Communication Management During Organizational Change

Introduction: The Importance of Communication in Change

Communication management in organizations — and most specifically in the organizational change environment — is critically important. Heathfield's work entitled "Communication in Change Management" states that it is impossible to "over-communicate when you are asking your organization to change" (2011, p. 1). According to Heathfield, there are four critical components of effective communication:

(1) The person sending the message must ensure that the message is presented clearly and with great detail, that it be perceived as containing integrity, and that it be authentic.

(2) The individual receiving the message must make the decision to listen, ask questions to ensure clarity, and ultimately trust the message's sender.

(3) The method of delivery must be chosen as appropriate for the context and for the needs of both the sender and receiver.

(4) The message content must resonate and connect with the pre-formed beliefs of the individual receiving the message (Heathfield, 2011, p. 1).

A well-designed organizational change management communication plan should contain the following elements: (1) consistent and frequent communication through multiple channels; (2) complete and timely reporting; (3) time provided for questioning and clarifying information, with input allowed; and (4) clear communication of the vision, mission, and objectives of the organizational change (Heathfield, 2011, p. 1).

An example of positive communications in organizational change is the case of NCR and its 2005 change in CEOs. Six key lessons were learned during this leadership transition, including the critical need to communicate the vision with as many stakeholders as possible. Stakeholders are stated to include "employers, customers, analysts, investors, the community, and the media" (Huf, nd, p. 8). Engagement of employees is stated to keep those employees "focused on their work," which enables the ongoing execution of the plan, the provision of quality goods and services, and which serves to keep all shareholders satisfied throughout the process.

Theoretical Frameworks for Effective Communication

The work of Preston Ni (2007), entitled "Communication Success with Four Personality Types," reports that there are four personality types when it comes to communication: (1) Relater-Supporter; (2) Initiator-Cheerleader; (3) Analyzer-Investigator; and (4) Driver-Leader (Ni, 2007, p. 5). The dominant traits of each communication personality type are as follows:

(1) Relater-Supporters — tend to be nice, supportive, nurturing, and friendly.

(2) Initiator-Cheerleaders — tend to be energetic, motivating, persuasive, and fun.

(3) Analyzer-Investigators — tend to be detail-oriented, task-driven, analytical, and matter-of-fact.

Communicative Practice in Organizational Change

(4) Driver-Leaders — tend to be powerful, achievement-conscious, control-oriented, and productive (Ni, 2007, p. 6).

Understanding these personality types is essential for crafting communication that reaches diverse audiences within an organization. Tailoring messages to account for these differences increases the likelihood that information will be received, trusted, and acted upon during periods of change.

Flock (2008) relates that communication "is a critical issue in any aspect of corporate life. This is even more accurate in times of great organizational change" (p. 2). Flock reports the work of Blake and Mouton, who identified communication as "the foremost barrier to corporate excellence" in a 198-company survey conducted across Japan, the United States, and Great Britain three decades ago (1968, p. 4, cited in Flock, 2008, p. 2). In fact, Flock states that the most "pressing organizational challenges" — including "leadership, empowerment, shaping organizational culture, building effective teams and managing change — hinge on communications activities" (2008, p. 2).

Communication is defined by W. Charles Redding as "those behaviors of human beings or those artifacts created by human beings which result in 'messages' (meaning) being received by one or more persons." The sender's intent is not significant in this definition. Communication occurs when someone derives meaning from words, actions, silences, or interactions of any kind — including signals outside conscious intent. The perceiver, then, is the significant element in communication. "The degree of credibility of our communications originates in the sense-maker of our message — the perceiver. The perceiver ultimately determines the messages communicated" (Flock, 2008, p. 2).

The work of Watzlawick et al. offers six key principles of communication:

(1) Meanings are not transferred — they are created in the minds of the perceivers. (2) Anything is a potential message. (3) The message perceived is the only one that counts. (4) Interpersonal messages have both "content" and "relational" components. (5) Communication interaction can be either symmetrical or complementary. (6) Effective communication is hard work (cited in Flock, 2008, p. 2).

Flock asks how organizations might "establish a history of 'square dealing' that inspires a culture of trust" (2008, p. 2). The work of Kilman "stresses the importance of changing culture by changing cultural norms" (1989, pp. 56–75, cited in Flock, 2008, p. 2). According to Flock, it is unfortunate that the majority of companies are in the "unenviable position of having to change in order to develop the capacity for change. They need the very qualities that are absent in order to achieve these same qualities. They need to behave in ways that they have never behaved before in order to generate new behavior" (2008, p. 3). Specifically, a corporation seeking this transformation would need to:

(1) Minimize time spent in formal planning and increase action time. (2) Worry less about organizational charts and structure, and focus more on how work gets completed regardless of formal structures. (3) Give up artificially inflating achievements, and focus instead on the degree to which legitimate results were actually achieved. (4) Terminate efforts to shift blame and take ownership of measured outcomes for the sake of continuous improvement (Flock, 2008, p. 3).

This type of change is described by Flock as "monumental…but quite necessary to be able to change processes, pricing, brands, products, and services more quickly than a competitor. Change demands credible communication for corporate survival" (2008, p. 4).

Dave Ulrich describes these capacities as "rapid-learning" — the organizational ability to "generate and generalize ideas with impact, to create and disseminate ideas with speed and rapidly transfer knowledge through technology, forums, best practice studies, workshops…" (1997, pp. 194–195, cited in Flock, 2008, p. 4). The work of John Kotter reports a strategy designed to raise the level of urgency in the organization, inclusive of "widespread communication of a need to change or crystallizing a crisis point" (Flock, 2008, p. 4). Kotter's techniques include:

(1) Create a crisis by allowing financial loss, exposing weakness, or allowing errors to surface rather than saving the day at the last minute. (2) Eliminate perks or other obvious examples of excess. (3) Set productivity and customer satisfaction targets so high that business as usual becomes untenable. (4) Circulate more data about weak performance or customer satisfaction compared to the competition. (5) Insist that people communicate regularly with dissatisfied customers, vendors, or referral sources. (6) Stop "happy talk" in newsletters and speeches and promote frank discussion of corporate problems. (7) Flood information channels with discussion of opportunities at hand and the company's current inability to capitalize on them (Flock, 2008, p. 5).

Flock reports that these examples serve to emphasize the "traditionally unrecognized fact that raising the urgency level can only catapult corporations into productive change through credible communication" (Kotter, 1996, p. 44, cited in Flock, 2008, p. 5). Motivation and action can be fostered in the organization through the creation of stories containing the following elements: (1) a case for change; (2) an idea of where the organization is headed; and (3) actions for getting there (Flock, 2008, p. 5).

Flock reports that stories are "developed from the manager's teachable point-of-view" and that stories linked to experience contain four specific elements:

(1) Ideas — that create value for the customer and are linked to the marketplace. (2) Values — that articulate and shape values supporting business ideas. (3) Edge — about making tough yes-or-no decisions without waffling about people, products, businesses, customers, and suppliers, even when making decisions based on insufficient data. (4) Energy — perceived messages that stir people toward action regarding change and transition, both face-to-face and through widespread organizational efforts (Flock, 2008, p. 6).

Once a story focused on "the need for breakthrough performance in an increasingly competitive world" had been chosen, Royal Dutch/Shell created a workshop in which top executives were asked to write their resignations from the "old" Royal Dutch/Shell and submit them to the chairman of the company. Upon "the unsettling and eye-opening experience of reading their letters aloud," it was the start of each executive internalizing the case for change (Flock, 2008, p. 6). In other words, the executives "got it," and this involved the embrace of "the death of the status quo" (Flock, 2008, p. 6).

Credible communicators formulate stories which, "unlike the pipeline transmitters, whose memos end up stacked in an in-box on the back side of an executive's desk, along with the rest of last year's slogans for change…take irreversible actions that transform their organizations" (Cohen and Tichy, 1997, pp. 63–64, cited in Flock, 2008, p. 6). Kotter provides seven principles for disseminating information that is "clear and focused…towards large groups of people, for the fraction of the potential cost":

(1) Simplicity — all jargon must be avoided. (2) Metaphor, analogy, and example — a picture of experience is worth a thousand words. (3) Multiple forums — large and small groups face-to-face, email, newsletters, electronic bulletin boards, and other internet communications. (4) Repetition — ideas only reach the deepest levels of awareness when heard many times. (5) Leadership by example — incongruent behavior from important people undermines other forms of communication. (6) Explanation of seeming inconsistencies — ignoring inconsistency will break trust and breed apathy. (7) Give and take — two-way communication is moving; one-way communication is oppressive (Kotter, 1996, pp. 85–100, cited in Flock, 2008, p. 7).

The work of Weaver and Farrell proposes a managerial communication strategy that disseminates information clearly and motivates individuals to work together toward the organizational vision while sustaining the cultural norm of valuing individuals and their differences. They propose that small groups "take up the decision-making slack, with managers as guides, realizing that they can no longer give directions to everyone of their own people on how to complete their work, in any particular way. They must facilitate change with rapid learning rather than instruct it with all personnel. The facilitator is the most important role to emerge in the workplace" (Weaver and Farrell, 1997, p. 12, cited in Flock, 2008, p. 7).

Flock states that the most important facilitation skill is active listening, described as "a very powerful technique that raises the 'trust' level with people in organizations" (2008, p. 7). Processing is reported as the technique a facilitator uses to motivate a group to complete its work. Weaver and Farrell identify the following actions for providing action focus and group work alignment: (1) planning; (2) problem-solving; and (3) completing work (Flock, 2008, p. 7). Implementation of change begins with the "perceptions of individuals and groups," all of which is generated through communication skills.

Conclusion

Heathfield, S. M. (2011). Communication in change management. Retrieved from

Huf, A. (nd). Organizational development and change — communication. Retrieved from

Kilman, Ralph. Managing Beyond the Quick Fix. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1989.

Kotter, John P. Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1996.

Miller, Edward. "Shock Waves from the Communications Revolution." In The Organization of the Future, edited by Hesselbein, F., Goldsmith, M., and Beckhard, R. The Drucker Foundation.

Ni, P. (2007). Communication success with four personality types. Retrieved from http://www.nipreston.com/publications/excerpts/personalitytypes.pdf