Using business intelligence to support the process of organizational sensemaking.

Morteza’s thesis investigated the opportunities in using BI technologies to make sense of a business environment. The results of his research highlighted the need for creating and maintaining an identity for Business Intelligence at both individual and organizational level and enacting this identity on the business and its environment

Sensemaking Practices in the Everyday Work of AI/ML Software Engineering

This paper considers sensemaking as it relates to everyday software engineering (SE) work practices and draws on a multi-year ethnographic study of SE projects at a large, global technology company building digital services infused with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities. Our findings highlight the breadth of sensemaking practices in AI/ML projects, noting developers' efforts to make sense of AI/ML environments (e.g., algorithms/methods and libraries), of AI/ML model ecosystems (e.g., pre-trained models and "upstream"models), and of business-AI relations (e.g., how the AI/ML service relates to the domain context and business problem at hand). This paper builds on recent scholarship drawing attention to the integral role of sensemaking in everyday SE practices by empirically investigating how and in what ways AI/ML projects present software teams with emergent sensemaking requirements and opportunities

What is Strategic Competence and Does it Matter? Exposition of the Concept and a Research Agenda

Drawing on a range of theoretical and empirical insights from strategic management and the cognitive and organizational sciences, we argue that strategic competence constitutes the ability of organizations and the individuals who operate within them to work within their cognitive limitations in such a way that they are able to maintain an appropriate level of responsiveness to the contingencies confronting them. Using the language of the resource based view of the firm, we argue that this meta-level competence represents a confluence of individual and organizational characteristics, suitably configured to enable the detection of those weak signals indicative of the need for change and to act accordingly, thereby minimising the dangers of cognitive bias and cognitive inertia. In an era of unprecedented informational burdens and instability, we argue that this competence is central to the longer-term survival and well being of the organization. We conclude with a consideration of the major scientific challenges that lie ahead, if the ideas contained within this paper are to be validated

Meaning Management: A Framework for Leadership Ontology

Leadership is a multifaceted and complex subject of research and demands a sound ontological stance that guides studies for the development of more integrative leadership theories. In this paper, I propose the leadership ontology PVA (perception formation – value creation – achievement realization) and associate it with the two existing leadership ontologies: TRIPOD (leader – member – shared goals) and DAC (direction – alignment – commitment). The leadership ontology PVA, based on a new theory called “meaning management,” consists of three circularly supporting functions: cognitive function to form perception, creative function to generate value, and communicative function to realize higher levels of achievement. The PVA is an epistemology-laden ontology since the meaning management theory allows one to make propositions that explicitly link its three functions with the leadership outcomes: perception, value, and achievement. Moreover, the PVA leadership ontology transcends and includes both the conventional TRIPOD ontology and the DAC ontology

BI-based Organizations: A Sensemaking Perspective

Business intelligence (BI) offers opportunities for managers to master vast data resources for operational and strategic gains, and allows BI-based organizations to generate significant business value. While several researchers emphasized the importance of BI to assist making quality decisions, no study explored the use of BI for improved understanding of business before such decisions are made and assessing the impact of the actions derived from these decisions. To fill this gap we use the theory of organizational sensemaking. The presented research uses hermeneutic phenomenology to study the experiences of decision-makers in using BI-generated insights to guide their actions while altering business processes, structures and information. The study emphasizes the necessity of using BI in the creation and maintenance of individual and organizational identity, as well as, enactment of this identity on the business and its environment, which need to be moulded in response to changing circumstances

Listening to Luddites: Innovation Antibodies and Corporate Success

Protracted innovation is an essential activity of every organization in the modern global marketplace and is fueled by a continuous stream of fresh ideas. Contemporary business literature decries the innovation antibody, employees who intentionally thwart the acquisition and dissemination of crucial new ideas. The business press posits but one uniform type of innovation antibody often unwittingly encouraged by corporate actions, and should be quickly and effectively neutralized. This paper asserts that, like biological antibodies in the human body, the work of innovation antibodies in the corporate body can be either positive or negative. It is true that recalcitrant negative innovation antibodies determined to slow or eliminate innovation must be excised from the organization. Positive innovation antibodies are important to organizational sensemaking and innovation activities, and should not be suppressed or overcome. A revised innovation sequencing model is put forth to guide the activities of positive innovation antibodies, as are specific actions recommended for organizations to encourage the appropriate growth and use of positive innovation antibodies to effect corporate innovation success.innovation; innovation antibodies; sensemaking; strategy; sustainability; values.

SENSEMAKING IN AI-BASED DIGITAL INNOVATIONS: INSIGHTS FROM A MANUFACTURING CASE STUDY

Organizations strive to innovate with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to tap new value potentials and outperform their competition. However, despite the enormous expectations associated with AI, incorporating the latter induces novel uncertainties and can even result in business value destruction. Therefore, organizations innovating with AI must manage these AI-induced uncertainties in their sensemaking process. Drawing on an exploratory case study, we investigate organizational sensemaking in two AI-based digital innovation projects at a globally leading automotive manufacturer. We account for the properties by which AI differs from traditional information systems and carve out how distinct AI properties unfold in AI-based digital innovations. We deduce four AI sensemaking mechanisms (i.e., cognition, interaction, regulation, and concretization) to understand better how AI challenges digital innovation endeavors in organizations