Abstract:
Most would agree that managing large scale organisational change is one of the greatest challenges facing
corporations today; indeed successful change management is one of the key competencies in the 21st century.
The literature concerning how organisations manage complex change has grown in recent times in response to
the dynamics of globalisation, increasing competition deregulation and, privatization. How one arrives at
successful long-term, deep, pervasive change, which alters the very core of an organisation and its people, has
been and remains generally elusive to both theoreticians and practitioners.
Communication as a crucial dimension to change management is a solution that has been long ignored both by
organisation and communication scholars, especially in dealing with large scale organisational change
management.
This paper ~eports oIl.Jl.longitmUnal qualitative study of the role of communication in large scale change
management in a' major Australian financial organisation, exploring the effectiveness of communication
during change at both the individual and organisation levels. The organisation failed to pay appropriate
attention to the communication dimensions of change management and consequently the paper suggests
lessons learned from such failure. Furthermore, this paper considers the implications of communication in
theory and practice for management in the 21st century.
