Society & Culture - Posted by Sherylon Carroll-Texas A&M on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 12:05 - 4 Comments 
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(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...Words matter, so watch what you say
When management uses inclusive language to tell employees about an organizational change, a smooth transition is more likely, according to a new study. (Credit: iStockphoto)
TEXAS A&M (US) — How we experience change is largely dependent on the words used and how they are communicated to us, according to a new study.
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The text of this article by Futurity is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License.
Employees are often left feeling frustrated during times of change because supervisors are unable to communicate properly, says Kevin Barge, professor of communication at Texas A&M University.
When people are conscious of the effect words can have on others, a smooth transition is more likely. “It gets us thinking about the kinds of relationships we want to build with people and what kind of identity we want to create.”
The study appears in the journal Human Relations.
Barge uses the example of a chair of a nonprofit organization who issues an edict to his employees not to discuss the recent termination of the director.
Although the communication is clear, it creates problems in the organization because it casts employees as being untrustworthy and in an inferior position to management.
“Most approaches to organizational change emphasize the importance of providing employees clear and accurate information regarding the change,” Barge says. “The messages also have identity and relational implications that must be given attention.”
Barge suggests using language that creates a collaborative, cooperative work environment emphasizing all members of the organization are in the situation together, that no one is inferior, and that everyone can be trusted.
“How we communicate matters. It’s more than getting your point across clearly. It’s much more about what kinds of identities and relationships you invite or create when you talk,” he says.
More news from Texas A&M University: http://tamunews.tamu.edu
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4 Comments
EZ Time
I agree completely. I worked in change management in New Zealand and it is crucial to take people with you. I’d also add that within cm communication, it’s important to honour the work that people are doing now in the present. So many managers trash, via language, what their staff have been doing in favour of the new way. Change, in my experience, goes more smoothly if it is described as building on what has gone before. It’s why the UK gov. is going to have problems with their NHS reforms.
Bruce W. Fowler, Ph.D.
In my experience, semantics is secondary or tertiary in effect. The primary distinction is whether the change is internal or external. If the former it is usually viewed as good; if the latter, as bad. If I decided to change my toothpaste, the change is good. If the manufacturer changes the toothpaste I use, that change is bad.
Joan Savage
Employers who express “language that creates a collaborative, cooperative work environment” have to walk the walk to convince their employees. Employees can become skeptical towards the employer who is trying to manipulate employees with what amounts to propaganda. It is good for a bitter laugh on a coffee break to detect an inconsistency in a boss’s presentation, and inconsistency that gives away his or her true intentions.
True but very few “soft spoken” people get promoted to higher level of management.