Humorous anecdotes and personified dramatization: how managers and the media discursively legitimize organizational change

Purpose When introducing new ideas, a critical issue for top managers is to establish and maintain the legitimacy of the change they bring about. In this study, we explore how top managers can discursively legitimize organizational change by establishing a change narrative in interviews and media appearances. We also investigate the role of the media as an influential actor in and of itself in this legitimation process and compare and contrast its legitimation strategies with those of the top managers. Design/methodology/approach We undertook a case study of the adoption of the “agile” management fashion in the largest financial organization in Finland. We conducted seven interviews with its top management and collected over one hundred media texts of the organizational change, of which we selected the 36 most relevant for critical discourse analysis. Findings We found that the top management legitimized the adoption of agile and the accompanying organizational change through humorous anecdotes and an overarching narrative that presented “the new organization” and its agile culture as superior to “the old organization” and its hierarchical culture. We also found that the media dramatized and personified the change as “the old CEO vs. the new CEO,” which complemented – and at times, complicated – the top management’s strategies of legitimation. Originality/value We extend the framework of discursive legitimation strategies and contribute by uncovering how managers and the media can discursively legitimize organizational change and by examining their interaction. We also contribute by presenting the media as an influential discursive actor in its own right within the legitimizing process, not merely as a broadcaster of managerial discourse. Our study underscores the importance of coherent communication from top management and the potential impact of media narratives on the success of organizational change initiatives.