Sense and sensibility: How CEOs construct meaning through symbols in organizational change

This paper investigates the rational and emotional functions of symbols in organizational change and how collective sensemaking and acceptance of organizational changes are facilitated by the emotional functioning of executive symbolism. Evidence from archived data, news reports, reviews, and case studies are used to support our theoretical analysis. Our opinion is that the CEO can incorporate symbols into not only the rational calculation process to convey the benefits and losses of organizational changes but also the emotional identification process to create new emotional connections and reduce the resistance of the members to organizational changes. We describe why and when the implementation of symbolism will gain the acceptance of members toward organizational change and explain the scenarios that apply for the two functions.

[1]  Q. Huy,et al.  Regulating Top Managers’ Emotions During Strategy Making: Nokia’s Socially Distributed Approach Enabling Radical Change from Mobile Phones to Networks in 2007-2013 , 2020 .

[2]  S. Thatcher,et al.  Toward A Temporal Theory of Faultlines and Subgroup Entrenchment , 2020, Journal of Management Studies.

[3]  W. Gartner,et al.  Context, time, and change: Historical approaches to entrepreneurship research , 2020 .

[4]  Mark R. Mallon,et al.  Beyond tokenism: How strategic leaders influence more meaningful gender diversity on boards of directors , 2019, Strategic Management Journal.

[5]  D. Rousseau,et al.  The Challenges of March and Simon's Organizations: Introduction to the Special Issue , 2019, Journal of Management Studies.

[6]  Gerardo Patriotta Imagination, Self‐Knowledge, and Poise: Jim March's Lessons for Leadership , 2019, Journal of Management Studies.

[7]  Gerardo Patriotta,et al.  The Context of Entrepreneurship , 2019, Journal of Management Studies.

[8]  Corinne A. Coen,et al.  Capitalizing on Categories of Social Construction: A Review and Integration of Organizational Research on Symbolic Management Strategies , 2019, Academy of Management Annals.

[9]  David Courpasson,et al.  Collective ethics of resistance: The organization of survival in the Warsaw Ghetto , 2019, Organization.

[10]  Shaul Oreg,et al.  Leaders’ Impact on Organizational Change: Bridging Theoretical and Methodological Chasms , 2019, Academy of Management Annals.

[11]  A. Rafferty,et al.  Cognitive beliefs and positive emotions about change: Relationships with employee change readiness and change-supportive behaviors , 2018, Human Relations.

[12]  Daniel D. Prior,et al.  Sensemaking, sensegiving and absorptive capacity in complex procurements , 2018, Journal of Business Research.

[13]  Sabina Siebert,et al.  “Devils May Sit Here:” The Role of Enchantment in Institutional Maintenance , 2017 .

[14]  R. David,et al.  The Evolution of Issue Interpretation within Organizational Fields: Actor Positions, Framing Trajectories, and Field Settlement , 2017 .

[15]  N. Foss,et al.  The more the merrier?: Women in top-management teams and entrepreneurship in established firms , 2017 .

[16]  D. Hambrick,et al.  The Role of Executive Symbolism In Advancing New Strategic Themes in Organizations: A Social Influence Perspective , 2017 .

[17]  Maria L. Weese,et al.  Compositional Models and Organizational Research , 2017 .

[18]  Shaul Oreg,et al.  An affect-based model of recipients' responses to organizational change events , 2016 .

[19]  P. Almeida,et al.  The direction of firm innovation: The contrasting roles of strategic alliances and individual scientific collaborations , 2015 .

[20]  Kevin G. Corley,et al.  FROM SUPPORT TO MUTINY: SHIFTING LEGITIMACY JUDGMENTS AND EMOTIONAL REACTIONS IMPACTING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RADICAL CHANGE , 2014 .

[21]  A. Campbell,et al.  Female competition and aggression: interdisciplinary perspectives , 2013, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[22]  Mike W. Peng,et al.  Social network contingency, symbolic management, and boundary stretching , 2013 .

[23]  Lakshmi Ramarajan,et al.  Shattering the Myth of Separate Worlds: Negotiating Nonwork Identities at Work , 2013 .

[24]  A. Armenakis,et al.  Change Readiness , 2013 .

[25]  Stewart Clegg,et al.  Resisters at Work: Generating Productive Resistance in the Workplace , 2012, Organ. Sci..

[26]  Paul E. Tesluk,et al.  THE ROLE OF AFFECT AND LEADERSHIP DURING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE , 2012 .

[27]  N. Foss,et al.  Managing Joint Production Motivation: The Role of Goal Framing and Governance Mechanisms , 2011 .

[28]  Shaul Oreg,et al.  Change Recipients’ Reactions to Organizational Change , 2011 .

[29]  J. Cornelissen,et al.  Imagining and Rationalizing Opportunities: Inductive Reasoning and the Creation and Justification of New Ventures , 2010 .

[30]  Anne-Claire Pache,et al.  When Worlds Collide: The Internal Dynamics of Organizational Responses to Conflicting Institutional Demands , 2010 .

[31]  Gary A. Ballinger,et al.  The use of an interim CEO during succession episodes and firm performance , 2010 .

[32]  Andrew N. Garman,et al.  RESISTANCE TO ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE: LINKING RESEARCH AND PRACTICE , 2010 .

[33]  Michael Jensen,et al.  Staging Exchange Partner Choices: When Do Status and Reputation Matter? , 2008 .

[34]  C. Oswick,et al.  Metaphor in Organizational Research: Context, Modalities and Implications for Research — Introduction , 2008 .

[35]  Sally Davenport,et al.  Circuits of Power in Practice: Strategic Ambiguity as Delegation of Authority , 2005 .

[36]  Linda Rouleau,et al.  Micro-Practices of Strategic Sensemaking and Sensegiving: How Middle Managers Interpret and Sell Change Every Day , 2005 .

[37]  Anat Rafaeli,et al.  Emotion as a Connection of Physical Artifacts and Organizations , 2004, Organ. Sci..

[38]  Melissa E. Graebner Momentum and serendipity: how acquired leaders create value in the integration of technology firms , 2004 .

[39]  Y. Carlisle,et al.  Re-Applying Beliefs: An Analysis of Change in the Oil Industry , 2004 .

[40]  L. Ugolini Ready-to-wear or Made-to-measure? Consumer Choice in the British Menswear Trade, 1900–1939 , 2003 .

[41]  Gillian C. Hopkinson,et al.  Influence in marketing channels: a sense-making investigation , 2001 .

[42]  Gregory R. Berry Telling Stories , 2001 .

[43]  Pierre-yves Gomez,et al.  Conventions: An Interpretation of Deep Structure in Organizations , 2000 .

[44]  Steven S. Taylor Making sense of revolutionary change: differences in members’ stories , 1999 .

[45]  Quy Nguyen Huy,et al.  Emotional Capability, Emotional Intelligence, and Radical Change , 1999 .

[46]  M. Reed,et al.  In Praise of Duality and Dualism: Rethinking Agency and Structure in Organizational Analysis , 1997 .

[47]  R. Hill,et al.  Metaphors and Mental Models: Sensemaking and Sensegiving in Innovative and Entrepreneurial Activities , 1995 .

[48]  K. Weick The Collapse of Sensemaking in Organizations: The Mann Gulch Disaster , 1993 .

[49]  B. Golden The past is the past--or is it? The use of retrospective accounts as indicators of past strategy. , 1992, Academy of Management journal. Academy of Management.

[50]  Dennis A. Gioia,et al.  Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation , 1991 .

[51]  Blake E. Ashforth,et al.  The Double-Edge of Organizational Legitimation , 1990 .

[52]  B. Burris Technocratic Organization and Control , 1989 .

[53]  P. Berg Symbolic management of human resources , 1986 .

[54]  J. Prescott Environments as Moderators of the Relationship Between Strategy and Performance , 1986 .

[55]  Warner P. Woodworth Organizational Consultants, Conspirators, and Colonizers , 1981 .