Organizing Thoughts and Connecting Brains: Material Practices and the Transition from Individual to Group-Level Prospective Sensemaking

Abstract

A growing body of research is drawing attention to the material practices that support verbal exchanges and cognitive processes in collective sensemaking. In this study, building on an ethnographic study of a design consulting firm, we develop a process model that accounts for the interplay between conversational and material practices in the transition from individual to group-level sensemaking, and we begin to unpack how the "materialization" of cognitive work supports the collective construction of new shared understandings. Sensemaking is commonly understood as a process in which individuals or groups attempt to interpret novel and ambiguous situations (Weick, 1995). The process begins when people confront events or tasks they cannot readily interpret using available mental structures (Kiesler & Sproull, 1982). Collective sensemaking occurs as individuals exchange provisional understandings and try to agree on consensual interpretations and a course of action (Weick, Sutcliffe, & Obstfeld, 2005). Scholars generally agree that individual and group-level sensemaking processes are related, in This cirticle is the result of a thoroughly collaborative coauthoring process. We thank all managers and employees at Continuum, and in particular Gianfranco Zaccai, president and chief design officer. We gratefully acknowledge the continuous and encouraging support and insightful feedback of Kimberly D. Elsbach. We gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments of Daved Berry,

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