Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1-2008
Abstract
Organizations are challenged to adapt to changing conditions on a frequent basis. Leaders of these organizations communicate two critical ideas: clearly defining goals and generating the collective efficacy that those goals can be achieved. This study aims to explore the interrelationships between: (1) how communication develops path-goal clarity and collective efficacy, and (2) how clarity and efficacy interact to lead to the achievement of a performance objective. This paper captures results from a Fortune 100 company undergoing massive transformational change. The findings indicate that collective efficacy has a much stronger relationship to performance than path-goal clarity. For line workers, this study indicates that clarity plays an important mediating role in the development of collective efficacy, but this relationship is absent for managers. This disparity of variable importance between managers and line workers can lead to ineffective communication and eventual failure to change effectively. This paper addresses the relationships that are evident in only one time period. As such, the results of this paper are directional in nature and should be considered incomplete. The study will be continued in a future paper that addresses longitudinal relationships over eight consecutive time periods covering two years of the change effort.
Keywords
organizational behavior
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Coleman, Jonathan, ""We Can Do It!": How Clarity Interacts with Collective Efficacy in Organizational Change" (2008). Student Scholarship. 49.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/49