Strategies Leaders Should Use to Respond to Hostile Questions Regarding Organizational Changes

The purpose of this research was to develop a tool, using Speech Act Theory, which will help leaders better handle hostile questions they face during organizational change. Specifically, speech act theory, which outlines five question-response strategies, was used to test the effectiveness of question responses to hostile questions encountered during organizational change. The first step in this research was to identify the types of hostile questions that are asked during organizational change. Next, these questions were reviewed and like questions were grouped into one of five preexisting categories. Responses based on the five response strategies were then developed for a representative sample of the questions (two from each category). The final step in this research involved pairing each of the responses against one another for a given question, which enabled the selection of the most favorable response strategy. This research tells the leader what type of hostile questions to expect. The research also provides general rules or guidance about the content of the responses that can be used to respond to these hostile questions. The research effort determined change targets' (i.e., membership of an organization) preferences in reference to desired responses to hostile questions. This information can be used by leaders as a guide as they initiate and implement change.