MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION & CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Managerial Communication & Change Management

Managerial Communication & Change Management

Change management is a painful process for almost any organization. When the change impacts the core values and established systems of an organization it is important to consider the emotional as well as technical aspects involved. Newman, (2000) described two kinds of organizational change. First order organizational change is incremental and is an adjustment of systems or structures but does not involve a change in core values of the company. Second order organizational change is transformational, radical and fundamentally alters the organization. It is difficult and risky such as a change in leadership or an increase in organizational performance. Change can generate cynicism, fatigue and 'burnout' as well as reduce commitment and loyalty to the company.

A survey by Doyle, Claydon & Buchanan (2000), of 92 managers from 14 public and 14 private sector firms regarding organizational change found that 59% of the managers agreed that people were more cynical when there was an unclear relationship between the change and the outcome to the organization. 54% of the managers in the study also reported they did not have the luxury to reflect on what had been accomplished. Monitoring what had been learned from the change process was a difficult task for these managers as well. 53% stated that they repeated mistakes implementing change due to lack of time to learn what had happened in the past. Managers cannot find the time to implement new technology or lack the resources to train their employees (Zell, 2001). Although conflict, tension, resistance and burnout are not a part of any best practice literature Doyle et. al, (2000) states these are natural components of the change process.

Important dimensions of organizational change are time, content of the change, the context of the change and the process of change. Time influences decisions. The timing and urgency of activities impact decisions about the allocation of resources and priority of activities. For example planning for future goals influences current behavior. When change agents take a short term perspective they take actions that result in immediate results whereas change agents with a long term perspective will take more patient approaches that produce lasting outcomes. To influence organizational structures, people, systems and culture all simultaneously can take years or even decades. Hailey, (2001) stated that the process of change can take years to make it from corporate rhetoric to individual reality. Change does not need to be so all inclusive. Instead Large scale change using formal structures, work processes, belief systems and social relationships as targets of organizational change is a more manageable approach (Quy Nguyen, 2001).

Quy Nguyen, (2001)discusses four intervention strategies, commanding, engineering, teaching and socializing for organizational change. In the commanding intervention the change process belongs to a small group of people in the organization. Change agents demand strict compliance to a major change using threats to raise performance. The engineering intervention assumes that people are motivated by self interest and will see the benefits of proposed ...