title: The complexity of organizational change: describing communication during organizational turbulence.
abstract: Organizational researchers and practitioners have been interested in organizational change  for some time. Historically, they have directed most of their efforts at improving the efficiency of  planned top-down change. These efforts were strategic attempts at altering parameters leading to  transformational change. Most efforts failed to meet their intended purposes.  Transformational organizational change has not been likely. The legitimate systems have been robust.  There has been little systematic investigation of the communication occurring during these efforts.  The purpose of this essay is to describe results of a mixed methods research project answering  two research questions. (a) How do organizational members communicate during a time of turbulence?  (b) What features of this communication suggest the potential for or resistance to transformative change?  Comparing the results at the beginning of the period to other periods, gives insight into how  social actors communicate and enact the organization during a threshold period where  transformational change was possible. Results reveal identifiable patterns of communication as  communication strategies, parameters, or basins of attraction. The overall pattern explains how  micro communication patterns intersect and how the accumulation of these patterns may resist or  accomplish change at a macro level.
authors.affiliation: Texas State University, San Marocs, TX, USA. ps05@txstate.edu
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salem
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D006268:Health Facilities / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D015279:Organizational Culture; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D013781:Texas