The important factors and roles of communication over the organizational change

The Important Factors and roles of Communication over the
Organizational Change
Salim. Masood Nassery


Abstract
The purpose over this study remains to offer a theoretical basis aimed at the training of
communication throughout the organizational change. Though a durable attention over
analyzing communication through the organizational change is noticed, there is little practical
study on the subject.
Through this theoretical study a framework is offered in which how to study communication
through organizational change and how it can stop resistance to change. The framework
generate six proposals over features of communication, like information, approaches of
belonging to a group, and sense of insecurity, hold an impact on resistance to change, that will
definitely influence the efficiency of the change exertion.
A difference between the instructive purpose of communication and interaction aimed at creating
a community was prepared. During the offered pattern, communication owns a consequence not
only over the preparation for the change, but also for uncertainty.
This framework could be utilized by scholars and experts to review, conduct, surround and
develop experiential study into this extent in the future, and also could be employed to assess
dissimilar change programs, with altered organizations, aim to research the influence of
communication in the achievement or disappointment of the change.

Keywords:

Organizational change, organizational communication, Uncertainty and job
insecurity preparation for change

1- Introduction
Frequent change over such organizations remains the only constant factor inside organizations.
Organizational change has turned out to be a subject for numerous researches and additional

methodical and management literature. In spite of this rising care and study, still various
exertions of organizational change stop. It is subtracted that as a minimum over half of all
1


organizational change plans give up, or do not attain the consequences, in which they primarily
were planning (Bennebroek Gravenhorst et al., 1999). Various details exist for the seizure of
different organizational change exertions, like the organizational culture, planning of change
exertion (Bennebroek Gravenhorst et al., 1999). Through the study I will emphasis on the role of
communication through organizational change.
Communication is crucial to the efficient application of organizational change (Lewis and
Seibold, 1998; DiFonzo and Bordia, 1998; Schweiger and Denisi, 1991). The main significance
of communication through strategic change has previously been experientially confirmed and
commonly settled amongst experts (Lewis, 1999). Unwell controlled change over the
communication develops in claims and resistance to change and overstressing the harmful
features of the change (Smelzer and Zener, 1992; DiFonzo et al., 1994). Experiential image
which is gradually developed reveals that “communication procedures and organizational change
implementations are inseparably related procedures” (Lewis, 1999, p. 44). How come
communication is vital through organizational change remains proved by the example of the
dynamics over the scheduled organizational change (Robertson et al., 1993). If the organizational
change is around the way of making change over single errands of individual staffs,
communication around the change, and data to such staffs is significant. Communication with
mentioned staffs ought to be a central and integrative portion of the change exertions and
policies. While the overall conclusion over the significance of communication within
organizational change is verified and settled on detailed expansive activities, methods and
influences are still is mysterious (Lewis, 1999). Harris and Armenakis studied on “how to
expand meanings and how to characterize five altered communication fields inside the change
communication”. Clampitt et al. (2000) concentrate over the approaches employed by directors
in communicating organizational change.
Focus of Lewis (1999) also is over “which standard is utilized within the interactive change. The

findings approve the image that interior communication is significant in communicating change.
Others concentrate on the structural stages of change, where it is crucial to shared sympathetic of
the difficulties organizations need to run into aimed at meeting the experiments, and must change
(Bennebroek Gravenhorst et al., 1999). Such experiential aids obviously assist to comprehend
the procedure of communicating organizational change.
In this study I will emphasize on the determinations or destinations which organizations have
with communication in order to organizational change that may aid for a superior
comprehending of the procedure over the change, and crucial communicational attempts.
Consequently, I will offer a sample and six proposals over studying communication through
organizational change, which conducts experiential study. It would be around “how a planned or
scheduled change exertion is connected inside the organization. This issue carries a weakness
inside itself, which is the emphasis is on connecting the planned or scheduled change exertion,
irrespective if this exertion is a growing tactic or a scheduled method. I take into the stages
where identifying problems, common comprehension of the difficulties, that makes the change
essential.
2


2- Literature Review
Regarding to have an operational change, it is essential to express this operative change. When
organizations can assess a change exertion as operational? In this portion there is a strong
development for leaders to observe their working and little or no realistic study is offered over
the operational change. There is an enormous amount of practitioner-oriented literature in which
that how to efficiently change (Champy and Nohria, 1996; Kotter, 1996). Popular instructions for
well-managed change involve inspiring contribution from several staffs as possible. “Growing
lack of sources will put force on administrators to observe their performance in utilizing capitals
sensibly. In order to employing the model of dynamics over the considered organizational
change (Robertson et al., 1993), an operative variation will develop in staffs who have
effectively accepted the variation. When staffs must change, or are changing, low amounts of
opposition to vary inside the organization ought to exist, aim to make the change exertion

popular.
The goal of communication through the organizational change could stop resistance to vary, or
as a minimum attempt to decrease this. When the resistance over the change points is short inside
an organization, this could be argued that the efficiency of the change exertion can be greater.
Since an organization’s performance relies on the operation of its associates, the organization
may vary just when associates’ performance varies (Goodman and Dean, 1982; Tannenbaum,
1971). Changing the work background is a strong control aimed at persuading change in
associate performance. This concept is fixed in collective reasoning models of performance
(Bandura, 1997; Porter and Lawler, 1968). According to this viewpoint “entire operative
involvement actions have to make change in the way aimed folks truly perform on the job
(Robertson et al., 1993, p. 622). Preparation for change remains the rational originator to the
performances of each resistance, or provision for a change exertion (Armenakis and Harris,
2002). In this portion the notion of preparation over the change contains of equally opposition to
change and provision for change as a range through an end resistance to change and also over the
additional end preparation aimed at change. This statement could be resulted that when
workforces are prepared to take the change, and come into contact with great feelings of
preparation for change (or low sense of opposition to change) that the change exertion would be
more operative.

P1. Operative organizational change is going to be presented in low stages of resistance to
change, or greater stages of preparation for change by workforces.

2.1- Purposes over the organizational communication
As stated by Francis (1989) organizational communication normally owns two aims. The first
target over the organizational communication ought to be to notify the workforces around their
3


missions and around the strategy and other matters of the organization. The second objective is
communication as mean to make a society inside the organization. Approximately, a difference

might be prepared among organizational communication as to afford data and as to make a
community essence (Francis, 1989; De Ridder, 2003). According to these objectives, inside
organizational change we are able to identify the data given around the change, and the feelings
of a community inside the organization previously. The data specified by the organization over
the change ought to direct the details to change, and the doubts staffs originally will contain. The
material set by the organization typically comes from directors as the sender, and with
workforces as the receiver. Normally, popular communicational models of contributor, message,
frequency, recipient and sound could be requested for this communication. Precise features
remain “if the data over the change was in step, the information would be comprehensible and it
might contain no mistakes etcetera.

P2. The major objective of variation communication ought to be for informing the
organizational associates over the change, and how their effort is changed due to the change.
This educational purpose of communication will contain an influence over the preparation for
change.
The other destination of organizational communication remains to generate a community
(Francis, 1989; De Ridder, 2003). It could be recognized as a central background of the selfclassification procedure, which aids to describe the character of a group and to generate a
community essence, which turns into organizational requests (Postmes et al., 2001; De Ridder,
2003; Meyer and Allen, 1997). Making a group inside organizations involves hypothetical bases
inside public psychological occurrences as social character model (Tajfel, 1978) in addition its
related self-classification concept (Turner, 1985), frequently together defined as the social
identity method (Postmes et al., 2001).
The social identity remains “that portion of a person’s self-theory which develops over his
information of his association over a social group(s) among the worth and expressive importance
devoted to that association” (Tajfel, 1978, p. 63). Social classification might be termed as the
individual instruction of social certainty in terms of social types, or clusters of individuals who
own a sense for the viewer. Social classification affects our opinions and judgments over the
individuals. Features, which are conventional, related to the social classification, are qualified to
the person, and contributors who are not suitable for the original social type possibly would be
disregarded (Turner, 1985).

It has often been noted that communication generates the situations for commitment, besides it
ought to be seen as significant backgrounds (Meyer and Allen, 1997; Foy, 1994; Katz and Kahn,
1978; Postmes et al., 2001). A meta-exploration (Postmes et al., 2000) exposes that, “staffs were
powerfully devoted if they found suitable information to do their task”; in addition this material
was performed to them through proper administrative channels more willingly than informal
ones. Relational communication with associates, and straight directors forecasted commitment
4


less than communication by way of additional senior administration did, and communication
with socio-sensitive substance was fewer predictive over the commitment than formal
communication was (Postmes et al., 2001, p. 231). As stated by Postmes et al.,: folks’ feeling of
belonging for the organization does not mainly rely on the feature of their confidential and
social-sensitive connections with associates and equals, but it is associated more powerfully to
their awareness of the administration’s communication (Postmes et al., 2001, p. 240).
This matter intensely connects both aims of organizational communication to each other, since
data is required to make sense of a community. An additional issue that could affect sense of
belonging to a community inside the organization remains dependence between administration
and staffs. The central standpoint within literature (see Dirks and Ferrin, 2001) contains those
reliance consequences in individual impacts such as more optimistic approaches, greater stages
of collaboration, and higher stages of presentation (Mayer et al., 1995; Jones and George, 1998).
Dirks and Ferrin propose that dependence can act in two methods, as a central influence on place
of work consequences, like collaboration and inspiration, or as administrator effect, “since it aids
the person consider the future performance of additional party and take to mean past
performance” (Dirks and Ferrin, 2001, p. 461). In this case, reliance conducts the tasks of
persons in unclear circumstances; it will form the observing of the partner, and will direct the
person’s reply to that action. Guarantee and trust obviously are connected to organizational
feeling and culture. Organizational feeling is expressed as: the common views of organizational
strategies, performs and processes, together formal and informal (Schneider and Reichers, 1983).
Organizational feeling mentions the supposed image of the organization’s purposes and the

approaches approved for objective accomplishment. Research through the organizational feeling
typically is around organizational wrongdoing (Vardi, 2001), in organizational documentation
(Smidts et al., 2001), it also has associations with moral climates (Victor and Cullen, 1988).
As brief, communication to make a community inside organizations displays in such as great
commitment to the employees organization, within reliance of staffs with administration, in
organizational documentation.

P3. Communication aim to generate a community, developing in word through the organization,
reliance within the organization and its administration and organizational documentation will
contain an impact on preparation for change.

2.2- Uncertainty and job insecurity
Doubt through change procedures is naturally around the purpose, procedure and normal
consequences of the change and suggestions for the specific staffs (Buono and Bowditch, 1993).
Information is not only a pre-necessary over the aptitude of inducing the consequences (Terry
and Jimmieson, 1999), however information about the reasons of change will similarly aid
dropping doubt and making eagerness for change. In this effort operative change communication
could be observed as midpoints to an appropriate accomplish doubt (DiFonzo and Bordia, 1998).
Uncertainty of staffs throughout change procedures will be a sign of on the suggestions for the
5


specific worker, or the situation that member is doing his or her task in. It comes by way of
demands such as “will I have the job after this change happened”, “will I have the same
colleague after the change”, or “may I still operate my jobs on the same manner I previously
used to do”. Feelings of uncertainty remain around the procedure of the change, the individual
and public concerns of the change.

P4. Superior stages of uncertainty will destructively touch eagerness for the change.
An exceptional concept inside uncertainty remains job insecurity. Particularly moods of

uncertainty happen once the organization is experiencing variations through loss of jobs. Job
insecurity has been described in various methods. Most of them have approved a worldwide
understanding in which job insecurity remains considered as a general involvement around the
sustained presence of the job in the future (de Witte, 1999; van Vuuren, et al., 1991). Job
insecurity holds three elements (van Vuuren, et al., 1991); one, it is an individual involvement or
awareness. The similar condition might be observed inversely by dissimilar staffs. Job insecurity
similarly suggests uncertainty around the future. Finally, uncertainties around the extension of
the job are essential to job insecurity; these features of detailed characteristics of the job remain
usually not realized as portion of the theory over the job insecurity (De Witte, 1999).

P5. Once organizational change effects in workforce cutback and missing jobs, job insecurity
will effect greatly on eagerness for change
Both of them defined targets of organizational communication which will possibly have a
consequence over the approaches of job insecurity and uncertainty. Uncertainty will expose as
soon as the organization did not transfer what variations specific staffs need to modify. This
uncertainty could result in gossips and other procedures of informal statement. The development
in informal communication that happens throughout the change exertion possibly will be a sign
of the extent over the uncertainty and also over the feature of the material given about the
organizational change. Therefore along with the straight influences of the instructive purpose of
communication, and communication aim to generate a community inside the organization, I
suppose similarly an unplanned influence over the job insecurity and uncertainty.

P6. Communication will impact on feelings over the uncertainty and likewise on approaches of
job insecurity.

3- Research concept
The six proposals initiate a research concept of the meaning over the communication through the
organizational change (see Figure 1).
6

4- Research
Those proposals presented in this study remain that facts of the change, approaches of a group
inside the organization which remains experiencing the change, besides uncertainty hold an
impact on preparation for change. The changes on facts can be assessed by asking staffs around
the quality of change communication, via studying the dissimilar communications and media
used to notify staffs about the future change. Questions over the information of the change
purposes, and estimated consequences similarly can be involved. Senses of belonging to a group
might be operationalized in various methods. One of the options is to ask staffs about their
liability with the organization they work for, such as employing Meyer and Allen (1997)
commitment survey. Further options contain asking workforces around the communication
situation, or evaluating feelings of faith between administration and operative core. A different
extent could be organizational documentation. As a final point, uncertainty and job insecurity
could be evaluated with regular surveys for example by Schweiger and Denisi (1991). These
changes will have an impact on preparation of change as I predict.
The efficiency of the variation will be more complex to determine. According to previous studies
administration and staffs can be examined to regard the efficiency or successfulness of the
change; however this might be impacted by other aspects as well. The change efficiency, or its
accomplishment, depends on the precise analysis of the problems and the change itself.

7


4.1- Limits
Communication is not the one crucial feature of effective organizational change. The real
strategy over the change and the tactical adoptions completed inside the project are of course
originators of operative variations. As mentioned above, most of the academic literature
concentrates over the structural point of organizational change. The purposes of the presented
theory over this study, is not aim to give organizations a device of generating actual message and
consequently design changes will create feelings. The purpose of the theory remains more

experimental, as it could conduct forthcoming experiential study. The recommended relation
between preparation for change and the effective operation of organizational change has never
been discovered within the study, though many guides on organizational development (OD) have
proposals reinforcing this relation (Harvey and Brown; 2001French et al., 2000). Although the
proposal aids in directing experiential study, it will also be tough to discover such an association
since each organization holds its own features, just as each change method will have specific
aims and objectives. However, it is significant that within the high extent of literature regarding
organizational change, little emphasis is taken on assessing organizational change exertions. In
spite of the increasing concept of organizational culture, and the repeated change exertions on
several territories of organizations, not a great attention paid to assess prior change exertions and
learn from those exertions aim to project better changes in the forthcoming works.
An administrative drawback needs to be prepared through the community changes as
recommended in the theory. It is interesting that a communication view as day-to-day
communication inside the organization will influence over this status. Even regarding the
combinations will have an impact on the preparation aimed at the change of the specific staffs. A
more experiential restraint is that it possibly will take time to obtain sufficient organizations
which are eager to contribute within these types of study.

5- Conclusions
In this study I attempted to describe the character of communication through organizational
change by considering the objectives of inner communication (Francis, 1989), and debate them
concerning organizational change. A difference between the instructive purpose of
communication and communication aim to generate a society was made. Among the
recommended theory, communication has not only an influence over preparation over the
change, but also over the uncertainty. This concept could direct the experiential study, but as the
circumstance in much pragmatic organizational examination it is difficult to discover
organizations that are ready to contribute, and conversely, limit the impacts of precise features of
the change will be led at the particular organization.

8

References
Armenakis, A.A. and Harris, S.G. (2002), “Crafting a change management to create
transformational readiness”, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 15
No. 2, pp. 169-83
Bandura, A. (1997), Self-efficacy. The Exercise of Control, W.H. Freeman and Company, New
York, NY.
Bennebroek Gravenhorst, K.M., Werkman, R.M. and Boonstra, J.J. (1999), “The change
capacity of organisations: general assessment and exploring nine configurations”, in Munduate,
L. and Bennebroek Gravenhorst, K.M. (Eds), Power Dynamics and Organisational Change,
EAWOP, Leuven.
Buono, A. and Bowditch, J. (1993), The Human Side of Mergers and Acquisitions, Jossey-Bass,
San Francisco, CA.
Champy, J. and Nohria, N. (1996), Fast Forward: The Best Ideas on Managing Business Change,
Harvard Business Review Book Series, Boston, MA.
Clampitt, P.G., DeKoch, R.J. and Cashman, T. (2000), “A strategy for communicating about
uncertainty”, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 41-57.
Daly, F., Teague, P. and Kitchen, P. (2003), “Exploring the role of internal communication
during organisational change”, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 8 No.
3, pp. 153-62.
De Ridder, J. (2003), “Organizational communication and supportive employees”, Human
Resource Management Journal, Vol. 13 No. 4.
De Witte, H. (1999), “Job insecurity and psychological wellbeing: review of the literature and
exploration of some unresolved issues”, European Journal of Work and Organizational
Psychology, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 155-77.
DiFonzo, N. and Bordia, P. (1998), “A tale of two corporations: managing uncertainty during
organizational change”, Human Resource Management, Vol. 37 No. 3, pp. 295-303.
DiFonzo, N., Bordia, P. and Rosnow, R.L. (1994), “Reining in rumors”, Organizational
Dynamics, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 47-62.

Dirks, K.T. and Ferrin, D.L. (2001), “The role of trust in organisational setting”, Organisational
Science, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 450-67.
Foy, N. (1994), Empowering People at Work, Gower, Aldershot.
Francis, D. (1989), Organisational Communication, Gower, Aldershot.
French, W.L., Bell, C.H. and Zawacki, R.A. (2000), Organizational Development and
Transformation: Managing Effective Change, McGraw-Hill, Boston, MA.
Garnet, J. and Kouzmin, A. (2000), “Strategic change in organisational communication:
emerging trends for wealth formation in the new millennium”, Strategic Change, Vol. 9 No. 1,
pp. 55-66.
Goodman, P.S. and Dean, J.W. (1982), “Creating long-term organizational change”, in
Goodman,
P.S. (Ed.), Change in Communication, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, pp. 226-79.
9


Harvey, D. and Brown, D.R. (2001), An Experiential Approach to Organization Development,
Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Heracleous, L. (2002), “The contribution of a discursive view in understanding and managing
organizational change”, Strategic Change, Vol. 11 No. 5, pp. 253-62.
Jones, G. and George, J. (1998), “The experience and evolution of trust: implications for
cooperation and teamwork”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 531-46.
Katz, D. and Kahn, R.L. (1978), The Social Psychology of Organizations, Wiley, New York,
NY.
Kotter, J.P. (1996), Leading Change, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
Lewis, L.K. (1999), “Disseminating information and soliciting input during planned
organizational change: implementers’ targets, sources, and channels for communicating”,
Management Communication Quarterly, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 43-75.
Lewis, L.K. and Seibold, D.R. (1998), “Reconceptualizing organizational change
implementation as a communication problem: a review of literature and research agenda”, in
Roloff, M.E.

(Ed.), Communication Yearbook 21, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA, pp. 93-151.
Mayer, R.C., Davis, J.H. and Schoorman, F.D. (1995), “An integrative model of organisational
trust”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 20 No. 3, pp. 709-34.
Meyer, J.P. and Allen, N.J. (1997), Commitment in the Workplace: Theory, Research and
Application, Sage Publishers, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Porter, L.W. and Lawler, E.E. (1968), Managerial Attitudes and Performance, Irwin,
Homewood, IL.
Postmes, T., Tanis, M. and de Wit, B. (2000), “A meta-analysis of communication and
organisational commitment: the coldest message elicits the warmest feelings”, unpublished
manuscript, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam.
Postmes, T., Tanis, M. and de Wit, B. (2001), “Communication and commitment in
organisations: a social identity approach”, Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, Vol. 4 No.
3, pp. 207-26.
Robertson, P.J., Roberts, D.R. and Porras, J.I. (1993), “Dynamics of planned organisational
change: assessing empirical support for a theoretical model”, Academy of Management Journal,
Vol. 36 No. 3, pp. 619-34.
Schneider, B. and Reichers, A.E. (1983), “On the etiology of climates”, Personnel Psychology,
Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 19-39.
Schweiger, D. and Denisi, A. (1991), “Communication with employees following a merger: a
longitudinal experiment”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 110-35.
Smelzer, L.R. and Zener, M.F. (1992), “Development of a model for announcing major layoffs”,
Group and Organisation Management: An International Journal, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 446-72.
Smidts, A., Pruyn, A.T.H. and Riel, C.B.M. (2001), “The impact of employee communication
and perceived external prestige on organisational identification”, Academy of Management
Journal, Vol. 49 No. 5, pp. 1051-62.
10


Tajfel, H. (1978), “Interindividual behaviour and inter-group behaviour”, in Tajfel, H. (Ed.),
Differentiation between Groups: Studies in the Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations,

Academic Press, London, pp. 27-60.
Tannenbaum, R. (1971), “Organisational change has to come through individual change”,
Innovation, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 36-43.
Terry, D.J. and Jimmieson, N.L. (1999), “Work control and employee wellbeing: a decade
review”,
International Review of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 95-148.
Turner, J.C. (1985), “Social categorization and the self-concept: a social cognitive theory of
group behavior”, in Lawler, U.J. (Ed.), Advances in Group Processes, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT,
pp. 77-122.
van Vuuren, T., Klandermans, B., Jacobson, D. and Hartley, J. (1991), “Employees’ reactions to
job insecurity”, in Hartley, J., Klandermans, B. and van Vuuren, T. (Eds), Job Insecurity: Coping
with Jobs at Risk, Sage Publishers, London, pp. 79-103.
Vardi, Y. (2001), “The effects of organisational and ethical climates on misconduct at work”,
Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 29 No. 4, pp. 325-37.
Victor, B. and Cullen, J.B. (1988), “The organisational bases of ethical work climates”,
Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp. 101-25.

11