Sensemaking in organisations — towards a conceptual framework for understanding strategic change

When an organisation is facing dramatic change, shared and individual meanings are challenged and exposed to reconstruction. Thus, if we are to understand organisational change it is necessary to understand the meanings that prevail among the organisational members, as well as the processes whereby...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScandinavian journal of management Vol. 17; no. 1; pp. 109 - 131
Main Author Ericson, Thomas
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2001
Elsevier
SeriesScandinavian Journal of Management
Subjects
Sensegiving
Sensegiving Sensemaking Strategic change
Sensemaking
Strategic change
Sensemaking
Sensegiving
Strategic change
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Summary:When an organisation is facing dramatic change, shared and individual meanings are challenged and exposed to reconstruction. Thus, if we are to understand organisational change it is necessary to understand the meanings that prevail among the organisational members, as well as the processes whereby these meanings change and coincide. This paper develops a sensemaking perspective in order to generate a conceptual framework for increasing our understanding of strategic change in organisations. Four ideal types of meaning constitute the core of this framework. With the help of these ideal types, various meaning statuses that may be present within an organisation are described. In order to grasp the transformations from one ideal type of meaning to another, four processes of transformation are identified. A strategic change process in a university hospital is analysed. In this change process different ideal types of meaning are identified. A process of a transformation from one ideal type to another, driven by strong and powerful symbolic processes, is also identified.
ISSN:0956-5221
1873-3387
DOI:10.1016/S0956-5221(00)00035-X