Legitimation and group conversational practices: implications for managing change
Leadership & Organization Development Journal
ISSN: 0143-7739
Article publication date: 4 September 2007
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to show that the knowledge that many change efforts fail to deliver meaningful results is by no means new, but understanding why this is the case remains an important issue for those involved in the management of change. In this paper, the authors question the current emphasis of popularly held explanations of implementation failure by proposing an alternative perspective that draws on social constructionist theory. The authors argue that failure to recognize the legitimizing role and function of conversation has a significant contribution to implementation failure.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws upon observations and information collected as part of a two‐year longitudinal study conducted in an organization and two of its sales offices operating in the Asia Pacific Rim to support and illustrate the conceptual development of the theory presented.
Findings
Change efforts will be negatively affected when new perceptions are not assimilated into the daily language and conversational practices used in the various groups and sub‐groups that make up an organization. The authors present a model to demonstrate how various types of conversation within an organizational setting legitimize perceptions of reality, and how business leaders and change agents can work with this model in order to improve the likelihood of a successful implementation.
Research limitations/implications
Guided by the work of Berger and Luckmann, the authors demonstrate how four levels of legitimization, upon which social constructions of reality proceed, have a significant contribution to play in determining the outcome of a change initiative.
Originality/value
This paper provides a framework that will assist business leaders and change agents to assess how their organization's conversational legitimization processes may work for or against a proposed change, and what conversational practices will need to be altered to positively influence the outcome.
Keywords
Citation
O'Neill, A. and Jabri, M. (2007), "Legitimation and group conversational practices: implications for managing change", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 28 No. 6, pp. 571-588. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730710780994
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited