With the development of the global economy in the late 1980s and 1990s, organizations have been forced to continually reevaluate operations and strategies. As a result, the one constant in this dynamic world is the ever-changing work environment. The human resource and organizational development fields have long looked to investigate what makes change efforts successful. Researchers and practitioners have both found employee readiness to be a critical factor in successful change efforts. This article provides a theoretical foundation for one of the most complete models of organizational readiness. Specifically, the Armenakis, Harris, & Feild five-message component model of organizational readiness is presented with a theoretical foundation for the importance of each of the five specified components. A case study is provided to display the need to communicate each of the message components. Implications and conclusions draw attention to the importance of taking proactive steps in creating readiness. (Contains 2 tables.)