You are here

FAU Collections » FAU Research Repository » FAU Theses and Dissertations

Identification strategies and unobtrusive control in organizational change initiatives: A textual analysis of corporate newsletters

Download pdf | Full Screen View

Date Issued:
2001
Summary:
To be successful, organizations that undertake a large-scale planned change initiative must maintain employee commitment and loyalty to the organization. Identification with the organization can support that objective and is crucial in changing organizations when managers often introduce different cultural assumptions, values, and norms than those held by the organization's members. Employee identification with the organization is also pivotal in the employee's decision making process. This study analyses a representative sample of an organization's newsletter published during a reengineering project. Identification strategies of common ground, the assumed we, antithesis and unifying symbols are used as the foundation for analysis. Results show that identification strategies are consistently used in this genre of organizational communication to maintain employee commitment during a change initiative. In addition, three additional tactics of the common ground strategy were uncovered: enlistment, self-congratulation and knowledge-sharing. The implications of these results are discussed.
Title: Identification strategies and unobtrusive control in organizational change initiatives: A textual analysis of corporate newsletters.
131 views
42 downloads
Name(s): Glover, Laurie A.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Darlington, Patricia, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 2001
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 140 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: To be successful, organizations that undertake a large-scale planned change initiative must maintain employee commitment and loyalty to the organization. Identification with the organization can support that objective and is crucial in changing organizations when managers often introduce different cultural assumptions, values, and norms than those held by the organization's members. Employee identification with the organization is also pivotal in the employee's decision making process. This study analyses a representative sample of an organization's newsletter published during a reengineering project. Identification strategies of common ground, the assumed we, antithesis and unifying symbols are used as the foundation for analysis. Results show that identification strategies are consistently used in this genre of organizational communication to maintain employee commitment during a change initiative. In addition, three additional tactics of the common ground strategy were uncovered: enlistment, self-congratulation and knowledge-sharing. The implications of these results are discussed.
Identifier: 9780493407227 (isbn), 12837 (digitool), FADT12837 (IID), fau:9712 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2001.
Subject(s): Organizational change.
Newsletters.
Communication in organizations.
Corporate culture.
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12837
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.