Effective and Open Communication in the Organization - Essay Example

Thus, the main question now is given that change involves people and that they usually resist change, how do we go about implementing change successfully?

To adequately answer the above question, we need to recognize first that change is inevitable especially in a business setting.  Change happens not because management wanted it but because of business imperative.  Factors like the external and internal environment precipitate the need for change and the organization has to respond to remain viable and competitive as a business entity.  According to Murthy in his book Change Management, change is “to make or become different, give or begin to have a different form, dissatisfaction with old and belief in the new” (2007: 7).  

Cummings & Worley (2008) mentioned communication in facilitating change but it was presented as one of the things that could affect change.  Communication is however more important than these organizational theorists have mentioned especially if it involves people because communication is the bedrock of an organization.  It became an organization because of people who are linked together through an agreed structure of hierarchy and functions that share a similar objective (Woods, 2004).    Communication is the medium to relay the greater objectives of the organization and the enabler that makes team and organization function effectively and efficiently (Adler, 2010).   Such, the intended change should be communicated as an enabler that would link the organization as a whole to work as a team towards the common organizational goal that responds to the new business reality that compelled change.

Any intended change requires an effective marshaling of the organization’s resources (people, information, finance, technology) and this cannot be achieved without effective communication between the management and the employees (Kilmann 1986).  Without effective communication, the saboteurs, zombies, protestors, and survivors will succeed in resisting change because people did not appreciate the need for change and how to change.  Thus, channels of communication must be opened encouraging participation of the employees to make them commit, accept and to a certain degree, claim ownership about the necessary change in the organization because their perspectives were taken into consideration during the process of implementing change.  This could come in various forms such as meetings, consultations, focus discussion groups, team buildings, etc.

Effective and open communication in the organization will also lessen the friction and conflict among employees and between management and employees which could sometimes be inevitable in implementing change.  The energy of both parties can then be directed in implementing the best organizational change possible and away from the resolution of conflicts that typically characterize organizations when changing.