Exploring Effective Communication for Organizational Change

The purpose of this case study was to explore experiences and perceptions of organizational leaders regarding organizational change communication to improve change results in an organizational setting. Building on a conceptual framework of organizational theory, 25 full-time online faculty at an institution of higher learning in the southwestern United States participated in open-ended interviews. The participants were referenced using a coding system of P1 to P25 to protect identities. Data were analyzed for like terms, coded, and prioritized to identify prevalent themes. The most prominent themes included that (a) face-to-face communication was preferable for important information and e-mail was appropriate for less important information, (b) continuing communication was important for long-term change endeavors and frequent communication was effective for communicating about short-term change processes, and (c) effective communication of organizational mission and values allowed employee-organizational ethical congruency to develop. Participants indicated that communication modality affected an employee's perception of organizational change. Business practices can improve because of this study as the findings identified opportunities for leaders of higher learning institutions to lessen the communication difficulties often associated with organizational change. The implications of these findings will promote social change in the form of increased understanding of how to communicate successfully in any organization.