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The purpose of this paper is to explore how a number of processes joined to create the microlevel strategies and procedures that resulted in the most lethal and tragic forest fire in Portugal's history, recalled as the EN236-1 road tragedy in the fire of Pedrógão Grande.

Using an inductive theory development approach, the authors consider how the urgency and scale of perceived danger coupled with failures of system-wide communication led fire teams to improvise repeatedly.

The paper shows how structure collapse led teams to use only local information prompting acts of improvisational myopia, in the particular shape of corrosive myopia, and how a form of incidental improvisation led to catastrophic results.

The research offers insights into the dangers of improvisation arising from corrosive myopia, identifying ways to minimize them with the development of improvisation practices that allow for the creation of new patterns of action. The implications for managing surprise through improvisation extend to risk contexts beyond wildfires.

The paper stands out for showing the impact of improvisational myopia, especially in its corrosive form, which stands in stark contrast to the central role of attention to the local context highlighted in previous research on improvisation. At the same time, by exploring the effects of incidental improvisation, it also departs from the agentic conception of improvisation widely discussed in the improvisation literature.

The literature on communication in change processes, although fundamental, appears to still be very fragmented. The purpose of this study is to provide an explanatory and integrated framework for the communication process in organizational change processes.

The authors conducted 22 semi-structured interviews with employees from 21 companies and 13 different sectors in Germany. The four-step Gioia inductive coding approach was adopted as the methodological approach of the current study.

A final research model reveals that the organizational change communication (OCC) process is marked by specific change-restraining forces associated with the fear of the unknown, habits and convenience. Results also suggest the importance of communication timing and factors that help shape the OCC process, namely the scope, contents and channels of the communication process. Finally, the current research highlights contextual variables of the OCC process, such as credibility or the level of honesty.

The importance of OCC, in particular the understanding of the scope, contents of the message and the channels of communication adopted in the change management process, are important variables in the complexity of change. The paper illustrates the intricacy of communication in change and reinforces the internal and external variables that help shape the OCC process, with implications for change agents and scholars.