Part III: Managing Meaning

Abstract

As CEOs now communicate with a wide variety of stakeholders, it has become increasingly difficult to ensure that the intended meaning of their messages is received. Boas Shamir focuses on how leaders engage in the management of meanings in order to (1) justify their actions and the changes they introduce to the organization; (2) recruit followers and motivate members of the organization to support their actions; and (3) create shared perceptions and interpretations so that members’ actions are guided by a common definition of the situation. Heike Bruch, Boas Shamir, and Galit Eilam-Shamir show how the leader of a large Swiss-based company actively managed the views, interpretations and energy of more than 100,000 employees through weekly e-mail letters when the company faced grave financial difficulties. Gretchen Spreitzer, Mary Sue Coleman, and Daniel Gruber show how an incoming university president dealt with an ongoing lawsuit regarding the university's use of affirmative action in its admissions processes and worked with various stakeholders to firmly establish the university's identity.

Citation

(2007), "Part III: Managing Meaning", Hooijberg, R., (Jerry) Hunt, J.G., Antonakis, J., Boal, K.B. and Lane, N. (Ed.) Being There Even When You Are Not (Monographs in Leadership and Management, Vol. 4), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, p. 103. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-3571(07)04024-2