Förändringen som kom av sig
En fallstudie av kommunikationens roll i en förändringsprocess
This study takes place within a publicly owned art producing organization and dwells on the problems of a change process that the organization was involved in. Both leaders and staff were disappointed by the way the change process had developed. The management team explained the outcome by referring to the uniqueness of working with artists who constantly put their own personal objectives before the benefit of the whole. The aim of this study is to find a complementary explanation to the one the management team provided us with; an explanation that can help in the understanding of the dynamics of a change process. Can perhaps theories on information, communication and change processes give an alternative explanation to why the change process faltered? To investigate this, we have used a qualitative single case study. The selected theories on information and communication have in common that they stress the importance of the context by implying that to understand communication between human beings you have to understand the context in which the communication process takes place. The theories on change processes handle the content and the different phases within a change process, and what this brings about to the persons involved. We conclude that applying a communication perspective to the change process in this particular organization provides us with an alternative explanation to why the change process faltered. As a consequence of the management team?s transmission view on information and communication, and their way of handling the dynamics of change, the faltering of the change process was unavoidable; irrespective of the organization?s uniqueness or the difficulties of working with artists.