Citation

Toelken K. American Communication Journal 2012; 14(2): 58-79.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Researchers have documented the hidden wounds of war and the psychological and emotional injuries that have harmed military members. This study examines organizational planned change to address the growing number of wounded warrior suicides. The purpose of this study is to examine a case study of one Southern State's National Guard (SSNG, a pseudonym) and its Resiliency Team Task Force (RTTF) as they grapple to implement organizational change. This study employs organizational discourse analysis to explore how individuals and coalitions form discursive identities to respond to the challenges that change represents. This study also explores the way discursive and structural contexts enable and constrain the RTTF and change messages as they respond to changes in the group membership. This study highlights the importance of viewing messaging as a process of information transfer as well as discursive constructions that have important implications for the way change agents approach issues of sensemaking during a change process.

Language: en

Keywords

Suicide prevention; Resiliency; Ante-narrative; Discursive positioning; Organizational discourse; Planned change