Communication in a Power Vaccuum: Sense-Making and Enactment During Crisis-Induced Departures
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1-1995
Department
Mass Communication and Journalism
School
Communication
Abstract
Unanticipated departures of CEOs place demands upon interim leaders. From the literature a model is derived that illustrates problems of sense-making, enactment, communication, and organizational learning faced by these leaders and their internal and external stakeholders. A case, which focuses on the sudden resignation of the president of American University for making obscence phone calls to an area day-care worker, is used to illustrate the model. Comparisons are made in the corporate world with executive transitions at Kodak and American Express. Alternatives are suggested for improvements in communication and interim leadership when traumatic executive departures place severe and unfamiliar pressures on governance structures. (C) 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Publication Title
Human Resource Management
Volume
34
Issue
1
First Page
27
Last Page
49
Recommended Citation
Theus, K. T.
(1995). Communication in a Power Vaccuum: Sense-Making and Enactment During Crisis-Induced Departures. Human Resource Management, 34(1), 27-49.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/5795