Department of management and organizations, ross school. Resilience, sensemaking and internal crisis communication. This important collection provides a valuable addition to the international literature on organization theory and will be welcomed by students and. However, it remains relatively unknown compared to more established information systems concepts like technology acceptance and resistance. There are quite a few theories of sensemaking, with roots in fields including information science, hci and social organizational psychology. Emotion is a critical but relatively unexplored dimension of sensemaking in organizations. Sensemaking is a process that applies to both individuals and groups who are faced with new information that is inconsistent with their prior beliefs. Weick, 1995, which, put simply, is how people think sensemaking. Since the 1980s, the management and organizations literature has grown substantially, turning over the years toward cognitive, discursive, and phenomenological perspectives. Is the sensemaking organization completing tasks effectively and efficiently. Karl edward weick born october 31, 1936 is an american organizational theorist who introduced the concepts of loose coupling, mindfulness, and sensemaking into organizational studies. Expertly written, sensemaking in organizations is the volume that students, scholars, and professors of organization. Sensemaking, knowledge creation, and decision making organizational knowing as emergent strategy chun wei choo this chapter introduces the perspective of strategy as the outcome of organizational sensemaking, knowledge creating, and decision making.
We identified a replacement pattern of schema development in which middle managers moved from shared through clustered sensemaking, to shared but differentiated sensemaking. Organization studies has been and remains one of the principal outlets for work that seeks either to draw on or to extend our understanding of sensemaking practices in and around organizations. To address this problem, we explore the role that felt emotion plays in three stages of individual sensemaking in organizations. The seemingly transient nature of sensemaking belies its central role in. Pdf on mar 1, 1997, barbara czarniawska and others published sensemaking in organizations. Reprinted from the collapse of sensemaking in organizations. Sensemaking is a popular and useful organizational behaviour concept that is gaining visibility in the field of information systems. The paradox of sensemaking in organizational analysis the collective dimension of cognition and sensemaking has attracted a great deal of attention in managerial and organizational cognition research since 1980, leading to numerous theoretical, methodological and empirical works on its characteristics, how it has emerged and. Pdf sensemaking, knowledge creation, and decision making. Sensemaking in organizations consists of a preface and eight chapters that set out the origins, principles, and applications of weicks sensemaking concepts.
These forms result from the degree to which leaders and stakeholders engage in sensegivingattempts to influence others understandings of an issue. Sensemaking, knowledge creation, and decision making organizational knowing as emergent strategy chun wei choo this chapter introduces the perspective of strategy as the outcome of organizational sensemaking, knowledge creating, and decision. Our findings provide evidence that different change processes lead to. Although sensemaking in organization studies is associated primarily with the.
This perspective calls attention to how members of organizations reach understandings of their environment through verbal and embodied behaviors, how these understandings both enable and constrain their subsequent behavior. Each of the four forms of organizational sensemaking is associated. Sensemaking in organizations download ebook pdf, epub. Its worth reading just for the preface, which is delightfully welcoming for a volume of organizational theory. Some of the topics weick thoroughly covers are the concept, uniqueness, historical roots, varieties and occasions, general properties, and the future of sensemaking research and practice. Weicks new landmark volume, sensemaking in organizations, highlights how the sensemaking processthe creation of reality as an ongoing. Pdf sensemaking is the process through which people work to understand issues or events that are novel, ambiguous, confusing, or in some other way. The analysis is then embedded in the organizational literature to show that we need to reexamine our thinking about. This volume brings together the bestknown and most influential articles on sensemaking in organizations by one of its most distinguished exponents, karl weick. Organizing and the process of sensemaking article pdf available in organization science 164.
This chapter introduces sensemaking as a key leadership capability for the complex and dynamic world we live in today. She refers to it as an elegant, subtle, and richly descriptive body of thinking about human perception, cognition. More broadly, sensemaking offers a unique perspective on organizations. And 2 how is this sensemaking influenced and facilitated by the management groups in the organization. Sensemaking in organisations towards a conceptual framework for understanding strategic change thomas ericson jonkokping international business school, kyrkogatan 15, p. Organizing and the process of sensemaking organization. Whilethisprocesshasbeenstudiedbyotherdisciplinesunderothernamesforcenturies.
Weick the teaching of organization theory and the conduct of organizational research have been dominated by a focus on decisionmaking and the concept of strategic rationality. This introduction to the first volume of perspectives on process organization studies first explores the relationship between process and sensemaking, offering a brief genealogy of process thinking in order to locate sensemaking as it is conceived in organization studies. Will team members perform sensemaking work when assigned and in a timely fashion. It suggest four distinctions which have unfolded over the centuries and through which we can understand sensemaking as an. The process is seen as the creation of reality as an ongoing accomplishment that takes form when people make retrospective sense of the situations in which they find themselves. Through collaborative intervention and reflection, we sought to help managers make. Weick in the 1970s and has affected both theory and practice. At the heart of this continued growth and its many turns is the matter of. Sensemaking is the process through which people work to understand issues or events that are novel, ambiguous, confusing, or in some other way violate.
An organizational learning and sensemaking approach to organizational crisis. It illustrates how rigidity, leader dependence, and erratic behavior get in the way of effective sensemaking, and how one might teach sensemaking as a core leadership capability. Sensemaking, a term introduced by karl weick, refers to how we structure the unknown so as to be able to act in it. These forms result from the degree to which leaders and stakeholders engage in sensegivingattempts to.
Sensemaking or sensemaking is the process by which people give meaning to their collective experiences. The note attached to the side of the monitor, the papers spread out on. Weicks new landmark volume, sensemaking in organizations, highlights how the sensemaking processthe creation of reality as an ongoing accomplishment that takes form when people make retrospective sense of the situations in which they find themselvesshapes organizational structure and behavior. Organizational sensemaking oxford research encyclopedia. However, the rational model ignores the inherent complexity and ambiguity of realworld organizations and their environments. Large, highresolution displays for sensemaking christopher andrews alex endert chris north the center for human computer interaction, department of computer science, virginia tech abstract space supports human cognitive abilities in a myriad of ways. Whilethisprocesshasbeenstudiedbyotherdisciplinesunderothernamesforcenturies, theterm sensemakinghasprimarilymarkedthreedistinctbutrelatedresearchareassincethe1970s. Whats the best design framework for sensemaking organization now that, in a post industrialage if the topdown, command and control model is no longer relevant.
In this landmark volume, karl e weick highlights how the sensemaking process shapes organizational. The first three sections examine the processes by which an organization constructs meaning, cre. Sensemaking in organizations sage publications inc. Sensemaking describes the negotiation and creation of meaning, or understanding, or the construction of a coherent account of the world. Master of arts communication studies, december 2007, 90 pp. The concept was introduced to organizational studies by karl e. Firstly, that organizational members make sense in. Sensemaking sensemaking is the process by which people give meaningtoexperience. Helps readers develop a thorough understanding of the sensemaking process essential for effective management. Organization studies 2015 and is available for download at. The paradox of sensemaking in organizational analysis. The teaching of organization theory and the conduct of organizational research have been dominated by a focus on decisionmaking and the concept of strategic rationality.
In organization studies, the concept of sensemaking was. Although largely absent from mainstream journals, action research offers exceptional access to and support of organizational sensemaking. This study explores how metaphors deployed in university mission statements demonstrate the sensemaking process of organizational reality. A longitudinal study of the social processes of organizational sensemaking suggests that they unfold in four distinct forms. And if equivocal events disrupt these patterns of interlocking group behaviors, then organization can only be restored through sensemaking. The social processes of organizational sensemaking. Sensemaking is an enormously influential perspectivei some would argue concept, approach, lens or theory in organization studies, associated strongly with research that is interpretive, social constructionist, processual and phenomenological. The answer is that sensemaking and organization constitute one another. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Brings together the best most influential articles written by one of the gurus of sensemaking karl weick. Click download or read online button to get sensemaking in organizations book now.
Sensemaking, knowledge creation, and decision making. Sensemaking involves turning circumstances into a situation that is comprehended explicitly in words and that serves as a springboard into action. Organizing and the process of sensemaking pubsonline informs. This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. Making sense of sensemaking in organization studies. A speech act theory study of metaphors in organizational mission statements. The ways in which people do that are demonstrated in chapters of this book. He is the rensis likert distinguished university professor at the ross school of business at. The effective organization is one that understands this process of sensemaking and learns to manage it with wisdom. This longitudinal, qualitative study examined sensemaking during an imposed shift from hierarchical to decentralized organization. If organization is a pattern of interlocking group behaviors, then sensemaking is the pattern formation process weick, 1979. To enhance and propel greater use of sensemaking in information systems, this. Existing models of sensemaking tend to ignore the role of emotion or portray it as an impediment. In this paper we take the position that the concept of sensemaking fills important gaps in organizational theory.
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