The Seven Communication Reasons Organizations Do Not Change

Date

2008-01

Authors

Salem, Philip J.

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Volume Title

Publisher

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Abstract

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.

Description

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.

Keywords

organizational communication, organizational change, organizational development, qualitative methods, complexity theory, Communication Studies

Citation

Salem, P. J. (2008). The seven communication reasons organizations do not change. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 13(3), pp. 333-348.

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