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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework for the study of communication during organisational change. Although there is an enduring interest in studying (internal) communication during organisational change, there is still little or no empirical research on the topic. Design/methodology/approach – In this conceptual paper a framework is presented on how to study communication during organisational change and how communication could prevent resistance to change. The framework leads to six propositions in which aspects of communication, such as information, feelings of belonging to a community, and feelings of uncertainty, have an influence on resistance to change, which will affect the effectiveness of the change effort. Findings – A distinction between the informative function of communication and communication as a means to create a community was made. In the suggested model communication has an effect not only on readiness for change, but also on uncertainty. Originality/value – This framework can be used by researchers and practitioners to study, guide, frame and model empirical research into this area in the future, and can be used to compare different change programs, within different organisations, to study the contribution of (internal) communication in the success or failure of the change.

This chapter outlines current and emerging approaches in change communication from both scholarly and practice perspectives, and what this means for organisations and practitioners, including practical implications for education. A literature review is conducted using the Kemmis and McTaggart framework for studying practice based on individual-social, objective-subjective dichotomies leading to an integrated reflexive-dialectical approach. Five roles are suggested for the practitioner in leading and influencing change, namely that of a Communication Architect, a Story-enabler, an Empathiser, an Engager and a Community Builder. These roles go beyond the traditional informative role, to practitioners co-constructing communication with stakeholders during change. With new ways of thinking about change management, there is the possibility for new methods of educating practitioners beyond the traditional qualification or professional certification. These would require greater collaboration between scholars and practitioners in creating vehicles for continuous learning.

In the past decade internal communication began to take on a new identity as it supports the many change efforts underway in organizations today. Change communication – how internal messaging effects individual behavior change – is a key element for an organization undergoing transformation. Although research points to the need to communicate during change, very little information is available on what the outcomes are of an internal communication strategy that can positively influence individual behavior change during transformation. This chapter enhances current knowledge on this topic by investigating the relationship of awareness and understanding of change messages to individual behavior change through the case study examination of the intentional organizational transformation experienced in a large, consumer packaged goods (CPG) company.

This article explores how employees in a public sector organization (PSO) make sense of the introduction of a social intranet and new employee communication roles. The aim is to understand employee sensemaking and how sensemaking influences the change process within the organization.

The article is based on a case study in a Danish PSO with 30,000 employees. The empirical material includes strategic documents, online observations and seven focus groups with employees conducted before, during and after the introduction of a new social intranet.

The employees found that making sense of the purpose with the social intranet is difficult. A managerial approach to change communication could easily result in employees' frustrations and concerns being dismissed as signs of resistance to change. From a communication perspective, the findings reveal that the employees engaged in seven different sensemaking enactments.

Change cannot be understood simply as something that employees are for or against. Instead, a change process should be perceived as a set of communication processes or sensemaking enactments happening in interactions between employees that can act in favor of, against or neutrally toward change.

Managers and communication professionals can interact with the seven sensemaking enactments, and some tentative initiatives are suggested in the article.

The article explores the employee perspective in a change process in a PSO and identifies seven employee sensemaking enactments highlighting that change happens in communication processes.

Examines the issue of communicating strategically during significant organizational change. In the author’s experience, differentiated communication tactics during different phases of organizational change can have an important impact on the level of acceptance of that change by organizational participants. Enumerates and discusses empirically supported principles of effective communication and then applies them to several stages of organizational change. Draws examples from cases with which the author has had personal research and/or consulting experience. Offers general communication strategies together with specific tactics as possibilities to help facilitate change.

Little has been studied yet in terms of how communication nature influences change process. The purpose of this paper is to explore a case study that takes part in a broader research project, aimed to contribute in this direction.

Mix methodology has been applied to the findings, to characterize resistance to change and communication nature within one organization under a radical change process.

One main theoretical contribution is an instrumental grid to characterize dialogic communication nature.

Findings of the case study originally indicate that resistance to change reduces under dialogic communication and by revealing how communication dimensions perform in time, practitioners may enhance guidelines to effective change communication management.

The purpose of the present review of communication approaches to organizational change is to identify and further develop the range of perspectives available in the literature and to present a framework on communication and change that could underpin future research.

Research on communication, narratives, stories and discourse, which have mapped new terrain in the study of organizational change, is reviewed and discussed.

The authors conclude that despite the vast academic and popular change literature, communication approaches to change still remain underdeveloped and communication scholars are, with few exceptions, remarkably absent in the field. Three challenges for the future are proposed, that researchers of communication and organizational change need to consider.

This paper provides a comprehensive literature review in the field of communication during organizational change. By integrating these studies in a new framework of communication as tool, process and social transformation, the authors offer a new foundation for theory building in this area. Further development and integration of these three different communication approaches is suggested, which would offer better conditions for research and practice to embrace the complex processes of organizational change.

Management attempts to transform organizations seldom succeed. This paper aims to describe seven common communication behaviors accompanying those failures.

This paper integrates material from three recent communication and organizational change studies, recent change theory, and complexity theory to model communication and change processes. All the studies employed traditional ethnographic methods, but one study employed quantitative methods as well as part of a mixed methods design.

Data describe six common communication behaviors during failed organizational change efforts. The combination of these behaviors suggests a seventh pattern. Communication during failed efforts seldom involves enough communication opportunities, lacks any sense of emerging identification, engenders distrust, and lacks productive humor. These problems are compounded by conflict avoidance and a lack of interpersonal communication skills. Members decouple the system, sheltering the existing culture until it is safe for it to reemerge later.

The integration of data from three studies with theory improves transferability, but more studies would improve the veracity of the results. Only one study employed quantitative data along with qualitative data. Organizational change research may need to employ mixed methods and augment results through simulations to understand time‐dependent processes.

Results point to the limitations of management and impersonal communication. Change is a messy business, and transformational change will not happen unless management is willing to tolerate the ambiguity and the sense that emerges in communication. Results also point to the importance of communication skills in hiring practices.

Few essays integrate results from several studies. This paper challenges accepted management practices and extends the growing understanding of the limits of individuals to control social change; it also adds to the literature on and application of complexity theory.

Change receptivity is recognised as an important factor in successfully implementing organizational change strategies. The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of change in the initial stages of a change agenda within a public sector organization and analyze the communication of change. It traces the resultant receptivity to organizational change. The paper investigates whether organizational change communication is a crucial element in employees' receptivity to change.

A case study design is employed and the multiple methods employed include surveys, focus groups, archival data and participant observation.

The findings indicate that the initial change communication is problematic. The employees respond to a lack of instrumental change communication with a constructivist communication approach in order to manage the implications of continuous change.

This research provides an overview of the first 100 days of change in a public sector organization only, and so the limitations of single case studies apply. However, the close investigation of this phase provides further research directions to be addressed.

The findings suggest managers need to align employees' expectations of the change communication with understanding of the change goal.

The primary value of the paper is in using a communicative lens to study the change process.

Whether organizational change results from a merger, acquisition, new venture, new process improvement approach, or any number of flavors‐of‐the‐day management fads, employee communications can mean the success or failure of any major change program. The Strategic Employee Communication Model with the best practice definitions, which are composites of effective employee communication examples collected from researching selected Fortune 500 companies, help management understand the strategic role of employee communication in a high‐performing company. The model functions as an analytical tool to diagnose a company’s strengths and weaknesses in employee communication so that the company can structure the change communication program and position communication to facilitate the overall change program. In this paper, I explain the Strategic Employee Communication Model and best practice definitions, demonstrate a change communication approach to improving employee communications using the Strategic Employee Communication Model, and provide a case study of the successful use of the model and approach during a major change program.