Change Communication 2.0 - How virtuality influences mid-dle managers' communication in change
(2021) SKOM12 20211Department of Strategic Communication
- Abstract
- Even though virtual work is becoming more prominent, especially due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, this aspect has not yet been taken up in the research field of change communication as part of organizational and internal communication. There-fore, this study explores the impact of virtuality on change work through the lens of the processual view of change, highlighting the middle manager’s perspective in their interface position as change targets and agents. The aim is to gain a deeper un-derstanding of the sense-making processes, role understandings, and communica-tion actions by focusing on middle managers’ interaction with their employees and top management in a virtual change context. To this end, a single case study was conducted... (More)
- Even though virtual work is becoming more prominent, especially due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, this aspect has not yet been taken up in the research field of change communication as part of organizational and internal communication. There-fore, this study explores the impact of virtuality on change work through the lens of the processual view of change, highlighting the middle manager’s perspective in their interface position as change targets and agents. The aim is to gain a deeper un-derstanding of the sense-making processes, role understandings, and communica-tion actions by focusing on middle managers’ interaction with their employees and top management in a virtual change context. To this end, a single case study was conducted in a medium-sized organization in the financial services sector. Three dif-ferent data collection methods were combined. Interviews with middle managers served as the primary source, supplemented by data analysis of change communica-tion papers and observation of meetings between middle managers, employees, and top management. Based on the multi-faceted theoretical framework combining a sense-making perspective with role theory, media richness, and social presence the-ory, the following key findings were identified: 1. interaction becomes formalized and informal points of interaction based on the official organizational structure de-crease 2. middle managers’ role perception gets a focus on the emotional level con-cerning sense-making processes and emotional balancing and 3. informal structures emerge parallel to official organizational structures based on which collective sense-making in peers is practiced, which changes middle managers’ influence ability. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9064261
- author
- Baumhauer, Theresa LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SKOM12 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9064261
- date added to LUP
- 2022-08-08 11:09:35
- date last changed
- 2022-08-08 11:09:35
@misc{9064261,
abstract = {{Even though virtual work is becoming more prominent, especially due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, this aspect has not yet been taken up in the research field of change communication as part of organizational and internal communication. There-fore, this study explores the impact of virtuality on change work through the lens of the processual view of change, highlighting the middle manager’s perspective in their interface position as change targets and agents. The aim is to gain a deeper un-derstanding of the sense-making processes, role understandings, and communica-tion actions by focusing on middle managers’ interaction with their employees and top management in a virtual change context. To this end, a single case study was conducted in a medium-sized organization in the financial services sector. Three dif-ferent data collection methods were combined. Interviews with middle managers served as the primary source, supplemented by data analysis of change communica-tion papers and observation of meetings between middle managers, employees, and top management. Based on the multi-faceted theoretical framework combining a sense-making perspective with role theory, media richness, and social presence the-ory, the following key findings were identified: 1. interaction becomes formalized and informal points of interaction based on the official organizational structure de-crease 2. middle managers’ role perception gets a focus on the emotional level con-cerning sense-making processes and emotional balancing and 3. informal structures emerge parallel to official organizational structures based on which collective sense-making in peers is practiced, which changes middle managers’ influence ability.}},
author = {{Baumhauer, Theresa}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Change Communication 2.0 - How virtuality influences mid-dle managers' communication in change}},
year = {{2021}},
}