Communicating and change management
‘Facetime’, ‘fokussieren’ and many more…
It’s normal that each area of life has its own specific terms. The Financial Times Deutschland collected some of the words and phrases that are less meaningful than others. They are the kind of words that you can use in meetings if you want to sound as if you know what you are talking about.
But beware – these particular words and phrases are empty of meaning!
More seriously, it has been shown that managers who rely too much on buzzwords like these are less well regarded than people who use clear and concise language.
It’s not only what you say, it’s the way you say it.
Theory and Organizational Change I
At various times I will be posting on some of theoretical issues related to organizational change because I believe that it is necessary to understand the way the concept ‘change’ has developed. Here I outline some of the earliest thinking on change, which still influences discussions about change today.
Among the concepts discussed by the philosophers of ancient Greece was the idea of change. Two schools of thought with respect to change existed among pre-Socratic thinkers, and the differences between them were significant. Parmenides (c. 515-445 BC) used an argument based on language and thought processes to claim that change was not possible: “[Reality] is uncreated and indestructible; for it is complete, immovable, and without end”. He stressed that reality is permanent and unchangeable, and change is illusory. Heraclitus (c. 544-483 BC), who was well known to Plato and Aristotle for his belief in universal change and his doctrine that everything is in a state of flux, took an opposing view: “You cannot step twice into the same river; for fresh waters are ever flowing in upon you”. He argued that there is a continuous process of transformation, so things are in a constant state of becoming, and therefore the world changes and is changeable .
There is no doubt about which of these two arguments is the more influential. Heraclitus is referred to by writers on organizational change as writers on strategy refer to Sun-Tzu. For example, Beer and Nohria (2000) write: “As Heraclitus noted 2,500 years ago: ‘All is flux, nothing stays still.’ Sadly, this is as true today as it was then”.
Organizational Change and Football
Football is a business, but different from other businesses in that the heart can play more of a role than the head. Mike Ashley, the chairman of Newcastle United is a successful businessman. But he made many mistakes when he bought the club.
Ashley would never have expanded his Sports Direct empire without exerting due diligence on a takeover, yet he bought Newcastle without properly studying it, only to be shocked by the masses of debt. He would never have installed executives that were incompatible, but this is what he did by employing an old-fashioned manager and then grafting on a continental technical structure, with third parties in charge of development and scouting.
The result? Relegation last season.
What we can learn form this is that when there is a takeover, the resulting organizational change must be carefully and thoughtfully planned.
Change in an uncertain world
I recently did a search of the online journals of the academic publishers Taylor and Francis. This revealed that the phrase “unprecedented change” has been used in reference to many, many topics, including life in rural communities, Italian politics, healthcare, libraries, information technology and education.
It is not surprising, then, that implicit in many management texts, articles on business in newspapers and magazines, and management training courses is the view that the world is changing more quickly than ever. This point is made explicitly equally often. To give but three examples:
- “We are living at a time when the competitive environment has a steep and rapid learning curve. It’s also a time of unprecedented change.”
- “Today, however, companies are in a process of retooling and developing new strategies which will assist them to be competitive at a time of unprecedented change in product and labour markets and technology.”
- “All parts of organizations are going through unprecedented change as a result of the volatile business environment, including such well-known items as exploding technology, globalization, and new work processes.”
In the terms we use at Turris Consulting, this means that the outer context is not stable. This in turn means…. organizational change! So how should managers deal with this instability?
Managing change in the business environment
Is there an economic downturn? Either way, a change in the business environment is one of the prime causes of organizational change. At Turris Consulting, we say that the business environment is part of the external context of change. (Click here to read more.)
Of course, smart organizations are very aware of what is going on in their business world. In this Wall Street Journal article – In Chaos Lies Opportunity – the authors argue that companies can do well even in difficult times if they understand the environment.
For most industries, the optimal time to hit the brakes and downshift was months ago. The questions to be asking now are: Where is the apex of the curve, and how hard should we accelerate to take advantage of competitor mistakes? Who is in trouble and dumping valuable assets in order to survive? Can we add great people who are now available?
What does this mean in terms of organizational change management? It means that good managers scan the outer context of change, and then work out what they need to change within their company so that the company can do well even in in difficult times.
Change in the Pharma Industry
One of the most interesting industries that I have been involved with is the pharmaceutical industry. It is constantly evolving in the face of internal and external challenges which are described below. If you were the head of a pharma firm, how would you deal with these problems?
Three major issues that confront the industry: the rise of generic products, the difficulty in finding new treatments, and the large amount of spending on sales and marketing.
The first challenge is that in most countries, a drug company has a 17 to 20 year period when its product is protected by patent. However, this period does not start when the drug comes on the market, because patents are filed during the research phase. On average, a patented drug is on the market for around 12 years before the patent expires and generic competition arrives. Once the drugs have come off patent, their market share and price premium are significantly reduced, because the generic alternative is less expensive.
Second, there is a general feeling that all the ‘low hanging fruit’ of disease have been picked. The industry relies on blockbusters, which are drugs that bring in annual revenues of $1 billion or more. Evidence suggests that it is getting increasingly difficult – and more expensive – for companies to find new treatments. This has led to a significant change in the basic approach to research. Companies are moving from chemistry-based therapies to biology-based therapies, but since the major pharmaceutical companies tend to lack expertise in this area, they are either buying or forming partnerships with either smaller, more specialised outfits or are forming partnerships with larger drug companies.
The third challenge for all major pharmaceutical companies is that they spend a great deal on sales and marketing. Pharmaceutical companies position themselves as research-oriented organizations. In fact, the actual amount that they spend on research and development is less than the amount they spend on sales and marketing.
Language and Organizational Change
In my work, I often comment on the importance of communication for organizational change management. This insight is based on both practical experience and research. Here is an extract from an article I wrote about language and organizational change.
Theorists started to study the relationship between language and organization in the 1980s, when language began to be understood not simply as a mechanism of communication, but rather as a fundamental aspect of organization and organising.
Language-in-use is often referred to as discourse. In its narrowest and most traditional definition, discourse refers only to spoken dialogue. A fuller understanding of discourse, however, includes both speech acts and written texts. The most radical view is that organization exists only through language, leading to views of organization as text, or as narrative, or as constituted in discourse.
It has been shown that there is great value in looking at discourse during change processes. Language, in the form of conversations, stories and rumours, is a significant factor in the way change is conceptualised. The way in which organizational members negotiate meaning in the change process is through discursive practices and textual objects. Indeed, coherent language use can play a significant role in the outcome of change initiatives. One study of the introduction of new technology on the London Insurance Market demonstrates that there are fragmented and competing discourses within an organization. Consequently, competition between groups takes place through discourse.
Conversation is one of the most common forms of communication in the workplace. Studies of managerial activities have shown that managers spend a large part of their time in carrying out oral communications. The act of conversation and the content of conversation produce action, which indicates why conversations can play an important part in a change process.
Stories play a significant role in the creation and maintenance of meaning in organizations and hence in the development and maintenance of organizational culture. The informal nature of storytelling does not mean that it is not important. It has been shown, for example, that the use of stories enables change to take place, as when an executive’s storytelling enabled him to convince colleagues to move in new direction.
Discourse – communication – is a mechanism through which change happens, and it should therefore be considered in an investigation of change processes.
Managers and consultants should also pay attention to language when leading and managing change processes.
Change management books
Just in time for Christmas – here are some books which I have found to be useful for change management in several ways.
Images of Organization by Gareth Morgan shows how the ways in which we view organizations and the metaphors we use affect how we manage. The other books contain a range of insights into the organization change process.
Caldwell’s work (Agency and Change) is more theoretical. It looks at how the tension between agency and structure to investigate how people as change agents can affect the way change initiatives in their organization progress.
Understanding Organizational Change by Dawson is aimed at MBA students. Nevertheless, it should be read by people in organizations because of the way it emphasises taking a view of change at all levels of the organiztion.
Finally, the Handbuch Change-Management has been written by some prominent German experts. It provides a comprehensive view of change and change management.
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Handelsblatt- Ölpreise konstant 9 September
- Poussin sorgt für Aufregung bei Museen und Sammlern 9 September
- Judo-Ass Bischof plant den zweiten Gold-Coup 9 September
- Favre und Co. starten Mission Super Bowl 9 September
- Financial Times UK
