Telling 'em How It Will Be: Previewing Pain of Risky Change in Initial Announcements

Abstract

Implementers need to decide the degree to which to preview the challenges and possible downsides of a change process. Scant research has explored the announcement of planned change—especially regarding the previewing of potential painful or stressful effects of the process. This study uses a pen-and-paper experimental method with a sample of 218 working adults to examine the extent to which acknowledging potentially negative aspects of change in announcements heightens perceptions of honesty and trustworthiness of implementers. Also, we sought to explore the effects of these negative previews on initial favorability toward changes and on stakeholders’ subsequent communication targets and purposes for communication. We found that previews of possible negatives did not increase initial favorability or judgments of credibility of implementers. We found high-risk change creates a challenging context. Future research needs to consider whether refutational messages are necessary for high-risk change announcements.

Guiding employees through the COVID‐19 pandemic: An exploration of the impact of transparent communication and change appraisals

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“…The next phase of the innovation process, implementation, requires effective communication (Adams, Bessant, & Phelps, 2006). Communication is utilized when implementers announce, persuade, explain, and support new practices, share information with stakeholders, and manage the procedures (Lewis, 2014; Lewis, Laster, & Kulkarni, 2013). Damanpour (1991) found from a meta-analysis that internal communication has a positive relationship with organizational innovation, and argued that internal communication helps organizations to disperse diverse information.…”

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“…The purpose of the meetings ranged from getting familiar with one another, to learning the specific goals for the program, to determining how the program would be announced and implemented. Lewis, Laster, and Kulkarni (2013) saw these latter two steps as essential to the development of cultural alignment.…”

“…A series of meetings was held with the top management team prior to the creation of a proposed pilot program. The purpose of the meetings ranged from getting familiar with one another, to learning the specific goals for the program, to determining how the program would be announced and implemented Lewis, Laster, and Kulkarni (2013)…”