Legitimation and group conversational practices: implications for managing change

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.