Meaning to change: how diverse stakeholders interpret organizational communication about change initiatives

Abstract

This paper explores the problems that occur in implementing a major organizational change initiative where various employee groups have different interpretations of the purpose of the initiative and tactics intended to achieve it. In this paper, the author employs two concepts: technology frames and the order of change magnitude surrounding technology change. By understanding the meanings that various stakeholder groups attach to the same communications about the change initiative, we may better understand the characteristic ways in which they interpret both the objectives of the change initiative and how it can be implemented. By using these concepts to explain various stakeholders' conflicting interpretations of the information that they have received about the change initiative, this paper shows how they perceive differently what events constitute progress toward achieving the initiative's objectives.