In a world in which change is considered the only constant, changes in an organisation's strategy, structure, processes and/or technology are a prerequisite for success. A main reason why many organisational change efforts do not achieve the desired results is seen in the lack of understanding and acceptance of the change among those affected by the change. This is particularly true for planned change because the majority of the employees are not involved in the planning of the change. Although both academics and practitioners view communication as a key mechanism for increasing understanding and acceptance, the factors influencing the effectiveness of a communication programme do not appear to have received adequate research attention and insufficient guidance was available for practitioners on how to design an effective communication programme. This thesis, written from an interpretivist perspective, reports on case study research undertaken in three different change projects in one large organisation in the automotive industry in Germany. Two and a half years were spent in the field, with each case study lasting between six and nine months. The approach to the research was inductive and the data collected were basically qualitative. The research sought to explore recipients' perceptions of the communication activities used with the intention of increasing the understanding of the factors influencing the effectiveness of a communication programme. The findings can be grouped into recipients' perceptions of the effects of the communication activities used and the specific aspects of the communication activities responsible for these perceptions. The focus in the analysis was not on individual occurences but on the relationships between different effects and on the interdependencies between different communication activities. The relationships found between different effects and between different communication activities highlight the importance of a holistic approach to research on change communication and underline the complexity of designing a communication programme. Suggestions for practitioners on how to structure communication aims and on how to choose and design communication activities can be inferred from these findings.
Wagner, E
Department of Business and ManagementFaculty of Business
Year: 2006
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