ABSTRACT
Change is a prominent process in organizational activity, whether it occurs in civic or religious organizations, governments, schools, or businesses. During periods of change there is likely to be disruption. However, those disruptions typically will occur against a backdrop of continuity and stability. This chapter provides an overview of the history of organizational change scholarship including important themes of theory-building and research. Contemporary process models of organizational change are also presented. The chapter also highlights implementers’ and other stakeholders’ communication. The chapter illustrates how change occurs in a flow of communicative and other activity and within a context of organizational structures. The chapter demonstrates how communication can create the operational lived reality of an organizational change, and in turn, how the structures of an organization can give rise to, forestall, encourage, or shape communication about change.
