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Book part
Publication date: 27 October 2014

Alain Guiette and Koen Vandenbempt

This paper seeks to develop a mid-range theory of how change recipient sensemaking processes affect the realization of strategic flexibility during simultaneous change in…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to develop a mid-range theory of how change recipient sensemaking processes affect the realization of strategic flexibility during simultaneous change in professional service firms.

Methodology/approach

The research presented is based on an exploratory embedded case study adopting a qualitative interpretive methodology, conducted at a professional service organization. A sensemaking lens was adopted in order to study organizational change processes. Data was collected through semi-structured open-ended in-depth interviews, and analyzed using first and second order analysis, inspired by the methodology used by Corley and Gioia (2004).

Findings

We identified four determinants of change recipient sensemaking: professional identification, dominant organizational discourse, equivocality of expectations, and cross-understanding between thought worlds. Case findings indicate that cognitive and affective dimensions of change recipient sensemaking are strongly interwoven in their effect on realizing strategic flexibility.

Research implications

We contribute to the competence-based strategic management literature by introducing the concept of change recipient sensemaking in understanding the realization of strategic flexibility; by identifying four major determinants in a context of simultaneous change in a professional service organization; and by highlighting the interwoven and mutually reinforcing cognitive and affective dimensions of professional’s process of constructing meaning.

Details

A Focused Issue on Building New Competences in Dynamic Environments
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-274-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 December 2019

Adriana van Hilten

The purpose of this paper is to introduce Bourdieu’s social theory, and its “thinking tools” of habitus, doxa, field and capital, as a sensemaking theory.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce Bourdieu’s social theory, and its “thinking tools” of habitus, doxa, field and capital, as a sensemaking theory.

Design/methodology/approach

The emic research studied, for a particular group, the firm-wide implementation of a new system. The study used data occurring naturally in the organization (executive newsletters), and externally (third-party surveys), as well as 23 participant interviews to structure the social space (field) and determine what is of interest (identity). Interviews were coded for habitus, doxa, field, capital, symbolic violence and strategies to re-assert interviewees’ own doxa versus logic imposed by the powerful.

Findings

A unique, esteemed identity was being erased through executive attempts to introduce a new culture at the firm, and the new systems represented a challenge to this valued identity. Participants used strategies to re-assert their identity through not participating in the logic of the new tool: discussing misuse, lack of use, relative unimportance and low priority of the new tool.

Practical implications

Change that threatens an esteemed, valued identity is more likely to be resisted. The logic of an established practice or system (beyond merely gathering user requirements) is beneficial in understanding potential reactions to a new system. Change in systems that occur simultaneously with the imposition of a new culture, particularly where the system is seen as being a representation of that imposed culture, may be resisted through non-practice (misuse or lack of use) of the new system.

Originality/value

The paper demonstrates the applicability of Bourdieu’s social theory to organizational studies, providing a sensemaking of change and acts of resistance.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 34 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 August 2018

Ling Jiang, Kristijan Mirkovski, Jeffrey D. Wall, Christian Wagner and Paul Benjamin Lowry

Drawing on sensemaking and emotion regulation research, the purpose of this paper is to reconceptualize core contributor withdrawal (CCW) in the context of online peer-production…

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on sensemaking and emotion regulation research, the purpose of this paper is to reconceptualize core contributor withdrawal (CCW) in the context of online peer-production communities (OPPCs). To explain the underlying mechanisms that make core contributors withdraw from these communities, the authors propose a process theory of contributor withdrawal called the core contributor withdrawal theory (CCWT).

Design/methodology/approach

To support CCWT, a typology of unmet expectations of online communities is presented, which uncovers the cognitive and emotional processing involved. To illustrate the efficacy of CCWT, a case study of the English version of Wikipedia is provided as a representative OPPC.

Findings

CCWT identifies sensemaking and emotion regulation concerning contributors’ unmet expectations as causes of CCW from OPPCs, which first lead to declined expectations, burnout and psychological withdrawal and thereby to behavioral withdrawal.

Research limitations/implications

CCWT clearly identifies how and why important participation transitions, such as from core contributor to less active contributor or non-contributor, take place. By adopting process theories, CCWT provides a nuanced explanation of the cognitive and affective events that take place before core contributors withdraw from OPPCs.

Practical implications

CCWT highlights the challenge of online communities shifting from recruiting new contributors to preventing loss of existing contributors in the maturity stage. Additionally, by identifying the underlying cognitive and affective processes that core contributors experience in response to unexpected events, communities can develop safeguards to prevent or correct cognitions and emotions that lead to withdrawal.

Originality/value

CCWT provides a theoretical framework that accounts for the negative cognitions and affects that lead to core contributors’ withdrawal from online communities. It furthers the understanding of what motivates contributing to and what leads to withdrawal from OPPC.

Article
Publication date: 4 January 2021

Newton Melo, Débora Dourado and Jackeline Andrade

This paper aims to present a model of how cognitive and behavioral crafting practices relate, reconciling the two dominant and conflicting job crafting theoretical perspectives.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present a model of how cognitive and behavioral crafting practices relate, reconciling the two dominant and conflicting job crafting theoretical perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach

Starting by examining the role of cognition and cognitive practices in job crafting, this paper reconstitutes the theorizing path that led to the exclusion of cognitive crafting from job crafting theory, explores existing theorizing efforts to (re)integrate cognitive crafting back into job crafting and proposes a new job crafting model (re)integrating behavioral and cognitive practices.

Findings

By conceiving cognitive crafting practices as a sensemaking layer that spans across and reciprocates with all behavioral crafting practices, the proposed model specifies the role of behavior and cognition (and the mutual relations between them) in job crafting, while resuming its meaning-making orientation.

Originality/value

This paper offers novel insights on underspecified aspects of the job crafting theory, improving its heuristic value. It clarifies how meaning is assembled and enacted by people in work environments, allowing for more integrated and comprehensive explanations about how people relate to work.

Details

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 29 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1934-8835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 November 2018

Eeva Aromaa, Päivi Eriksson, Jean Helms Mills, Esa Hiltunen, Maarit Lammassaari and Albert J. Mills

The purpose of this paper is to analyze current literature on critical sensemaking (CSM) to assess its significance and potential for understanding the role of agency in…

1050

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze current literature on critical sensemaking (CSM) to assess its significance and potential for understanding the role of agency in management and organizational studies.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis involves an examination of a selection of 51 applied studies that cite, draw on and contribute to CSM, to assess the challenges and potential of utilizing CSM.

Findings

The paper reveals the range of organizational issues that this work has been grappling with; the unique insights that CSM has revealed in the study of management and organizations; and some of the challenges and promises of CSM for studying agency in context. This sets up discussion of organizational issues and insights provided by CSM to reveal its potential in dealing with issues of agency in organizations. The sheer scope of CSM studies indicates that it has relevance for a range of management researchers, including those interested in behavior at work, theories of organization, leadership and crisis management, diversity management, emotion, ethics and justice, and many more.

Research limitations/implications

The main focus is restricted to providing a working knowledge of CSM rather than other approaches to agency.

Practical implications

The paper outlines the challenges and potential for applying the CSM theory.

Social implications

The paper reveals the range of problem-solving issues that CSM studies have been applied to.

Originality/value

This is the first major review of the challenges and potential of applying CSM; concluding with a discussion of its strengths and limitations and providing a summary of insights for future work.

Details

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5648

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 April 2021

Morteza Namvar, Ali Intezari and Ghiyoung Im

Business analytics (BA) has been a breakthrough technological development in recent years. Although scholars have suggested several solutions in using these technologies to…

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Abstract

Purpose

Business analytics (BA) has been a breakthrough technological development in recent years. Although scholars have suggested several solutions in using these technologies to facilitate decision-making, there are as of yet limited studies on how analysts, in practice, improve decision makers' understanding of business environments. This study uses sensemaking theory and proposes a model of how data analysts generate analytical outcomes to improve decision makers' understanding of the business environment.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employs an interpretive field study with thematic analysis. The authors conducted 32 interviews with data analysts and consultants in Australia and New Zealand. The authors then applied thematic analysis to the collected data.

Findings

The thematic analysis discovered four main sensegiving activities, including data integration, trustworthiness analysis, appropriateness analysis and alternative selection. The proposed model demonstrates how these activities support the properties of sensemaking and result in improved decision-making.

Research limitations/implications

This study provides strong empirical evidence for the theory development and practice of sensemaking. It brings together two distinct fields – sensemaking and business analytics – and demonstrates how the approaches advocated by these two fields could improve analytics applications. The findings also propose theoretical implications for information system development (ISD).

Practical implications

This study demonstrates how data analysts could use analytical tools and social mechanisms to improve decision makers' understanding of the business environment.

Originality/value

This study is the first known empirical study to conceptualize the theory of sensemaking in the context of BA and propose a model for analytical sensegiving in organizations.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 34 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 4 October 2012

Marc A. Flitter, Kelly Rouse Riesenmy and Daved van Stralen

Purpose – To offer a theoretical explanation for observed physician resistance and rejection of high reliability patient safety initiatives.Design/methodology/approach – A…

Abstract

Purpose – To offer a theoretical explanation for observed physician resistance and rejection of high reliability patient safety initiatives.

Design/methodology/approach – A grounded theoretical qualitative approach, utilizing the organizational theory of sensemaking, provided the foundation for inductive and deductive reasoning employed to analyze medical staff rejection of two successfully performing high reliability programs at separate hospitals.

Findings – Physician behaviors resistant to patient-centric high reliability processes were traced to provider-centric physician sensemaking.

Research limitations/implications – Research, conducted with the advantage that prospective studies have over the limitations of this retrospective investigation, is needed to evaluate the potential for overcoming physician resistance to innovation implementation, employing strategies based upon these findings and sensemaking theory in general.

Practical implications – If hospitals are to emulate high reliability industries that do successfully manage environments of extreme hazard, physicians must be fully integrated into the complex teams required to accomplish this goal.

Social implications – Reforming health care, through high reliability organizing, with its attendant continuous focus on patient-centric processes, offers a distinct alternative to efforts directed primarily at reforming health care insurance. It is by changing how health care is provided that true cost efficiencies can be achieved. Technology and the insights of organizational science present the opportunity of replacing the current emphasis on privileged information with collective tools capable of providing quality and safety in health care.

Originality/value – The fictions that have sustained a provider-centric health care system have been challenged. The benefits of patient-centric care should be obtainable.

Details

Annual Review of Health Care Management: Strategy and Policy Perspectives on Reforming Health Systems
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-191-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 April 2021

Efpraxia D. Zamani, Anastasia Griva, Konstantina Spanaki, Paidi O'Raghallaigh and David Sammon

The study aims to provide insights in the sensemaking process and the use of business analytics (BA) for project selection and prioritisation in start-up settings. A major focus…

Abstract

Purpose

The study aims to provide insights in the sensemaking process and the use of business analytics (BA) for project selection and prioritisation in start-up settings. A major focus is on the various ways start-ups can understand their data through the analytical process of sensemaking.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a comparative case study of two start-ups that use BA in their projects. The authors follow an interpretive approach and draw from the constructivist grounded theory method (GTM) for the purpose of data analysis, whereby the theory of sensemaking functions as the sensitising device that supports the interpretation of the data.

Findings

The key findings lie within the scope of project selection and prioritisation, where the sensemaking process is implicitly influenced by each start-up's strategy and business model. BA helps start-ups notice changes within their internal and external environment and focus their attention on the more critical questions along the lines of their processes, operations and business model. However, BA alone cannot support decision-making around less structured problems such as project selection and prioritisation, where intuitive judgement and personal opinion are still heavily used.

Originality/value

This study extends the research on BA applied in organisations as tools for business development. Specifically, the authors draw on the literature of BA tools in support of project management from multiple perspectives. The perspectives include but are not limited to project assessment and prioritisation. The authors view the decision-making process and the path from insight to value, as a sensemaking process, where data become part of the sensemaking roadmap and BA helps start-ups navigate the decision-making process.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 37 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 25 April 2020

Sebastian Maximilian Dennerlein, Vladimir Tomberg, Tamsin Treasure-Jones, Dieter Theiler, Stefanie Lindstaedt and Tobias Ley

Introducing technology at work presents a special challenge as learning is tightly integrated with workplace practices. Current design-based research (DBR) methods are focused on…

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Abstract

Purpose

Introducing technology at work presents a special challenge as learning is tightly integrated with workplace practices. Current design-based research (DBR) methods are focused on formal learning context and often questioned for a lack of yielding traceable research insights. This paper aims to propose a method that extends DBR by understanding tools as sociocultural artefacts, co-designing affordances and systematically studying their adoption in practice.

Design/methodology/approach

The iterative practice-centred method allows the co-design of cognitive tools in DBR, makes assumptions and design decisions traceable and builds convergent evidence by consistently analysing how affordances are appropriated. This is demonstrated in the context of health-care professionals’ informal learning, and how they make sense of their experiences. The authors report an 18-month DBR case study of using various prototypes and testing the designs with practitioners through various data collection means.

Findings

By considering the cognitive level in the analysis of appropriation, the authors came to an understanding of how professionals cope with pressure in the health-care domain (domain insight); a prototype with concrete design decisions (design insight); and an understanding of how memory and sensemaking processes interact when cognitive tools are used to elaborate representations of informal learning needs (theory insight).

Research limitations/implications

The method is validated in one long-term and in-depth case study. While this was necessary to gain an understanding of stakeholder concerns, build trust and apply methods over several iterations, it also potentially limits this.

Originality/value

Besides generating traceable research insights, the proposed DBR method allows to design technology-enhanced learning support for working domains and practices. The method is applicable in other domains and in formal learning.

Details

Information and Learning Sciences, vol. 121 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-5348

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 April 2023

Chunqing Li, Xiaoli Wang, Jieli Zhang and Chenxi Li

This paper aims to explore the key elements and dynamic formation mechanisms involved in the company identity construction during multicompany identification.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the key elements and dynamic formation mechanisms involved in the company identity construction during multicompany identification.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a longitudinal single case study method, selected a representative company as the study case and analyzed the interactive practice of identity construction between the company and its external stakeholders based on the theory of organizational identity and sensemaking.

Findings

This study finds that the process of company identity construction for external stakeholders involves six elements. Companies mainly use a highly controlled, equality and interaction model to develop identity for a single stakeholder. Company identity is based on the company’s core identity claims and is formed by gradually integrating and cooperating with the identity claims of different stakeholders. Meeting the self-defining needs of stakeholders is a key driving force behind the evolution of company identity.

Practical implications

This study offers practical implications for companies to pursue and construct multicompany identity. For different types of external stakeholders, companies can adopt different identity sensemaking models. To build a new company identity, a company needs to do more on the basis of identity insights to break cognitive constraints and build new identity claim. Companies need to integrate new identity claims with the original identity claims. If different identity claims conflict or are difficult to reconcile, it may damage their original identity claims and companies need to evaluate the trade-offs.

Originality/value

This study expands the concept of company identity construction from the individual perspective to organizational identity and contributes to research in relationship marketing. This study identifies the key elements of company identity construction with multistakeholder participation and contributes to theory building in company identity research. The results of this study reveal the company identity construction mechanism for different external stakeholders and the dynamic formation process of multicompany identity.

Details

Nankai Business Review International, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8749

Keywords

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