Organizational Change Communication Research Articles

Organizational Change Communication, Workplace Bullying and Job Insecurity: The Moderating Role of Trust in Management

This study aims to examine the relationship between organizational change communication and workplace bullying on job insecurity, as well as investigate the moderating role of trust in management. The objects of this research were employees who work in companies affected by Covid-19 in Indonesia, particularly in the tourism, banking, education, and entertainment sectors. The data were obtained through a survey by distributing questionnaires using a purposive sampling technique to 174 respondents, and it was analyzed using the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results of the study showed that organizational change communication has a negative effect on job insecurity, workplace bullying has a negative effect on job insecurity, and trust in management moderates the positive effect of workplace bullying on job insecurity. However, there is no moderating effect of trust in management on organizational change communication and job insecurity. There are some limitations and suggestions discussed in this paper. Keywords: Organizational change communication, workplace bullying, trust in management, job insecurity

Sensemaking by Employees in Essential versus Non-essential Professions During the COVID-19 Crisis: A Comparison of Effects of Change Communication and Disruption Cues on Mental Health, Through Interpretations of Identity Threats and Work Meaningfulness.

This study examines the implications of categorizing workers into essential and non-essential groups due to disruptions in work associated with—and the quality of organizational change communication about—the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we examine how these cues trigger identity threats and influence the meaningfulness of work, consequently affecting the mental health of workers (anxiety, distress, and depression). The results show that change communication reduces identity threat, while also increasing meaningfulness of work, for both work categories. However, the disruptions increase identity threat only for non-essential workers. Conversely, identity threat increases two of the three mental health issues while meaningfulness of work reduces two of them. The study contributes to our growing understanding of the pervasive, though subtle, implications of COVID-19 for the workplace by showing how a process of employee sensemaking and organizational change communication directly and indirectly influence important dimensions of mental health.

Disruptions and General Distress for Essential and Nonessential Employees During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic and outbreak response represent a global crisis that has affected various aspects of people’s lives, including work. Speculation is rife about the impact of the crisis on employees. Countries and organizations worldwide have categorized some work as essential and, by extension, other work as nonessential. This study aims to investigate the impact of the pandemic by examining the relationship between work disruptions (at time 1) and general distress (at time 2) through various work stressors, contrasting the experiences of employees in essential versus nonessential work. For employees with essential jobs, there is a significant indirect effect of work disruptions on general distress through hindrance stressors. This relationship is not found for employees with nonessential jobs. The general distress of these employees is more strongly affected by disruptions through social stressors (here, social isolation). Hence, this study demonstrates how general distress is affected in different ways for employees conducting essential work and those conducting nonessential work. We further highlight the importance of considering social stressors in this relationship, especially for nonessential work. Organizational change communication quality mitigates the relationship between isolation and general distress for employees with nonessential jobs, but not for those with essential jobs.

Change Management Communication: The Role of Meaningfulness, Leadership Brand Authenticity, and Gender

As hospitality firms face increasing demands that require continuous change, it is imperative to design change management processes that allow for effective communication of change initiatives. This study of 235 employees examined the effects of organizational change communication 1 month after the change message was delivered at the annual leadership conference of a well-known U.S.-based limited-service hotel chain. In hospitality organizations, successful change management is impossible without employee engagement. However, employees’ sensemaking of the organizational change message may encourage or hinder their receptivity to change. Findings showed that while positive appraisal of conference message meaningfulness positively influenced employee work engagement, perceptions of leadership brand authenticity had a stronger impact. Moreover, employees bundled message meaningfulness and leadership brand authenticity perceptions for greater work engagement, which is linked with job satisfaction and service climate evaluation. Female attendees were highly influenced by leadership brand authenticity perceptions, driving stronger job satisfaction and stronger service climate. However, for male attendees, meaningfulness of the conference message had a significant impact on engagement. Thus, hospitality managers’ ability to adjust organizational change communication through message meaningfulness and authentic leadership branding may assist in securing the desired outcomes of change.

The Impact of Negative Informal Information Before a Change on Performance: A Within-Person Approach.

We live in a rapidly changing business environment where change has become the norm for organizations to maintain competitiveness. Although both scholars and practitioners agree that organizational change communication is important to help employees adjust to change, little is known about how negative informal information before the change affects employees’ reaction to the change and occurrence of possible within-person dynamics of resistance intention over time. Based on the construal-level theory, we used SPSS 22, AMOS 20, and HLM 6.0 as tools to explore how negative informal information affects individual performance. We used a multilevel approach to probe within-person processes among 215 MBA students in China. The results show that (1) negative informal information provided before the organizational change is positively related to the resistance intention, (2) resistance intention decreases significantly over time, and (3) negative informal information is negatively related to individual performance during the organizational change. The results from this study extend the literature on informal communication before the change and provide a dynamic perspective on the occurrence of possible within-person dynamics of resistance intention over time.

Crafting the Change: The Role of Employee Job Crafting Behaviors for Successful Organizational Change

Organizations today have to change constantly. Although both practitioners and scientists agree that organizational change communication is the most effective strategy to improve employee adjustment to change, little is known about how change communication enhances more proactive employee reactions to change. The present study addresses employee job crafting behaviors (i.e., seeking job resources, seeking job challenges, and reducing job demands) as a tool used by employees in order to respond to and cope with implemented organizational change. Using regulatory focus theory, we propose that on the basis of their promotion or prevention regulatory focus, employees respond to organizational change communication via job crafting behaviors that further enhance or hinder their adjustment to change (i.e., work engagement and adaptivity). Hypotheses are tested with a latent change score analytical approach via a three-wave longitudinal design among 368 police officers. Findings reveal that while adequate change communication is linked to increased job crafting behaviors for promotion focused employees, inadequate change communication is linked to increased job crafting behaviors for prevention focused employees. Furthermore, seeking resources is positively associated with employee work engagement, seeking challenges is positively associated with adaptivity, and reducing demands is negatively associated with work engagement. These findings bring together three different streams of literature (i.e., organizational change, regulatory focus, and job crafting). Implications for management are outlined, and they are, thereafter, translated to a specific workplace intervention, which is proposed to organizations and managers.

The explanatory role of rumours in the reciprocal relationship between organizational change communication and job insecurity: a within-person approach

The current study highlights rumours as an explanation of the reciprocal relationship between perceived organizational change communication and job insecurity. First, we predict that perceiving insufficient organizational change communication may result in rumours, which in turn may shape job insecurity perceptions. Second, we propose that rumours may also mediate the relationship between job insecurity and perceiving insufficient organizational change communication. To test the hypotheses, a multilevel approach was used, in which three measurements were nested within 1994 employees. This enabled us to probe within-person processes, while controlling for possible between-person variation. The results demonstrated a negative reciprocal relationship between perceived organizational change communication and job insecurity. Additionally, rumours mediated both the negative relationship between perceived organizational change communication and subsequent job insecurity, and the negative relationship between job insecurity and subsequent perceived organizational change communication. This study contributes to the literature on job insecurity by offering initial evidence on the relationship between job insecurity and rumours, and by highlighting rumours as a process through which perceived organizational change communication and job insecurity may mutually affect each other.

First steps: linking change communication to change receptivity

PurposeChange 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.Design/methodology/approachA case study design is employed and the multiple methods employed include surveys, focus groups, archival data and participant observation.FindingsThe 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.Research limitations/implicationsThis 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.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest managers need to align employees' expectations of the change communication with understanding of the change goal.Originality/valueThe primary value of the paper is in using a communicative lens to study the change process.

BUILDING AN ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE COMMUNICATION THEORY.

The difficulty of communicating during organizational change has intensified with the prevalence of continuously changing organizations (Buchanan, Claydon & Doyle, 1999). The difficulty faced by managers is compounded by the lack of studies examining organizational communication within a context of organizational change (Eisenberg, Andrews, Murphy, & Laine-Timmerman, 1999; Lewis & Seibold, 1996). Not surprisingly then, is there a paucity of organizational change theory to guide further research and practitioners. This paper addresses the lack of organizational change communication research and contributes to theoretical development of communication during organizational change. A model of change communication during continuous change is presented from the analysis of two longitudinal empirical studies. Central constructs of the model are the monologic change communication, the dialogic change communication and the background talk of change. Further Van de Ven and Poole's (1995) Process Theories of Change are extended to consider the sequencing of the three constructs. The findings suggest that the sequencing of the dominant change communication approaches is informed by an alignment of individual communication competences and organizational change communication expectations.