Abstract:
In the new millennium, organisations are going through rapid changes and
the role of strategic management is challenged. When the organisation is threatened by
environmental changes such as crises or competition as a result of information
technology development or increased customer demands, the need for communication
increases. During high change situations, when the publics of the organisation become
involved in the change issues, they actively seek information about the issues. If the
organisation could utilise communication management more effectively and in a twoway,
participative way, they would build more positive relationships with the publics
involved and reorganise themselves out of disorder. Strategic planning will become
even more important, but will have to change to a contingency approach and emphasise
flexibility and relationship building.
This paper looks at organisational processes during change and how they can be
managed by communication. Implications are drawn from chaos, postmodern and
complexity theory as well as the contingency view of communication. The authors create
a framework for scanning and analysing processes and settings, and suggest an
alternative strategic, symmetrical and ethical communication approach to respond to
problems. They present a new paradigm that emerges as a response to polarisation and
treats communication as more receiver-centred, stakeholder-based, relationship building-
oriented and of strategic importance. This paper lays a foundation for an
alternative perspective to the central problems of the communication discipline against
the background of new emerging multidisciplinary approaches.
