The reluctant rhetorician: senior managers as rhetoricians in a strategic change context

In English This paper explores strategic change communication, framed by the idea that managers can be viewed as rhetoricians. The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss senior managers’ subjective experiences of rhetorical aspects of change management.

The paper draws on a case study from ABB Sweden (a power
and automation technology company). In-depth interviews with senior managers, with vast experience of change management, constitute the empirical source.

The most important finding is the managers’ overall reluctance towards rhetoric. According to the managers in this study, a rhetorician is an over-enthusiastic person who “waves his arms when speaking”. To master the art of rhetoric is not believed to be of particular importance when managing strategic change.

This paper contributes to change management communication insofar as it
gives voice to the individual manager. This voice indicates; in a time when rhetoric, storytelling, and charismatic leadership are making ground; that the understanding of rhetoric is much more limited than the general impression might suggest.