Employee Perspectives on Implementation Communication as Predictors of Perceptions of Success...

Effective communication is without doubt a key component of successful change initiatives (Covin & Kilmann, 1990; Lewis, 2000). As Lewis argues, "the empirical picture that is slowly emerging indicates that communication process and change implementation are inextricably linked processes" (1999, p. 44). Communication is critical in creating and articulating vision; channeling feedback between implementers, key decision-makers, and key users; providing social support; forestalling or making

constructive use of resistance; and assessing and promoting results. Unfortunately, while the literature addressing planned organizational change is extensive, there is little agreement about what specific communicative actions implementers need to carry out to create desired change processes and outcomes. Even less is known about the preferences of employees who experience the implementation of planned changes in their workplaces or how they assess the success of implementation programs.

Consideration of assessments of "success" is important in examining employee perspectives on change communication. Employee perceptions of outcomes are most likely to predict their attitudes toward future change initiatives and the methods used to implement them. Whether their own evaluations of success align with those of other participants and observers is an interesting question, but of more immediate concern is the degree to which their own perceptions of change success are related to their experiences of implementers' communication practices. Success of change programs has been treated in the most general of ways (whatever the respondent interprets "success" to mean) in the empirical literature to date (cf. Covin & Kilmann, 1990; Young & Post, 1993). However, it is necessary to define change-implementation success more precisely. For the purposes of this research, evaluation of success is defined as respondents' own assessments of the degree to which the change has achieved intended outcomes and has produced a sense that success outweighs failure. The position taken here is that understanding where such assessments are generated is critical in unpacking the reactions employees have toward implementation communication efforts and, ultimately, their willingness to engage in future change initiatives.