Sensemaking in Crisis and Change: Inspiration and Insights From Weick (1988)

Abstract

When Karl Weick's seminal article, 'Enacted Sensemaking in Crisis Situations', was published in 1988, it caused the field to think very differently about how crises unfold in organizations, and how emergent crises might be more quickly curtailed. More than 20 years later, we offer insights inspired by the central ideas in that article. Beginning with an exploration of key sensemaking studies in the crisis and change literatures, we reflect on lessons learned about sensemaking in turbulent conditions since Weick (1988), and argue for two core themes that underlie sensemaking in such contexts: shared meanings and emotion. We examine when and how shared meanings and emotion are more and less likely to enable more helpful, or adaptive, sensemaking, and conclude with some suggestions for future research in the sensemaking field.

Temporal Work in Strategy Making

“…Our analysis of temporal work complements existing research on strategic sensemaking (Balogun and Johnson 2004;Gioia and Chittipeddi 1991;Gioia et al 1994;Kaplan 2008b;Maitlis and Sonenshein 2010;Rouleau 2005) by explaining how and why some strategic accounts work and some fail in practice; and, for those that do work, why some lead to status quo outcomes and others lead to change.…”

“…Yet, the literature in strategic management that has built on sensemaking has focused more on the ways in which individual sensemaking leads to shared cognitions, and in particular, how such views are "given" or justified to others (Balogun and Johnson 2004;Gioia and Chittipeddi 1991;Gioia et al 1994;Kaplan 2008b;Maitlis and Sonenshein 2010;Rouleau 2005). Less attention has been directed to the question of how interpretations of the past, present and future are constructed and linked together in more or less radical ways.…”

“…In studying strategic change, scholars have emphasized the importance of sensemaking as a collective and often conflictual interpretive process for dealing with uncertainties about the business, the market, and the environment that lead to breakdowns in understandings and require cognitive reorientations to move forward (Balogun and Johnson 2004;Gioia and Chittipeddi 1991;Gioia et al 1994;Kaplan 2008b;Maitlis and Sonenshein 2010;Rouleau 2005). These studies suggest that linking across interpretations of the past, present and future make action possible, but have left unexplained how and why some linkages work and some fail in practice, and, for those that do work, why some lead to the status quo and others produce change.…”

The value of communicative skills for developing an energy strategy

“…The Investigation was carried out by a team led by a senior engineer, an internal energy expert, with the aim to contextualise the target and to develop a strategy and action plan for how the organisation should meet the target. In carrying out this task the senior engineer's role resembles the middle manager's role in strategic change processes as described by Maitlis and Sonenshein (2010).…”

“…Top management has long been in focus of change and strategy studies, however, recently research has also highlighted the strategic role that middle managers have in creating and distributing understanding 5 of and acceptance for organisational changes, and discursive abilities are suggested to be critical for the ways managers influence others (e.g. Rouleau and Balogun, 2011;Maitlis and Lawrence, 2007;Maitlis and Sonenshein, 2010 (Maitlis and Sonenshein, 2010, p. 559).…”