An Introduction to Strategic Communication

The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2329488414560469Strategic communication is an emerging area of study in the communication and management social sciences. Recent academic conversations around this topic have appeared in publications such as the International Journal of Strategic Communication, which was established in 2007, and The Routledge Handbook of Strategic Communication, which will be published this year. Likewise, the discursive turn in the management literature has also begun to focus on organizational strategy (Balogun, Jacobs, Jarzabkowski, Mantere, & Vaara, 2014)

Gaining middle managers' support for strategic change: literature review

Middle managers play a central role in the success or failure of strategic change. Senior leaders often refer to those who are reticent to support change as the “frozen middle.” This report reviews the extant literature on middle managers’ resistance to change. The literature describes middle managers as the central gatekeepers and boundary spanners in the organization. They are ultimately the sensemakers in the organization, taking information from senior leaders and interpreting it for others. Likewise, they receive an abundance of information from subordinates, peers, and outsiders and interpret that information for their superiors. When middle managers resist change, there are often compelling reasons for that reticence. These reasons often stem from a number of issues including poor communication from senior leadership, lack of clear goals, inadequate leadership development for implementing a change effort, fear of the unknown, lack of involvement in the early stages of the change, lack of authority or autonomy to execute the change, and lack of clear role expectations with respect to the change. Organizations that excel at middle managers’ support for strategic change have processes in place to develop both senior leaders and middle managers to aid them in creating a system for rapid change implementation.CDR Chris Servello, US Navy, CDR Nate ChristiansonApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Organizational Disruptions and Triggers for Divergent Sensemaking

The article of record as published can be found at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/232948814560281In recent years, scholars and practitioners alike have sought to better understand the emergent communicative processes involved in the implementation of strategic organizational initiatives. In response, this article builds on sensemaking and sensegiving theory to understand the interactions that developed between internal and external stakeholders in response to a post-9/11 change in the Maritime Transportation Security Act. A detailed, emergent account of a failed initiative was derived from public comments in the Federal Register, transcripts from public meetings, newspaper articles, and semistructured interviews with key internal informants. In-depth analysis of these data allowed us to examine a divergent sensemaking process and identify four critical triggers that led to a communication breakdown: (a) unidirectional and parsimonious communication, (b) multifaceted understandings of organizational identities, (c) misaligned cues, and (d) an emergence of interorganizational sensemaking. A first-order analysis presents data from an in-depth case analysis, and a second-order analysis uses the analysis to develop a divergent sensemaking conceptual model. From a strategic communication perspective, our findings demonstrate the importance of taking a broad perspective of the legitimate participants in a sensemaking process, as well as reconciling sensemaking trajectories to avoid contradictions between perspectives. We offer implications for theory, future research, and practice

Social Media Use by US Navy Junior Sailors and Officers

Naval Research Program PosterNaval Research ProgramN1 Chief of Naval Personnel POC: CDR Christopher ServelloT15-133