The Role of Indigenous Languages in successful Change Management: The Igbo Language Example

Abstract

Life is all about change. Accomplishing anything great in life requires significant change that pushes one beyond comfort zones. In an era of uncertainty, the capability to change is now the difference between surviving and thriving. Organisations and people that do not embrace change are bound to lose ground and stagnate. Change management is an organisational process aimed at helping employees to understand, commit to, accept and embrace changes in their current business environment. Change is important in organisations to allow employees to learn new skills, explore new opportunities and exercise their creativity in ways that ultimately benefit the organisation through new ideas and increased commitment. Change is often resisted by organisational members. Resistance to change is normal and inevitable and management must be ready to respond to it. The primary reason for resistance is that change requires employees to alter their existing individual and organisational identities. It is not easy to change attitudes and relationships; they are deeply rooted in organisations and people. Hence, this paper investigates the role of indigenous language in successful change management; it also explores the impact of the use of indigenous language on subordinates. The paper presented and interpreted one creation story. The result shows that Igbo creation stories embedded in Igbo folklore is a veritable instrument for successful change management. The study advocates the use of stories embedded in Igbo language for effective change.