Reconceptualizing Organizational Change Implementation as a Communication Problem: A Review of Literature and Research Agenda

Lewis, Laurie K.; Seibold, David R.

doi:10.1080/23808985.1998.11678949

Cited by 98 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 96 publications

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“…Lewis and Seibold (1993, 1996, 1998 argue communication is important to the success of change processes, the creation and diffusion of innovations, attitudes regarding and resistance to change, behavioral coping with change, and outcomes of organizational change. In 1993, they developed a model of innovation modification and intraorganizational adoption utilizing structuration theory.…”

Section: Successful Communication Of Change Initiativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transformational Organizational Change, Reinforcing Structures, and Formal Communication

Allen

2016

CSR, Sustainability, Ethics &Amp; Governance

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Given the changes forecast to result from global warming, scholars' and practitioners' interest in sustainability and organizational change is increasing. Although sustainability-related changes can be piecemeal and incremental, my interest is on transformational change. Transformational organizational changes begin when key individuals become aware of new processes, technologies, opportunities, constraints, and expectations. Once awareness occurs, the challenge becomes transforming information into useable knowledge and diffusing it throughout the system. Factors influencing the adoption of an innovation are reviewed. The characteristics of change adopters and stages of change are identified. Important communication roles during times of change (e.g., board members, top executives, change agents, sustainability champions), the process of communicating about change, guidance for change communicators, and formal structural and communication efforts to facilitate change efforts are discussed. Formal ways to embed a focus on sustainability within an organization include changing an organization's structure (e.g., creating new roles, creating new inter-and intraorganizational coordinating structures) and designing pathways (e.g., mission and vision statements, goals and plans, formal communication channels). In addition to transformation change, theories or theoretical concepts highlighted include diffusion of innovation theory, the absorptive capacity concept, sensemaking theory, structuration theory, systems theory, transformational leadership, the communication approach to leadership, models of communication and change, and ethos.

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Section: Successful Communication Of Change Initiativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transformational Organizational Change, Reinforcing Structures, and Formal Communication

Allen

2016

CSR, Sustainability, Ethics &Amp; Governance

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“…While top managers may initiate change, middle managers must operationalize change initiatives and align their departments or teams to executive mandates (Balogun & Johnson, 2004 Lewis (2008), managers must communicate their understanding, particularly in the midst of organizational change, in a way that provides their subordinates with a workable certainty. Bordia, Hunt, Paulsen, Tourish, & DiFonzo (2004) adopted the position advocated by Lewis and Seibold (1998) who stated that change implementation is essentially a communication problem. Poor communication from management can result in rumors, resistance to change, and decreased job satisfaction.…”

Section: Changementioning

confidence: 99%

An Increasing Usefulness for Managerial Communication Research on the Main Topics of Management

Bell

Roebuck

2015

SSRN Journal

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Effective communication is necessary across all management tiers and functions. In addition, it is an integral part of managerial decision-making. Over the last 10 years, interest in the nuances of communication as related to management has intensified. These studies have fostered diverse approaches to linking management and communication. Our investigation, using 2x5 and 2x4 factorial ANOVAs, reveals that differences exist among the means of five professional communication fields. Numerous articles published between 2004 and 2013 were examined, and we found an increasing usefulness for managerial communication research on the main topic of management.

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“…It has been well documented that communication plays a critical role in the successful implementation of any change model and helps people to understand and deal with the change process (Lewis and Seibold, 1998). Generally, the literature dealt with communication in terms of the announcement of change programs (Smeltzer, 1991), disseminating information, soliciting input regarding change (Lewis, 1999), reducing or managing uncertainty and conflict (Bordia, Hobman, Jones, Gallois and Callon, 2004), and sense-making, persuading, soliciting, acquiring feedback (Gallivan, 2001), and framing (Fairhurst, 1993).…”

Section: Communication and Organizational Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In response to these demands, scholars have focused on a variety of issues ranging from the content, context, process, and outcome of organizational change (for a review, see Armenakis and Bedeian, 1999). Organizational communication scholars have also studied organizational change with a focus on the role of communication during the change efforts (for a review, see Lewis and Seibold, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organizational Change and Communication Strategies

Yüksel¹

2015

Akademia

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Despite the popularity of planned organizational change efforts, the failure rates of implementation are as high as 50 to 70 percent. While these efforts are affected by technical issues, the organizations' approach to change, technological capabilities, leadership, assessment, planning, organizational culture and communication strategies are thought to play a more critical role. The central purpose of this study is to examine the role that communication strategies play in the implementation of a popular planned organizational change model known as Compstat. Data were collected in this case study through in-depth interviews and documents, and analyzed with an inductive approach. The study revealed that the role of communication in informing, persuading officers about change and in understanding and addressing sources of resistance was not taken seriously into consideration by change agents. For the most part, communication was regarded as a symbolic activity utilizing one-way, bureaucratic channels (meetings and written orders) and formal language. The end product of this communication strategy was a high level of uncertainty, fear and anxiety and thus resistance of officers to Compstat, who were willing to understand Compstat, change their routines and be a part of this new work environment.

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Reconceptualizing Organizational Change Implementation as a Communication Problem: A Review of Literature and Research Agenda

Cited by 98 publications

References 96 publications

Transformational Organizational Change, Reinforcing Structures, and Formal Communication

Transformational Organizational Change, Reinforcing Structures, and Formal Communication

An Increasing Usefulness for Managerial Communication Research on the Main Topics of Management

Organizational Change and Communication Strategies

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