility. To address this gap, we use the concept of readiness to characterize the content of hostile challenges. We also use rhetorical strategies based on speech act theory to describe options for responding to those challenges. Because change agents must choose among multiple strategies, we continue a line of research investigating relative preferences among them. Ultimately, our aim is to offer six lessons for change agents who face hostile challenges based on evidence from research.
... The changes (i.e., CEO change, merge, and relocation) examined in this study thus reflect the most commonly studied organizational changes. The challenge of garnering employee support and collaboration during organizational change has increasingly attracted the attention from communication scholars (Barrett, 2002; Elving, 2005; Goodman & Truss, 2004; Langer & Thorup, 2006). In order to generate positive changes that an organization needs, organizations need to combat employees' despair, fear, and even intolerance toward unpredictable outcomes of changes and strive to generate support, trust, and loyalty from them (Ahrahamson, 2000; Collins, 2001; Magretta, 2002; Pringle & Gordon, 2001). ...
Based on 18 interviews with employees of a multinational food giant operating in Mainland China, this study examined how employees enacted an activist role during a relocation change by adopting various empowerment strategies such as creating opposing identities, framing the target blame, building alliances, making threats, seeking bilateral compromises, and others. These activists successfully pressured top management to change from its nonresponse to negotiation with the union. The significance of this study lies in examining the first self-organized union and internal activism case in a multinational company operating in Mainland China.
... Communication management exists, according to Langer and Thorup (2006) to facilitate and coordinate all these voices in order to create opportunities for expression and contribution to a new organisational framework. Storytelling should not be used to orchestrate all voices to one singular (management) story and what needs to be done and how the CEI must be shaped, as one might expect to see occurring if introducing a monolithic branding strategy in a top down manner across a large organisation, as in our case study. ...
... A critique of texts on change communication within this approach is the absence of concrete methods and advice on how practitioners could use and take advantage of communication during change. One exception is the article "Building trust in times of crisis" (Langer and Thorup, 2006). Change communication based on a storytelling approach will result in further frustration, claim the authors. ...
Purpose
– The purpose of the present review of communication approaches to organizational change is to identify and further develop the range of perspectives available in the literature and to present a framework on communication and change that could underpin future research.
Design/methodology/approach
– Research on communication, narratives, stories and discourse, which have mapped new terrain in the study of organizational change, is reviewed and discussed.
Findings
– The authors conclude that despite the vast academic and popular change literature, communication approaches to change still remain underdeveloped and communication scholars are, with few exceptions, remarkably absent in the field. Three challenges for the future are proposed, that researchers of communication and organizational change need to consider.
Originality/value
– This paper provides a comprehensive literature review in the field of communication during organizational change. By integrating these studies in a new framework of communication as tool, process and social transformation, the authors offer a new foundation for theory building in this area. Further development and integration of these three different communication approaches is suggested, which would offer better conditions for research and practice to embrace the complex processes of organizational change.
... Communication management exists, according to Langer and Thorup (2006) on facilitating and coordinating all these voices in order to create opportunities for expression and contribution to a new organizational framework. Storytelling should not be used to orchestrate all voices to one singular (management) story and what needs to be done and how the change must be shaped. ...
Purpose – The paper aims to propose practical and theoretical consequences of emerging lines of thinking about communication during organizational change. Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual paper suggests several benefits that a sensemaking approach may have in enhancing organizational success in general and the effectiveness of communicating change in particular. Findings – It is suggested that the negative effects of a myopic view on information provision during change distracts from the importance of other communication activities. The fact that changes often fail to meet the expected goals can be partly attributed to the misbalance between information and communication. For practical purposes, it is suggested to stress the importance of energy in organizations and work meaning. Future research could benefit from a focus on framing. Three topics that relate to framing, i.e. conflicts, informal communication, and storytelling are suggested. Practical implications – Suggestions for practice how to organize communication during organizational change and which topics to address are offered. Originality/value – Several insights that emerge from new lines of thought in literature on organizational behaviour, organizational communication and change are used in this paper to give practical advise to change agents, and suggest directions for future research.
... Prior to this project, Sollentuna has taken a top-down approach when developing IT strategies. Successful organizational change communication is typically based on the creation of opportunity for the staff to be part of the communication and contribute to organizational development (Langer and Thorup, 2006;Weick, et al., 2006). In line with this theoretical argument, the management of Sollentuna municipality decided to attempt to implement a bottom-up perspective, hoping to engage and empower exployees, by using an OIC. ...
Online communities have flourished in organizations in recent years, but large numbers of them fail. A deeper understanding of how participation can be promoted in online idea communities (OIC) is essential, because the most common reason of failure is low levels of participation. In this paper, we investigated how participation could be encouraged in an intra-organizational OIC. Our case organization was Sollentuna municipality in Sweden. They decided to introduce an OIC to collect ideas from staff as input when developing the municipality's forthcoming IT strategy. We used the theory of online identity-based communities (Ren, et al., 2007) as a lens and a mixed research method comprising interviews and an analysis of the content of the OIC. While this theoretical perspective certainly has merits on its own, the study topic at hand made it necessary to complement the theory with more specific design principles that take the unique characteristics of intra-organiztional OIC into account. These included that managers were expected by staff to be core members of the community, frequent and complementing promotion activities were necessary in order for the OIC to be used, very low entry barriers were expected, and the employees expected the discussion to be focused, both in terms of content and time. The design principles need to be tested and further developed, by conducting studies on other OIC.
... Communication management exists, according to Langer and Thorup (2006) to facilitate and coordinate all these voices in order to create opportunities for expression and contribution to a new organisational framework. Storytelling should not be used to orchestrate all voices to one singular (management) story and what needs to be done and how the CEI must be shaped, as one might expect to see occurring if introducing a monolithic branding strategy in a top down manner across a large organisation, as in our case study. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate and measure employees' perception of actual and desired corporate ethical values as a component of corporate identity within a major UK financial institution, against a comparison with their employees' own individual ethical values.
Design/methodology/approach
The multi‐method case study uses a mix of secondary data analysis, key interviews and 245 employee questionnaires. The financial institution is selected as it is identified as being in the process of instigating what may be termed a “monolithic” corporate branding strategy while using a “top down” communication approach across its various operations in the UK.
Findings
The paper shows that employees' perceive managements' ideal identity to be significantly different to the operational reality that “is” the company, especially in relation to ethical values. These gaps also vary between major divisions within the organisation, as well as between differing staffing levels, adding empirical support to existing theories that corporate identity and corporate brand management will need to take into account many sub‐cultures within any large organisation, as well as the individual values of its employees, and that a top down communication programme that fails to take this into consideration will face many difficulties.
Originality/value
This empirical based case study research focuses upon a comparison between internal perceptions of actual and ideal corporate values as part of the corporate identity, in comparison to employees' own individual values has been largely overlooked within the corporate identity and branding literatures to date.
The focus of this study is on how Lion Air managed crisis communication following the Boeing 737 MAX 8 crash of Flight JT-610. The research delves into the use of storytelling in media statements as a strategy for crisis communication during the aftermath of the crash. It outlines Lion Air's goals in sharing information and engaging with the public and media in the midst of this crisis. The study utilizes a qualitative text analysis to scrutinize three specific media statements released during the crisis. By applying Michael L. Kent's storytelling elements, the analysis of the media statements concentrates on factors like emplotment, narrative theory, identification, form, and masterplots. The selected statements cover the immediate aftermath of the crash on October 29, 2018; a subsequent statement on March 13, 2019, addressing broader safety concerns surrounding the Boeing 737 MAX 8; and a final statement on October 26, 2019, summarizing findings from the National Transportation Safety Committee's investigation. The research findings suggest that employing storytelling through straightforward text in media statements, incorporating credible character depiction, structured narrative, empathy, and compelling storytelling, can notably influence an organization's reputation recovery and improvement. Well-crafted and timely media releases are essential as primary information sources for the media, especially in crisis scenarios where prompt and precise information dissemination is critical. This method ensures that information, though disseminated quickly, maintains relevant and impactful storytelling aspects. The study concludes that storytelling, characterized by humanistic, empathetic, and coherent narratives across media statements, can be effectively utilized by Lion Air to uphold consistent and narrative-focused communication with the public through the media.
Appreciative inquiry is an approach with the power to contribute to inclusion in the workplace. Paired with digital interventions, which share the power to include and the potential to exclude, digital appreciative inquiry offers promising possibilities when used with intention. This chapter presents guidance to help higher education institutions accomplish the goals of inclusion using digital appreciative inquiry, which can lead to greater staff and faculty belonging, trust, engagement, and institutional sustainability.
This research examines the impact of the determinants of perceived value and intention to adopt mobile applications for airline crisis communication. Value-based adoption model and prospect and mental accounting theories underpin the proposed research model. The findings obtained from structural equation modeling show that airline passengers assign a large weight to the benefits of such apps, namely, usefulness of location-based messages and usefulness of customized-need messages, with an emphasis on the former. Conversely, sacrifice elements are considered negligible. The factors affecting the intention to adopt airline mobile applications during crises are validated theoretically. Suggestions for desired airline mobile application features are also discussed.
In 2017, (former) Google employee James Damore shared with colleagues a 10-page memo which ruminated over and rearticu-lated normative assumptions about gender equity in the technology sector. The memo contested Google's pro-diversity narrative with 'fragmented speculations'-or antenarratives-about alternative organizational futures (Boje, Haley, and Saylors 2016, 391). The memo was subsequently leaked to an online news site and a 'new media event' formed from the reflexive circulation of discourse of the ensuing controversy Fu (2018). We analyse this corpus of texts in terms of 'antestories' being told about Google and we consider how these storytelling episodes align with or challenge the company's preferred pro-diversity future. We consider the material-discursive conditions which influenced the storytelling episodes and the stories which were ultimately heard (Jorgensen, Strand, and Boje 2013). We argue that 'Damoregate' serves as a cautionary tale for organizational communication, particularly the implications of alternative progress narratives in employee 'antestories' and the limitations of relying on organizational (ante) narratives in a digital era.
Purpose: There is a growing number of companies that undergo a change in communication management towards more integration along strategic topics, which often involves structural, procedural and cultural changes with significant implications for the working environment. The purpose of this paper is to explore how this change towards topic-based strategic communication management (TSCM) impacts employee work engagement. Design/methodology/approach: In-depth interviews with communication managers and employees from 13 large companies in Western Europe were conducted. Thematic analysis was employed to identify patterns in the collected data and explore them in terms of communication-related factors that have been shown to determine employee work engagement. Findings: Research findings suggest that TSCM has the potential to enhance employee work engagement by fostering its determining factors. TSCM was found to have significant implications with regards to leadership and culture, new forms of collaborative work and employee empowerment. Research limitations/implications: This paper extends and deepens the scholarship on the concept of integrated communication and its implementation in organizations. Practical implications: The study provides a better understanding of the non-functional dimension of TSCM by showing the changing realities in terms of working climate, relationships and mindsets. From a strategic perspective, it draws attention to the growing need of management support instead of control, trust and skills enhancement in order to enable employees to meet the new requirements and let them benefit from the evolving opportunities. Originality/value: TSCM is among the latest developments in the practice of corporate communication, and this study is the first to investigate its effects from an engagement perspective. Findings contribute to theory building in the area of integrated communication and provide a starting point for more empirical research on internal impacts of TSCM.
Strategic conversations in private sector enterprises have gained significant prominence as legitimate additions to the post-modern analyses of organisations and management. Anti-positivistic traditions propagate narrative-based redefinitions of key managerial notions and ask for systematic efforts to incorporate narrative methods in the methodological toolkit of scholars who study organisations and management. As a result, academics, managers and consultants were eager to introduce the notion of conversations into management, and especially strategic management.
Organisations increasingly grasp that conversations are central to addressing many of its contemporary strategic challenges. This raises the question on how conversations or stories could be mainstreamed in public sector institutions. The purpose of this article is to explore the usage of strategic conversations in government settings with the aim to design a conceptual framework that may aid further investigations into this dynamic field.
Organizations in society change and transform in order to survive and adapt to their environments. In this regard, the previous chapter discussed the notion of evolution as an explanatory paradigm for understanding employee emotions amidst change. This chapter proceeds to consider how well employees adapt through emotional and cognitive biases that can arise and function during change conditions. Research by social psychologists has provided a set of tendencies or “biases” that predispose individuals to behave in particular ways involving emotions.
Research in organizational change management has not explicitly considered the function and role of biases, and thus there remains much prospect in the field for exploring this promising avenue.
This article seeks to provide an evidence-based set of recommendations for the development of an intercultural crisis communication (ICC) research agenda with three goals. First, to provide an advancement in our understanding of the state of crisis communication research in general. Second, to offer a grounded introduction to crisis communication for intercultural scholars who may not be as familiar with the field. Finally to identify three broad evidence-based areas for developing ICC research – (1) representing different cultural perspectives in crisis communication research, (2) placing American crisis research in a global context, and (3) developing cross-cultural comparisons.
This book constructs a multi-disciplinary interpretation of emotion, specifically applied and discussed within Organizational Change environments. Including a range of perspectives from Philosophy, Evolutionary Sciences, Psychology and Sociology, Emotion in Organizational Change also provides a historical picture of our knowledge of emotion. The author explores how this can contribute towards a novel understanding of a pervasive phenomenon in society and its organizations.
Usman Talat is a Lecturer in People Management at the University of Salford, UK. His research interests include Philosophy, Evolutionary psychology, and Organizational change.
On a typical work day employees face numerous choices. Every choice made is a commitment that forgoes possible alternative options. These range from opting to have a conversation with a colleague in the office to formal actions like making strategic business plans. Each choice opens space for actions that branch into different directions with related consequences. For the most part, research has focused on establishing a formalism that prescribes how employees should make choices. This idealistic approach has failed in explaining or providing insight into how employees actually make choices when faced with uncertain situations. In particular, we know little about employee behaviour in organizational change, which presents extremely uncertain environments. In this chapter, I present and expound how emotional workers perceive risk in the midst of organizational change.
In this chapter, given the backdrop of philosophical ideas discussed in the previous chapter, we move to consider what it is to reason about organizational change in an emotional state. We consider cognitive theory, which enables a perspective currently underexplored in the field. The chapter demonstrates how situations appear to emotional employees and the lessons that can be learnt for managing change, which fundamentally threatens the notion of identity. We also journey deeper into the recesses of the employees mind and explore the poorly understood phenomena of employee imagination. This is subsequently followed by another scarcely considered idea that employees often think about organizations by personifying them (i.e. anthropomorphisms). The chapter on the whole reveals the emotional employee’s mental picture of organizational change and the related obstacles and challenges this presents.
Successful organizational change is often the result of good leadership. However, consensus on what good leadership means is scarcely discernible in the field. There remain several schools of thought with their paradigmatic interpretations. In this chapter, I explore and discuss the evolutionary perspective, which has developed within several areas of organization research in general, however, it remains alien to our understanding of organizational change. Specifically, the chapter asks how through the lens of evolution, leader–follower interactions in a change management context, are influenced by emotion at individual and group levels. Knowledge in this area is still developing and stands to benefit from an evolution perspective.
Concrete measurable values such as transparency, information sharing, institutional commitment and effective leadership may be obtained through intra-institutional communication. Brochures, journals, letters, posters, computer technologies, suggestion boxes, educational activities and communication means such as social media are widely used for obtaining these results. Due to an ever-changing and ever-developing world order, the sociological, cultural and psychological structures of the organizations also change and develop. Thus, improving intra-institutional communication methods and providing new resources for intra-institutional communication studies are vital necessities. Within this context, appreciative inquiry may be defined as an efficient and new method to increase and develop intra-institutional communication resources. Appreciative inquiry is a process aimed at finding the best for people, organizations and their environment. Within this process, every member of the institution has the right to speak and a great value is attached to continuity and inventiveness during the changing process. This study is to reveal the relationship between the principles of appreciative inquiry and the purposes of intra-institutional communication. In this study documental review was made using qualitative research method. In the light of the information received, the relationship between the principles of appreciative inquiry and the purposes of intra-institutional communication was revealed and usage of appreciative inquiry as a means of intra-institutional communication was suggested.
In a rapidly changing world, with constantly shifting dynamics, organizational change may prove essential if businesses are to continue to succeed. The majority of research on organizational change adopts a macro outlook, focusing on strategic issues from the perspective of the organization and its management. In this volume we undertake a micro perspective, focusing on the individual and, more specifically, the importance of the employees and their reactions to organizational change. This focus expands our understanding of why change initiatives frequently fail. The Psychology of Organizational Change constitutes an essential resource for scholars, students, and practitioners in the field of organizational change and development who strive to understand how to make change work not only for the organization, but also for its members.
Using a narrative–semiotic approach, this article explores the decisions, plans, and actions involved in dealing with organizational risks and crises. It describes a model, or methodological framework, for crisis analysis as well as for organizational learning aimed at crisis management and prevention. The model is based on the interrelational positioning of the relevant agents (project managers, project team members, and stakeholders), the discourses produced by these agents, and their actions. This model is valuable for understanding the situations, goals, motivations, and anxieties that underlie the risk assessment and actions taken during crises. To illustrate the theoretical discussion, the article analyzes the Columbia Space Shuttle accident of 2003.
Purpose
The study was designed to generate and test a model of employee cynicism toward organizational change from the communication perspective in a higher education institution.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the theoretical framework of social information processing (SIP), the study investigated the communication processes in the social context, which contributed to employee cynicism toward organizational change in the higher education setting. Path analysis was used to test the overall model fit.
Findings
The findings suggest that the three variables, perceived quality of information, cynicism of colleagues, and trust in the administration, predict change‐specific cynicism, which, in turn, lead to intention to resist change.
Research limitations/implications
As an initial attempt to explain employee cynicism toward organizational change in higher education settings, this model inevitably has loose ends. Further research is needed to expand the model from a communication perspective.
Practical implications
The research provided administrators with strategies and advices to cope with employee cynicism during organizational change.
Originality/value
This is the first known study to examine the concept of change‐specific cynicism within the theoretical framework of SIP. It points to a new direction which warrants the attention of communication scholars.
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to investigate identity change in savings banks. The savings bank movement is gradually shifting from a residual culture of using the bank to promote savings, into a dominant culture closely resembling commercial banks.
Design/methodology/approach
Theory draws on key research in the field of organisational change and corporate identity. A qualitative methodology is used to investigate a large portion of the savings banks movement in Sweden.
Findings
The shift in culture is a result of decreasing values of original visions, a process of commercialising the savings bank idea and increasing chief executive officer (CEO) influence and professionalisation.
Research limitations/implications
The results are primarily applicable for savings banks.
Practical implications
The paper shows the ongoing changes in the savings bank community and the effects of these changes on critical stakeholders. In particular, the important role of CEOs in non‐profit organisations is illustrated and discussed.
Originality/value
Few studies focus on change in culture and the consequences for stakeholder relations. There is no prior study on savings banks and organisational change.
Purpose
– This paper aims to review the discursive formation of organizational change and to consider the possible directions that change management initiatives may take in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
– This closing piece identifies a traditional change discourse and an emerging change discourse. This is achieved through a review of the extant literature and the contributions to the special issue.
Findings
– The paper highlights a shift of emphases in organizational change due to environmental imperatives. In particular, it reveals a move from problem‐centred, discrete interventions to a focus on continuous improvements. It also draws attention to the emerging significance of discourse‐based approaches concerned with image, identity, organizational learning and knowledge management.
Originality/value
– Provides a framework for classifying different forms of organizational change activity and posits directions for future development.
Purpose
This study aims to examine the correspondence between the use and evaluation of management communication on the one hand and positive and negative responses to a planned organizational change on the other hand.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted among employees of a Dutch branch of a large international organization which had survived a recent planned organizational change. In a survey, respondents were asked to report on their opinions about the organizational change at the time of the study, and retrospectively report on their opinions about the organizational change at the introduction of the organizational change.
Findings
It was found that positive responses to the planned organizational change increased and negative responses decreased in the due course of the organizational change. In addition, survivors were ambivalent in their attitude towards the organizational change, as positive responses existed next to negative ones. With respect to the role of management communication it was found that satisfaction with management communication is most strongly related to responses to the organizational change as survivors who are satisfied with management communication score high on positive responses and low on negative responses.
Research limitations/implications
The study has methodological limitations as it employs a one point in time measurement.
Practical implications
This paper is a source for practitioners in the field of management communication as the results may guide them in focusing on maximizing employee satisfaction with management communication as this communication component is most strongly related to response to the organizational change.
Originality/value
This paper provides empirical evidence of the value of management communication for survivors of organizational change processes.
Studies of national images and identities suggest a careful consideration of historical and contextual aspects when planning, mastering and evaluating corporate images and identities — including a classification of image types. We argue for a reconsideration of these contributions if corporate communication is to be other than auto-communication, fixes or acronyms. Our discussion draws on company examples such as Hamburg-Mannheimer, Rambøll, Shell, Burger King and Scandinavian Airlines.
The interest in audio and video technologies has surged as IT infrastructures and network capacities have improved. Surprisingly, there have been rather few studies on such emerging technologies in organizational settings. In this research-in-progress paper, we explore the impact of the use of an interactive video website, comprising videos promoting a company's core values, on organizational learning. More specifically, we intend to study how the use of a video website affects the awareness of a company's core values and whether this will also influence the behaviour of the employees. Two web surveys are being designed for the study. The first survey was conducted prior to introducing the video website. In this paper, we present initial results from the first survey. We are currently in the process of designing a follow-up questionnaire in order to assess cognitive and behavioural effects of introducing the video website. As a complement, we will also conduct interviews and observations of how the video website is used.
This chapter presents a conceptual refiguration of action-research based on a "sociorationalist" view of science. The position that is developed can be summarized as follows: For action-research to reach its potential as a vehicle for social innovation it needs to begin advancing theoretical knowledge of consequence; that good theory may be one of the best means human beings have for affecting change in a postindustrial world; that the discipline's steadfast commitment to a problem-solving view of the world acts as a primary constraint on its imagination and contribution to knowledge; that appreciative inquiry represents a viable complement to conventional forms of action-research; and finally, that through our assumptions and choice of method we largely create the world we later discover.
A map or other representational device is a piece of craftwork, crafted in the interest of making something visible. Things are made visible so that they can be seen, talked about, and potentially, manipulated. It is the last that constitutes the power, for better or worse, of the construction of representations of work. With agendas of intervention come questions of interest, questions that need to remain central and lively elements of research and design. (Suchman, 1995, p. 59).
Introducing change into an organisation usually raises resistance from those who have the most to lose because of the introduction of the envisaged change. This article looks at the introduction of change in the management structure produced in a large public organisation. The key to successful introduction of the change was seen to lie in effective communication. The customary cascading down of information from the top of the organisation to the rank and file managers was found to be ineffective when a large-scale structural reorganisation programme was being introduced and this led to a search for more effective ways of communication. The partial answer appeared to lie in providing information from the top directly to all employees through the means of new technology – an intranet and extensive use of e-mail. While this provided a substantial solution to the problem, it still left some questions better answered by management training initiatives.
Takes a social constructionist view of organizational change focusing on how to engage the multitude of internal and external stakeholders. Argues that current models of change often leave people feeling demoralized and presents appreciative inquiry (AI) as an aproach to organization development that deliberately focuses attention on learning and dialogue about what gives life to an organization. Explains AI principles and the 4-D model for positive change. Provides some examples of this.
Ineffective strategies of communicating about organizational change (e.g., corporate restructuring, mergers, downsizing) are earmarked by the presence of pervasive rumors that flourish in a climate of uncertainty. Using 15 structured field interviews with management and public relations personnel from multinational corporations, this article posits that successful programs of change communication hinge upon the proper management of uncertainty associated with change. Two detailed case studies are highlighted as opposing illustrations of change communication tactics that succeeded and failed. Effective change communication campaigns tend to reveal rather than conceal, reduce uncertainty through collective planning, and proactively establish and maintain trust.
Purpose
– This paper aims to review the discursive formation of organizational change and to consider the possible directions that change management initiatives may take in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
– This closing piece identifies a traditional change discourse and an emerging change discourse. This is achieved through a review of the extant literature and the contributions to the special issue.
Findings
– The paper highlights a shift of emphases in organizational change due to environmental imperatives. In particular, it reveals a move from problem‐centred, discrete interventions to a focus on continuous improvements. It also draws attention to the emerging significance of discourse‐based approaches concerned with image, identity, organizational learning and knowledge management.
Originality/value
– Provides a framework for classifying different forms of organizational change activity and posits directions for future development.
Purpose
To discuss political entrepreneurship as a capability to enable durable insider action research projects.
Design/methodology/approach
The two authors utilize auto‐ethnographic methods in order to evaluate and draw inferences from their own actions as insider action researchers. The paper draws on action research theory and theories on political entrepreneurship.
Findings
Political entrepreneurship is an important factor behind success or failure in action research projects, but has, despite this, been scarcely discussed in the action research literature. Findings indicate that a political entrepreneurship repertoire consisting of capabilities to find red‐hot issues for one's research, to use the inside of the organization in the research efforts, to use and diffuse the research results, and, finally, to work on the positioning of one's relational platform.
Research limitations/implications
The study is based upon case studies in two organizations. Its implications may be further developed through studies in a wider array of settings.
Practical implications
The study provides valuable knowledge for organizations intending to participate in (insider) action research as well as for (insider) action researchers.
Originality/value
Political entrepreneurship in action research is scarcely discussed in action research theory – and hence the paper addresses an important research gap. Moreover, the presented implications have a certain practical value for organizations and researchers.
Reports the emergency stopgap measures undertaken by industry giant Tele Link to counteract downward market trends and the ensuing problems caused by its Efficiency Program not being managed effectively, resulting in lingering and negative impact on surviving employees’ behaviors and attitudes, demonstrated by decreases in productivity, motivation, emotional health, job satisfaction, and confidence in management, as well as increases in absenteeism. Also reports Tele Link was unprepared to handle the inevitable pre-announcement rumor mill and was forced to present cutbacks prematurely, lengthening the period of time from announcement to implementation and fueling anxiety at the time. While Tele Link’s handling of the Efficiency Program is well rated it did concentrate, almost entirely, on the “during” phase, with no formal plans to help survivors mourn or adjust to new circumstances. Emphasizes that the power of informal communication, in this case the “rumor mill”, should not be underestimated, and management should not overestimate their own ability to control it.
The concept of polyphony, taken from music and extended by literary
critic Bakhtin to describe the world of Dostoevsky's novels, provides a
metaphor for understanding patterns of organizing among those who hold
beliefs and values from a variety of backgrounds. Addresses organization
as multiple discourses. Describes Bakhtin's work and uses it to generate
ideas about how people organize to perform complex tasks and change
their patterns of interaction.
The recent slowdown in the global economy has been a trigger for discontinuous change, prompting many organisations to re-examine their collaborative strategies. This paper, focuses on the management of collaborative relationships in a period of discontinuity, presents, compares and contrasts three case studies, each of distinctly separate systems integrators from within the high technology sector in Ireland. The case data presented were gathered in 2001 as part of CO-IMPROVE – an EU-funded action research project focused on collaborative improvement within the extended manufacturing enterprise. This paper presents a cross case analysis that examines different choices faced by these systems integrators in their management of collaborative relationships with their supply bases.
The vital importance of change management in today's competitive climate has been widely investigated. While the need for successful change management is intensively proclaimed by “expert” consultants, the response for some time has been regarded as falling short of what is required. The heavy emphasis in the literature on a rational-linear approach to understanding organisational change overlooks the significance of the cultural and political dimensions of organisational life. This article highlights a systemic-multivariate view of change by investigating internal change agents’, that is managers’, accounts of the barriers to change management. It addresses the limitations of change management by attending to the perceptions of managers, that is those actors who generally determine organisational priorities and make crucial resource allocation decisions. This article illustrates the systemic line of thinking adopted by managers undergoing major restructuring efforts in their organisations. This line of thinking is shown to differ from the espoused values of managers that constitute the rational-linear view of change management.
Each chapter of the book takes as its starting point a myth, a legend, a story or a fable and explores its contemporary relevance for a world of globalization, organizations and consumerism. Each contributor is inspired by a relatively short but rich text which is then used as a springboard for an analysis of contemporary social and organizational realities. The idea behind this book is that by looking at contemporary society through the prism of pre-modern narratives, certain features emerge in sharp relief, while others are found to be entrenched in societies across the ages. The texts that have inspired the authors of this collection differ-some are myths, some are stories, one is a children’s tale. The origins of these texts differ, from the scriptural to the folkloric, from high art to oral tradition. What all the texts have in common is a distinct and compelling plot, a cast of recognizable characters with an ability to touch us and speak to us through the ages, and above all, a powerful symbolic aura, one that makes them identifiable landmarks in storytelling tradition. The driving force behind this project was each author’s love for their narratives. It is not an exaggeration to say that the book is a true labor of love. The chapters are introduced by the editor and are arranged in four parts, each with its own introduction. The chapters in each part spring from stories that share a narrative character, and are labeled as Knowledge Narratives, Heroic Narratives, Tragic Narratives and Reflective Narratives. The book offers a set of probing, original and critical inquiries into the nature of human experience knowledge and truth, the nature of leadership, power and heroic achievement, postmodernity and its discontents, and emotion, identity and the nature of human relations in organizations. Different chapters deal, among pother things, with the nature of leadership in the face of terrorism, friendship, women’s position in organizations, the struggle for identity, the curse of insatiable consumption and the ways the hero and heroine are constructed in our times.
This work builds on past research through a critical discussion of individuals' resistant actions, that is, their ability to enact change within their social systems. Although employees may appear to comply fully with constraining organizational policies and meanings in public discourse, alternative meanings may be constructed in private. Using examples of flight attendant resistance, the author analyzes hidden transcripts-the interactions, stories, myths, and rituals in which employees participate beyond the direct observation of power holders to provide an avenue to identify resistance and change in the organizing process. Such an understanding challenges the outdated ideal of transmissional meaning, questions organizational power by including the potential for resistance and change, and surfaces hidden constraints and resistances in employee discourse.
Businesses hoping to survive over the long term will have to remake themselves into better competitors at least once along the way. These efforts have gone under many banners: total quality management, reengineering, rightsizing, restructuring, cultural change, and turnarounds, to name a few. In almost every case, the goal has been to cope with a new, more challenging market by changing the way business is conducted. A few of these endeavors have been very successful. A few have been utter failures. Most fall somewhere in between, with a distinct tilt toward the lower end of the scale. John P. Kotter is renowned for his work on leading organizational change. In 1995, when this article was first published, he had just completed a ten-year study of more than 100 companies that attempted such a transformation. Here he shares the results of his observations, outlining the eight largest errors that can doom these efforts and explaining the general lessons that encourage success. Unsuccessful transitions almost always founder during at least one of the following phases: generating a sense of urgency, establishing a powerful guiding coalition, developing a vision, communicating the vision clearly and often, removing obstacles, planning for and creating short-term wins, avoiding premature declarations of victory, and embedding changes in the corporate culture Realizing that change usually takes a long time, says Kotter, can improve the chances of success.
Traditional Science in a World of Change The Communal Basis of Social Knowledge Generative Theory and Degenerative Metatheory The Turning Point in Life-Span Study The Historical Context of Transformation
This paper builds upon work already completed by the authors on the nature of the link between internal communication and the successful implementation of change management programmes in Northern Ireland companies. During 1999 and 2000 the theoretical foundation in the requisite areas of this study was completed. Then in the latter half of 2000 and the early months of 2001 the pilot phase of the research was undertaken. The purpose of this paper is therefore to contextualise and relay the findings of the study thus far.
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to provide a design and implementation framework for ALAR (action learning action research) programme which aims to address collaborative improvement in the extended manufacturing enterprise.
Design/methodology/approach
This article demonstrates the design of a programme in which action learning and action research were used in combination (ALAR). The participants in the EME engaged in action learning on their work on collaborative improvement in the supply chain. The action learning was studied through action research cycles of action and reflection.
Findings
This implementation of the ALAR programme consolidated the design of ten meetings across three stages and adds to other design models within ALAR approach.
Research limitations/implications
This is one particular research programme, from which learning may be extrapolated.
Practical implications
This article provides a practical design framework for ALAR programmes on collaborative improvement in the EME.
Originality/value
The article extends the application of an ALAR programme design into the inter‐organisational setting.
Whether organizational change results from a merger, acquisition, new venture, new process improvement approach, or any number of flavors-of-the-day management fads, employee communications can mean the success or failure of any major change program. The Strategic Employee Communication Model with the best practice definitions, which are composites of effective employee communication examples collected from researching selected Fortune 500 companies, help management understand the strategic role of employee communication in a high-performing company. The model functions as an analytical tool to diagnose a company’s strengths and weaknesses in employee communication so that the company can structure the change communication program and position communication to facilitate the overall change program. In this paper, I explain the Strategic Employee Communication Model and best practice definitions, demonstrate a change communication approach to improving employee communications using the Strategic Employee Communication Model, and provide a case study of the successful use of the model and approach during a major change program.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a qualitative study of employees' sensemaking as a social, communicative process during a major organizational transformation.
Design/methodology/approach
– This case study describes a major transition in work mode, from traditional officing to nomadic work. Nomadic work is a radical new mode of work that emphasizes: worker mobility both at and away from the company facility; a paperless operation; and integrated technological platforms that enable knowledge work and flexible, project‐based organizing. Relying on participant observation and interviews, employee accounts were gathered of their experiences as told during the change implementation.
Findings
– It was found that shocks noted in social interaction indicated that employee sensemaking was anchored by frames relying on identity, culture, or structure as the primary stabilizing discourse called into question. The findings suggest that employees used sensemaking to work out the tensions between social action and the systemic realities of organizational life.
Originality/value
– The study contributes to the organizational literature by responding to the call for more research on social interaction during change implementation processes and on the implementation of new information technologies.
Presents a conceptual framework for process management of groups involved in action learning and action research. Discusses propositional, practical and experiential learning; and the concept of meta-learning (learning to learn) in relation to the “learning organisation”. Presents a model of process management that concerns people and process, with implications for research in industry, government and higher education.
Action research is conducted by researchers from a variety of disciplines, e.g. sociology, psychology, organization theory, management, marketing and accounting. Over the years, action research has been acclaimed and criticized. This paper focuses on controversies surrounding action research, and its specific merits and requirements. Action research as reflected in the literature is briefly reviewed and characterized and contrasted with traditional research. Specific challenges to do high quality action research are emphasized as well.
The study has origins in paradoxical foundations: although the trends in
the theory of organizational change emphasize organizational uniqueness,
in a case study it was found that metacultural ideals about the rules,
order, hierarchy and predictability were privileged and had a remarkable
effect on organizational change. It is suggested that metalevel “Grand
Story”, hiding ideals about what is a “real” organization still exists
strongly in the societal memory, and especially in circumstances of
rapid change and financial problems of an enterprise this “Grand
Story” easily grasps the uniqueness of that organization.
Action research has been recognised for its breadth as a field of research practice and its depth as a discourse of theoretical insight. It does not have one neat, widely accepted definition. Points to some reasons for the difficulty of formulating a generally accepted definition of action research, and argues why action research should not be confined but should be both clarified for communication and open for development. The discussion stems from a working definition developed with participants in an international symposium that serves as a classic definition of action research. Presents several alternative approaches to resolution and argues for a judicious mix of pragmatism and flexibility in approaching the definition issue.
In the new millennium, organisations are going through rapid changes and the role of strategic management is challenged. When the organisation is threatened by environmental changes such as crises or competition as a result of information technology development or increased customer demands, the need for communication increases. During high change situations, when the publics of the organisation become involved in the change issues, they actively seek information about the issues. If the organisation could utilise communication management more effectively and in a twoway, participative way, they would build more positive relationships with the publics involved and reorganise themselves out of disorder. Strategic planning will become even more important, but will have to change to a contingency approach and emphasise flexibility and relationship building. This paper looks at organisational processes during change and how they can be managed by communication. Implications are drawn from chaos, postmodern and complexity theory as well as the contingency view of communication. The authors create a framework for scanning and analysing processes and settings, and suggest an alternative strategic, symmetrical and ethical communication approach to respond to problems. They present a new paradigm that emerges as a response to polarisation and treats communication as more receiver-centred, stakeholder-based, relationship-building-oriented and of strategic importance. This paper lays a foundation for an alternative perspective to the central problems of the communication discipline against the background of new emerging multidisciplinary approaches.
This paper examines the world views that underpin the ascendance of political communication as a separate `governmental domain' by investigating the diffusion, local adaptation and transformation of the managerial concepts of identity and image building in public sector organizations. The discussion is organized around four cases: two texts articulating the discourse of New Public Management drawing on professional expertise and scientific clout, and two studies of the identity and image building efforts in the municipalities of Newham, UK, and Tijuana, Mexico. The analysis demonstrates how current managerialism links identity and image management at the organizational and territorial levels to the goal of improving the performance of public sector organizations. A social constructivist approach enables us critically to reflect on public sector organizations' concern with identity and image building and connect this development to the travel of specific knowledge about governance and public sector reform, to the managerialization of statecraft and to broader societal shifts.Corporate Reputation Review (2001) 4, 167-184; doi:10.1057/palgrave.crr.1540141
This paper argues that while most teachers, researchers, and practitioners of organizational communication encourage clarity, a critical examination of communication processes in organizations reveals that clarity is both non‐normative and not a sensible standard against which to gauge individual or organizational effectiveness. People in organizations confront multiple situational requirements, develop multiple and often conflicting goals, and respond with communicative strategies which do not always minimize ambiguity, but are nonetheless effective. Strategic ambiguity is essential to organizing in that it: (1) promotes unified diversity, (2) facilitates organizational change, and (3) amplifies existing source attributions and preserves privileged positions.
Under the editorship of Mrs. Lewin, 13 selected papers are here reprinted arranged under 3 major categories: problems of changing culture; conflicts in face to face groups; intergroup conflicts and group belongingness. The editor points out that the topic of the volume may be considered concerned with problems of the application of psychology in society. Grodon W. Allport evaluates these works of Lewin in a foreword. Among the papers included 10 have previously been listed (
9: 3402,
10: 4575,
14: 3083, 3652,
16: 4107,
17: 3495,
18: 2179, 3514,
20: 1588,
21: 1946). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Storytelling has recently been discovered as an important tool for gaining the support of those external constituencies the organisation critically depends upon. This paper explores the narrative approach to public affairs by reporting an in-depth case study of the storytelling practices of representatives of the global foods industry and environmental activist groups during the recent introduction of genetically modified food crops. The analysis reveals that these parties use competing versions of what are essentially the same narratives to gain the support of regulators and the public at large in the various market and non-market arenas in which these groups compete. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the present U.S. use of the concept of ‘corporate culture’ using the sociology of Emile Durkheim as a conceptual framework. Durkheim was concerned with understanding where potential sources of morality might reside in a rapidly changing, increasingly differentiated society. Proponents of corporate culture do not rely specifically on Durkheim's work but essentially answer his question by suggesting that the corporation is the appropriate site for moral order. In this paper it is argued that the attempted manipulation of a corporation's culture is simply an addition to other forms of control which companies have tried to implement. More than other forms of control, however, corporate culture elicits sentiment and emotion, and contains possibilities to ensnare workers in a hegemonic system. On the other hand, strengthening corporate cultures in the U.S.A may also lead to increased worker homogenization and activism.