Making sense of sensemaking in organization studies

types: Article© 2014 Annie Pye. Post print version deposited in accordance with SHERPA RoMEO guidelines. The definitive version is available at:http://oss.sagepub.com/content/36/2/265'Sensemaking’ is an extraordinarily influential perspective with a substantial following among management and organization scholars interested in how people appropriate and enact their ‘realities’. 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. The contribution of this paper is fourfold. First, we review briefly what we understand by sensemaking and some key debates which fracture the field. Second, we attend critically to eight papers published previously in Organization Studies which we discuss in terms of five broad themes: (i) how sense is made through discourse; (ii) the politics from which social forms of sensemaking emerge and the power that is inherent in it; (iii) the intertwined and recursive nature of micro-macro sensemaking processes; (iv) the strong ties which bind sensemaking and identities; and (v) the role of sensemaking processes in decision making and change. Third, while not designed to be a review of extant literature, we discuss these themes with reference to other related work, notably that published in this journal. Finally, we raise for consideration a number of potentially generative topics for further empirical and theory-building research

'Datafication': Making sense of (big) data in a complex world

This is a pre-print of an article published in European Journal of Information Systems. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available at the link below. Copyright @ 2013 Operational Research Society Ltd.No abstract available (Editorial

Looking for fraud in digital footprints: sensemaking with chronologies in a large corporate investigation

During extended sensemaking tasks people typically create external representations that integrate information and support their thinking. Understanding the variety, role and use of these is important for understanding sensemaking and how to support it effectively. We report a case-study of a large, document-based fraud investigation undertaken by a law firm. We focus on the construction and use of integrated representations in the form of chronologies. We show how these supported conjecture recording, focussing on time-periods, identifying gaps, identifying connections and reviewing interpretations. We use our findings to highlight limitations of a previous analysis of representations in sensemaking which regards this as schema definition and population. The findings also argue for search tools designed to identify date references in documents, for the support of ad-hoc event selections, and the support of linking between integrating representations and source documents

Using sensemaking as a diagnostic tool in the analysis of qualitative data

Analysis of qualitative data is a process which novice researchers must learn as they progress, and which experienced researchers must negotiate and adapt to suit the study they are undertaking and the data they are collected. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how researchers can use sensemaking to diagnose and explain phenomena in ordinary situations, and how it can be added as an analysis and interpretation tool in their toolkit. This paper describes the use of sensemaking employed as a tool for diagnosis of the processes which take place when a manager encounters perceived declining performance in an older volunteer. It outlines how the What is going on here? reaction to surprise or interruption of her analysis stimulated researcher sensemaking, as patterns detected among anomalous data led to deeper data interpretation, and an important finding relating to the phenomenon under investigation. Evidence is presented which demonstrates the value of employing sensemaking as a diagnostic tool in qualitative analysis and interpretation

Making sense of sensemaking: Conceptualising how child and family social workers process assessment information

This article offers a new conceptualisation of sensemaking in social work assessment. During assessment, social workers are required to make sense of a wide range of information. This may include written reports, behavioural cues, verbal, sensory and emotional data. In this article, the term “sensemaking” is used to refer to the processes through which social workers gather, select and interpret this varied, and often incomplete, information during assessment. Sensemaking is defined as a psychosocial process which precedes and underpins professional judgement and decision-making. While there has been interest in how social workers assess risk to children, the sensemaking process that occurs before a decision is made has received less attention, and sensemaking lacks a clear definition. Drawing on existing research on assessment and theoretical literature from the fields of psychology and organisational studies, this article offers a view of sensemaking through three lenses: sensemaking as intuitive process, sensemaking as social storytelling and sensemaking as an emotionally-informed process. Drawing together key features from these three perspectives, we advance six propositions about sensemaking in child and family assessment: (1) sensemaking is a process of formulation; (2) sensemaking involves movement between conscious and non-conscious processes; (3) sensemaking can be developed through experience and learning through reflection; (4) sensemaking is inseparable from the environment in which it takes place (5) sensemaking is a dialogic process; (6) sensemaking is an emotionally-informed as well as cognitive process. The article concludes with the implications of this conceptualisation of sensemaking for assessment in child and family social work

Sensemaking, Entrepreneurship and Agricultural Value-Added Businesses

Agricultural producers have been experiencing significant income pressures, leading to a search for alternative sources of income. One of such is value-added agricultural businesses that allow the farmers to stay on the farm and undertake entrepreneurial ventures to improve their finances. How do farmers make sense of their environment as they consider their options for value-added business ventures? This paper presents a sensemaking model and links it to entrepreneurship decisions, allowing us to explain how producers may make such decisions.Agribusiness,

Sensemaking Processes in Complex Peace Operations : A Means of Adapting to the Dynamism of ‘the Local’

This article examines sensemaking in complex peace operations. The article’s key argument is that adaptation to ‘the local’ and its complexity requires sensemaking, and that sensemaking helps to disrupt conflict dynamism and prevent conflicts. The study’s theoretical underpinnings are linked to the concept of sensemaking and its further development. The findings are based on eleven in-depth interviews with commanders who have concrete command experience in peace operations. The research findings describe four processes – sensegiving, sensebreaking, sensedrawing and sensekeeping – that are part of the sensemaking entity. Each process entails practices in which sense is embedded, negotiated and regenerated to be shared, in order to work with change, adapt to local necessities and sustain peace. Theoretically, the article contributes to the existing understanding of complex, ongoing and longstanding crises in general and adaptive and proactive sensemaking, in which ‘the local’ is emphasized, in particular

Do African managers think differently about strategy? Some preliminary insights into the strategic behaviour of firms in Mauritius

Africa is fertile for business yet it hardly attracts the attention of strategy academics. International cross-cultural management and strategy literatures have long acknowledged the significant influence of cultural, political and institutional contexts on the strategy processes and behaviours of firms and markets, but there is limited empirical evidence to understand how these contextual differences impact on the way strategy is formulated and implemented, and test the relevance and applicability of received Anglo-Saxon or Western wisdom on strategy in those contexts. This paper addresses this issue partly. This research focuses on businesses Sub-Saharan Africa, and more particularly looks at the strategic behaviour of firms and managers in Mauritius. This paper aims to explore the perceptions and meanings of strategy amongst senior managers in Mauritius. Theoretically, the paper draws insights from the resource based theory and the behavioural theory of management to examine the varying perceptions and meanings of the strategy process – the process of analysing, choosing and implementing strategy - in firms in Mauritius. Using a case based methodology; in-depth interviews were carried out with ten senior managers of different size organisations. The findings reveal varied evidences of mixed approaches to formulating and implementing strategy within those organisations