Leaders’ Sensemaking in Communicating Organizational Change

Abstract

Organizational change management is highly dependent on leaders. However, more research is needed on how leaders react and interact with employees throughout organizational change, especially in the public sector. Current research commonly employs generalized beliefs, such as leadership behaviors, which frequently contradict each other, to explain leadership communication during the organizational transition. Therefore, this study aims to explore how leadership communication was conducted in organizational transformation. This research used qualitative, interpretive, and case study approaches to examine how two public organizations prepared for and integrated into a brand-new government agency. The sensemaking viewpoint was utilized to investigate leadership communication in managing organizational change. Twenty-seven participants from various organizational levels were interviewed to obtain a holistic picture of leadership communication. This article contributes to our understanding of leadership communication by illustrating how leaders integrate bracketed information from various relevant sources, select statements, and reconstruct change mindsets through communication to navigate the management change discourse within an organization. Additionally, communication by leaders implies the existence of environmental data intended for use in the development of growth-promoting policies. This study has a dichotomy between change-orientated communication and resistance to change leadership communication. This polarization suggests that a shift in the policy's professional emphasis on growth, eliminating existing tension, and constructing new institutions will be necessary. Communication among leaders is based on different organizational-level methods to gather and interpret information, which considers the organization's structure and work culture.