Organizational Change Communication: Materializing the Immaterial

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

The 'communicative constitution of organizing' perspective (CCO) has become a powerful contemporary force in organizational communication scholarship, positioning communication at the heart of organizing (See Ashcraft, Kuhn, & Cooren, 2009; Fairhurst & Putnam, 2004; Putnam & Nicotera, 2009; Putnam & Pacanowsky, 1983; Taylor & Van Every, 2000) and, in doing so, challenging scholars to move beyond functionalist conceptions of organizational communication. The advancement of CCO, coupled with the discursive turn in the social sciences, has caused discursive processes to be privileged with scant regard given to the material dimensions of organizational communication. As a result the material dimension is often framed as merely context rather than an integral part of organizational reality and the communication that constitutes it. The papers in this panel recouple the material and discursive dimensions of organizational reality and demonstrate how understanding the dynamics of such coupling can enrich our understanding of the subjectivities of change communication and organizational members’ experience of this communication.

The papers reveal how materiality and discursive processes (e.g., narrativity) support organizational change. In doing so, the panel advances our understanding of the multifaceted and subjective way organizational change communication is materially embedded in organizational reality and provides a valuable platform for discussing the methodological challenges of organizational communication research that addresses the interface between materiality, discourse, and sensemaking.

The panel will be structured as follows:
1. The chairperson, Professor Linda Putnam, will introduce presenters and set the scene for the panel, drawing on her extensive expertise and contributions to scholarship on discursive organizational practices, the CCO perspective and materiality.
2. Each panellist will then present a synopsis of an empirical study, detailing how they incorporated considerations of materiality and discourse in their examination of organizational change and change communication
3. Professor Gail Fairhurst, a highly accomplished communication scholar with an in-depth understanding of how discourse, sensemaking and materiality contribute to organizing and organizational leadership, will respond to the presentations in terms of how they advance our scholarly understanding of the interface between the material and discursive dimensions of change communication and the methodologies required to study this interface.
4. The chair will then facilitate a discussion that engages with the respondent’s feedback and explores the audience's response to how the papers have portrayed the dynamic interplay between materiality and discursive processes during organizational change.

Sub Unit

• Organizational Communication

Chair

• Linda L. Putnam, U of California-Santa Barbara

Individual Presentations

• Materialising Discourse: The Geosocial Nature of Organizational Change Communication - Colleen Elizabeth Mills, U of Canterbury

• Understanding the Interfaces of Sensemaking, Discourse, and Materiality During an E-Innovation - Maryam Tehrani, University of Canterburry

• Materializing Strategy at the Interface Between Managers and Frontline Staff - Celine Legrand, Audencia; Arnaud Nicolas, U de Nantes

• The Materializing of the Nascent Franchisor’s Identity - Faith Jeremiah, U of Canterbury

Respondent

• Gail Fairhurst, U of Cincinnati