Organizing to counter terrorism: Sensemaking amidst dynamic complexity

Abstract

Organizations increasingly find themselves contending with circumstances that are suffused with dynamic complexity. So how do they make sense of and contend with this? Using a sensemaking approach, our empirical case analysis of the shooting of Mr Jean Charles deMenezes shows how sensemaking is tested under such conditions. Through elaborating the relationship between the concepts of frames and cues, we find that the introduction of a new organizational routine to anticipate action in changing circumstances leads to discrepant sensemaking. This reveals how novel routines do not necessarily replace extant ones but instead, overlay each other and give rise to novel, dissonant identities which in turn can lead to an increase in equivocality rather than a reduction. This has important implications for speed of response to unprecedented circumstances, sensemaking and organizing.2

Resourceful Sensemaking: Overcoming Barriers Between Marketing and Design in NPD

“…Consistent with previous work on sensemaking (Brown, Stacey and Nandhakumar, 2008;Colville, Pye and Carter, 2013) and inter-functional relations within NPD (Carlile, 2002;Dougherty, 1992), an interpretive approach to theory building was adopted. The research was conducted within an overall modified grounded theory research design, whereby research questions and further lines of inquiry were driven by theoretical sampling and constant comparison between the literature, data, and emerging theory (Fisher and Otnes, 2006).…”

“…Although sensemaking focuses on "the process through which people work to understand issues or events that are novel, ambiguous, confusing, or in some way violate expectations" (Maitlis and Christianson, 2014, p.57), little has been done to understand how to manage multiple thought worlds or sensemaking units (teams, groups or functions) in order to achieve temporary alignment (Brown, Stacey and Nandhakumar, 2008;Colville, Pye and Carter, 2013;Seidel, 2007).…”

“…In so doing, our understanding of cooperation between marketing and design within NPD is advanced. This article also responds to calls for sensemaking research on how to overcome barriers to understanding between groups (rather than within groups) involved in problem solving (Brown, Stacey and Nandhakumar, 2008;Colville, Pye and Carter, 2013).…”

Narratives and sensemaking of an organizationally-based environmental disaster

“…The characteristics of the cycle inform that the sensemaking process does not have a well-defined beginning or end and, when interrupted, incites reflection and can even incur a collapse of meaning (Weick, 1993). Disruptions in meaning are clearly disturbing, based on the perception that people become emotionally alert and need a new scenario to return to normality, especially due to new emerging complexities (Colville, Pye, & Carter, 2013).…”

Making sense of the nursing pipeline crisis : a narrative research study examining nurse leader sensemaking of the nursing crisis as they seek innovative strategies to develop the next generation of nurse leaders

“…During the years 2000 and beyond, contemporary applications of sensemaking theory have taken Weick's (1995) seminal work and empirically applied the social focus of which sensemaking is accomplished (Maitlis, 2005). Research on sensemaking continues to be applied in organizational settings (Anand & Peterson, 2000;Colville, Pye, & Carter, 2013;Luscher & Lewis, 2008) where the theory "seeks to bridge levels of analysis to explore embodied and sociomaterial nature of what had been treated as largely cognitive and discursive practices" (Cunliffe & Coupland, 2012;Stigliani & Ravasi, 2012;Whiteman & Cooper, 2011). The next section provides a summary of Weick's seven characteristics of the theory that is featured in Chapter 2 of his book title Sensemaking in Organizations (1995).…”