The article “A tale of two corporations: managing uncertainty during organizational change” by Nicholas DiFonzo and Prashant Bordia discusses the detrimental effect, which inefficient communication may have on the organizational performance during the period of major organizational changes. Whether it is a change in technology or a complete company restructuring, employees are likely to perceive the change as hostile, thus resisting it and exacerbating the obstacles on the way of the change process (Herriot ). Effective communication, however, can have a positive effect on the change acceptance. The article tries to define the most important strategies for effective communication and identify the reasons for communications failures.
In the first step, the authors establish connection between ineffective communication and an increase of uncertainty, followed by a spread of rumours. Rumours usually do not have a positive effect on the company and employee spirit, since they decrease trust, lower motivation and reduce commitment to the company. Recent research, based on numerous interviews with managers in the companies all over the world, has shown that the major driver for the spread of rumours is uncertainty. The main theory, which explains the connection between uncertainty, rumours and poor communication is uncertainty reduction theory. It suggests that change is often accompanied by unpredicted future occurrences and unexplained present events. Uncertainty about the future creates insecurity, which is reduced by creating rumours, thus providing a sense of certainty and control. Therefore, more effective communication should aim to reassure employees and to convey the feeling of control, in order to avoid the spread of false information in the form of rumours. In some organizations, concealing information is perceived as a necessary step in situations, when information may be misleading or imprecise. Paradoxically, in this case employees demand information more than usually, therefore they are prone to interpret existing situation in their own way, which is likely to be very different from the reality. After the rumours have spread, the situation will be much harder to remedy, since employees’ trust has been already lost. Therefore, the authors suggest that it is often better to openly announce the reasons for non-disclosure and information delay, rather than to wait until the whole picture can be presented to the staff. This strategy can be followed by collective planning effort, which diverts attention from counterproductive rumour mill and directs it into collaborative problem solving. Along with full information disclosure and collective planning, managers should focus on maintaining trust relationships with the employees. Thus, they should make sure that their promises are aligned with their actions, while both risks and benefits of the change are thoroughly explained. All the conclusions in the article were supported by the examples of two companies, which illustrated both the case of a change communication failure and a more successful handling of the communication process.
The article by DiFonzo and Bordia can be extremely helpful for conducting a change in an organization. During major changes, communication is given very low priority by the management, thus leading to negative consequences for the overall change process. It is not common to relate ineffective communication to the declining employee morale or to the spread of rumours, however DiFronzo and Bordia demonstrate that there is a clear correlation between uncertainty due to ineffective communication and rumours. Therefore, the article draws attention of managers to the erroneously disregarded impact of information uncertainty and suggests three key strategic steps to decreasing uncertainty: information disclosure, trust building and collective decision-making. Should these strategies be implemented in the organization, employees are likely to support the change much more, thus being able to relate to the organizational objectives and to ease and facilitate the process of change.
References
DiFonzo, Nicholas, and Prashant Bordia. "A Tale of Two Corporations: Managing
Uncertainty During Organizational Change." Human Resource Management. 37.3&4
(1998): 295-303. Print.
Herriot, Peter. The Employment Relationship, A Psychological Perspective. Hove, UK:
Routledge, 2001.
