Transcript Organization Design

Change Management
Chapter 10
Communication Strategies
Communication Strategies
• The way change is communicated is important
to the success of the change program
• What the change manager thinks is possible in
communicating change (e.g. ability to control
rather than shape information about it) will
depend on their image of managing change
How do the various styles view communication?
• Director Ensure people understand what is going to
happen and what is required of them. Communication
strategies need to ensure that there is no message
overload or message distortion
• Navigator: Similar to director but pay attention to
identifying alternative interests that may disrupt the
proposed change. “Tell and sell” communication
techniques are used to try to win people over to the
change.
• Caretaker: Focus is on letting people know about the
“why” of change, that is, the inevitability of the changes
and how best to cope or survive them. “Identify and
reply” (reactive) communication strategy is used.
Styles ctd.
• Coach Focus is on ensuring people share similar values and are
aware of what actions are appropriate to these values. The focus of
the coach is “getting buy-in” to the change through shared values
and the use of “positive emotions.” “Underscore and explore”
interactions are used to engage in dialogue about the change.
• Interpreter Interpreters provide staff with a sense of “what is going
on” through story telling, metaphors, and so on. They recognize that
not all will buy in to the story of change, but the aim is to provide the
most dominant account. “Rich” communication media are most
favored.
• Nurturer The nurturer image leads change managers to reinforce the
view that processes cannot always be predicted and that often
outcomes will occur that are innovative and creative for an
organization even though few people could have anticipated what
these might be prior to their occurrence.
Communication Components
•
•
•
•
•
•
Message
Feedback
Channel
Sender/receiver
Encoding/decoding
Noise
Communication Problems
• There are many problems that can disturb the
process of communication:
 message overload
• Too much information
 message distortion
• Problems sending and receiving
 message ambiguity
• Not specific enough (see Nelson & Coxhead, 1997)
Communication Context
• Use of language
 Imperative – sit down!
 Conditional – would you like to sit down?
 Empathetic – you look tired, why don’t you sit down
• Could also be condescending
• Power
 Who sends the message has communicative value
• Gender
 Getting credit – ‘I’ versus ‘we’
 Confidence & boasting – women downplay certainty, men
downplay doubts
 Asking questions – women ask more questions than men
 Unmarked categories:
• If gender, race, sexual identity, disability status are not identified in
a communication then what do we assume
• Can be seen as exclusionary. Can we become less alpha male?
Emotion and communication
• Emotion also impact on how information about a
change will be received.
 Emotional arguments
• Negative words about change failing, positive words about future
 Use of metaphors, music, colors, slogans, pictures, humor
 Display (appropriate) emotions during presentation
• Body language, facial expressions, speech tones, feelings
 Emphasize fairness and justice
 Ceremonies, pleasant atmosphere, use of teams
• A perceived threat can lead to negative emotions
 Try taking the staff’s perspective,
 Using threat-reducing behaviors,
 Personal reflection
Approaches to Communicating
• It is possible to overload employees with too much
information on change
 especially where the communication is one way and does not
allow input by the recipient.
• Communication strategies will vary depending on whether
the focus on “getting the word out” versus “getting buy-in”
 Change through value propositions (Guaspari 1996)
• What’s in it for me
 People want:
•
•
•
•
Accurate, timely information and feedback
A logical explanation for the decision
Open and honest communication and exchange of ideas
Have a “value proposition” for workers (see Table 10.7)
Continuum
• A communication strategy continuum includes five
approaches:





Spray and pray
Tell and sell
Underscore and explore
Identify and reply
Withhold and uphold (Clampitt et al., 2000)
• These approaches vary in effectiveness of
communication and the amount of information
transmitted
 Underscore and explore is assumed to be most effective
 Group exercise 10.3
Contingency Approaches
• Contingency approaches to communicating
strategy vary depending:
 on the type of change e.g.
•
•
•
•
Developmental or incremental (involvement)
Task-focused (top-down, formal)
Charismatic (top-down, symbolic, emotional)
Turnaround (top-down, formal, coercive) (Stace & Dunphy, 2001)
 on the stage of change e.g.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Planning – logical,inspirational
Enabling – logical, inspirational, supportive
Launching – logical, commanding
Catalyzing – inspirational, supportive
Maintaining – inspirational, supportive (Reardon & Reardon, 1999)
Is it really so easy?
Communication media
• Varies in “richness” depending on how
personal its ability to communicate change
 Non-routine, difficult problems require richer
communication styles
 For example, an email or memo is less
personal (and less “rich”) than a face to face
meeting
Communication processes
• How change gets communicated needs to take into
account issues such as:
 Message
• Style, what information, how much detail, source (who delivers)
 Timing
 Channels
• The communication of change in large
organizations will vary and draw upon a range of
processes
 Supervisor briefings (10.11), tag teams, cascade process
 How effective are each?
Exercise
• Complete Exercise 10.3 (p. 305)
• What works best for you?
• Consider transformational & incremental
 What information would you like
 From whom would you prefer to get it?
 In what format would you prefer?
• Individual, group, other?
 What would be the best media source?
 How do these answers shape your view of
communicating change?
Agilent Case
• Questions
 How would you describe Agilent’s communication
process?
 Did they focus more on “getting the word out” or
“getting buy-in”?
 Dunphy and Stace argue that communication in a
turnaround situation should be top-down, formal and
coercive. Why didn’t Agilent follow this advice?
 What are the limits to an open communication style
when faced with ongoing rounds of downsizing? What
else might be done to retain staff motivation?