A Method for Systematic Communications Management in Technology-Driven Change Projects

Successful changes in strategy, organisations, and processes require alteration in the thought and behaviour patterns of employees and management. Despite this realisation, many change projects fail due to a lack of acceptance on the part of the affected stakeholders, which the authors believe can be attributed to insufficient communication and a lack of understanding for the proposed changes by the management. The method presented here was developed in cooperation with a well accepted polytechnic university and eight corporate partners, within the context of a public funded research program. The method object's is to systematise the target group-oriented communication of change, and thus to accelerate the change of mindsets. The method is a process-oriented approach, which is intended as an aid to those project leaders and communication managers responsible for change projects to avoid inefficiency in implementation and ensure that the affected parties understand the changes. The method is currently in development and thus represents findings of our research in progress