Academic literature on the topic 'Sensemaking in organizations'

Noting how organizations today are increasingly dependent on IT for a broad range of organizational activities, the thesis starts from the observation that many IT-related endeavors nevertheless fail. In tracing part of the problem to the inability of many organizations to cope with changes in the surrounding material and social context, the emphasis is put on the processes by which IT-artifacts are adapted and re-adapted, after they have been put into daily use. Assuming human sensemaking as a good basis for coping with the changes, qualitative data from two organizations — a Swedish social services department and a software firm — provides an empirical context for assessing how sensemaking processes affect IT-adaptation. Conceptually, the thesis draws on Karl Weick's thinking, introducing the "double interact" and the "response repertoire" as sensitizing concepts with which to understand the mechanisms generating adaptation of IT-artifacts. Methodologically, the interpretive case study is employed, using the "hermeneutic circle" as the guiding principle for the research process. The thesis draws some specific implications concerning how IT-adaptation can be understood in organizations. The generic IT-adaptation process can be divided into two elementar}- phases, exploration and exploitation. During the exploration phase, several individual interpretations of a particular IT-artifact co-exist, occasioning ambiguity about its meaning in organizational daily activity. During the exploitation phase, the IT-artifact itself is in the background of matters of attention, providing organizational actors, who pursue individual goals and desires, the opportunity to exploit the shared and taken-for-granted meaning they see in the artifact. While the exploitation phase is important for organizational efficacy, there is nevertheless a risk that the meaning exploited becomes outdated by surrounding socio-material changes over time. Among other proposals, the thesis therefore suggests that triggering sensemaking processes can be important for meaningful IT-adaptation. In addition, it suggests the activity of searching for the interlacing areas of professional identity of actor groups, as a means to make IT-artifacts meaningful in organizing endeavors.<br><p>[8] s., s. 1-64: sammanfattning, s. 65-168: 6 uppsatser</p><br>digitalisering@umu

Thesis (MPhil (Information Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The environment in which all organisations currently operate is undoubtably dynamic. Regardless of the nature, size or geographical location of business, companies are being forced to cope with a rapidly changing world and increasing levels of unpredictability. This thesis tracks the history of software development methodologies leading up to agile development (chapter 2). Agile development has appeared in response to the limitations of traditional development approaches and evolved to address the particular demands of a changing world (chapter 3). The theory of sensemaking is used to gain insight into the functioning of agile development. Sensemaking is introduced and a working definition of this concept is formulated (chapter 4). This research does not argue that agile development is the same as sensemaking, but rather that it can be better understood through sensemaking. Agile development can be seen as a type of sensemaking, but sensemaking is also a generic, universal cognitive ability. The structure and design of agile development is well aligned with sensemaking, and one can understand its nature and the type of management needed to support agile development better from this perspective. In fact, agile development directly supports and facilitates several important elements of the sensemaking process. For successful sensemaking to occur, certain organisational conditions need to be present. The term "managed sensemaking" is introduced to expand this notion. After performing an analysis of agile development (chapter 5), certain pertinent implications and challenges facing organisations are considered (chapter 6). By framing these implications in terms of sensemaking, practical management suggestions can be provided based on a good fit between the problem that agile development is meant to solve and the cognitive requirements of the process leading to a solution. The research conducted in this process opens the door to further research opportunities (chapter 7) and allows for the application of sensemaking in the context of software development methodologies. This study provides insight into the prevalence and functioning of agile methodologies, in software engineering contexts, by leveraging the theory of sensemaking to provide an explanation for the underlying worldview and processes constituting this approach.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die omgewing waarin alle organisasies tans funksioneer in ongetwyfeld dinamies. Maatskappye word genoop om die uitdagings van 'n vinnig-veranderende wêreld die hoof te bied, ongeag die aard, grootte of geografiese ligging van die besigheid. Hierdie tesis volg die geskiedenis van sagteware-ontwikkelingsmetodologiee tot by agile development (hoofstuk 2). Agile development het verskyn as 'n reaksie op die beperkings van tradisionele ontwikkelingsbenaderings en evolueer om aan te pas by huidige uitdagings (hoofstuk 3). Die teorie van sensemaking word gebruik om insig te verkry in die funksionering van agile development. Sensemaking word ingelei en 'n werksdefinisie word geformuleer (hoofstuk 4). Hierdie navorsing argumenteer nie dat agile development dieselfde is as sensemaking nie, maar eerder dat dit beter verstaan kan word deur sensemaking. Agile development kan wel gesien word as 'n tipe sensemaking, maar sensemaking is ook 'n generiese, universele kognitiewe vermoe. Die struktuur en ontwerp van agile development is goed belyn met sensemaking, en 'n mens kan die aard daarvan en tipe bestuur benodig om agile develop- ment te ondersteun beter verstaan vanuit hierdie perspektief. Tewens, agile development ondersteun en fasiliteer verskeie belangrike elemente van die sensemaking proses direk. Vir suksesvolle sensemaking om plaas te vind, word sekere organisatoriese toestande benodig. Die term "managed sensemaking" word ingelei om hierdie idee uit te brei. Na 'n analise van agile development (hoofstuk 5) word sekere dwingende implikasies en uitdagings, wat organisasies in die gesig staar, oorweeg (hoofstuk 6). Deur hierdie implikasies te plaas in sensemaking-terme kan praktiese bestuursvoorstelle aangebied word, gegrond op 'n goeie passing tussen die probleem wat agile development probeer aanspreek en die kognitiewe vereistes van die proses wat lei na 'n oplossing. Die navorsing wat onderneem is in hierdie proses ontsluit moontlikhede vir verdere studies (hoofstuk 7) en skep die moontlikheid vir die toepassing van sensemaking in die konteks van sagtewareontwikkelingsmetodologiee. Hierdie studie bied insig in die voorkoms en funksionering van agile methodologies in sagteware-ingenieurwese omgewings deur die teorie van sensemaking te hefboom om 'n verduideliking vir die onderliggende wereldbeeld en prosesse aan te bied.

Includes bibliographical references<br>Compassion in organizations is researched as a three-stage process of collective noticing another's pain, empathic concern or feeling another's pain and taking action to ease their suffering, and is ascribed to the orchestration of spontaneous individual acts of compassion in accordance with specific organizational architecture. Situations with limited resources leading to resource exhaustion require further studies to address the risks and liabilities of compassion organizing (Dutton, Worline, Frost, & Lilius, 2006). South African human service organizations face resource limitations within a challenged socio-economic environment. Given these limitations, agents may experience personal distress limiting the capacity for compassion. This study examines agent capacities required for compassion capability in South African human service organizations. The research applies the ontological lens of enaction, an interpretive design, and the descriptive phenomenological method in psychology (Giorgi, 2009), adapted for human science in organizations. Data was collected, with semi-structured interviews, as concrete descriptions of experiences, from thirty-three participants, from five organizations. Eleven participants underwent multiple interviews. Intensity sampling was applied to gain understanding of information-rich cases that were intense but not extreme, maximum variation sampling to access primary themes across a range of service providers. Texts, as transcriptions of audio recordings, were analyzed applying the phenomenological reduction to search for invariant organizational behavioural meanings. Texts were read for a sense of the whole; broken down to meaning units; and transformed to phenomenological expressions of meaning. Descriptions of experiences were categorized according to empathic concern or personal distress, like experiences were grouped by organization as units of description. Units of description were compared between the organizations. The key findings were that compassion in organizations characterized by resource limitation requires special attention, particularly when agent and client share common experiences of adversity, initiating experiences of personal distress. The overcoming of personal distress requires agent capacities of individual and participatory sensemaking: identifying reaction, identifying non-verbal cues in self and other; engaging capacities of emoting, intending and urging. Sustainable practice of compassion is characterized by the intention to facilitate new sensemaking of the experience of the suffering, witnessing the suffering as well as the alleviation of suffering.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In the six decades since organisations rst adopted computer machinery to support their operations this form of technology has undergone rapid evolution. This evolution is characterised by both the advancement of the machines themselves and the expansion of their application in the organisational domain through the development of increasingly advanced software. A particularly in uential development for large enterprises has been the introduction of computerised Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERPs) and the popularisation of proprietary ERP packages. By integrating the feature sets of an increasingly wide range of business software applications ERPs enable organisations to satisfy a large part of their information processing requirements by adopting a single software artefact. This approach o ers numerous bene ts to adopters as it ensures the integration of information processing activities across organisational functions. However, the realisation of these bene ts depends upon the organisation's ability to achieve congruence between its own structures and those embedded in proprietary ERP packages. This includes, on one level, the management of the processes of adaptation through which organisational actors become accustomed to a new technology and, on another level, the con guration and alignment of the artefact with the organisation's operating procedures. Despite the popularity of ERP adoption the achievement of congruence in information systems is an illusive ideal for many organisations. Accordingly, many Information Systems (IS) scholars have researched the organisational, technical and social factors which obstruct congruence and the interventions proposed to counter these. A key nding following from these investigations is that, notwithstanding the implementation of countering interventions, organisations often need to continue operations while experiencing some degree of incongruence or mis t in their information systems. The research performed in this study advances knowledge about this phenomenon by investigating the implications of incongruence for the behaviour of users of proprietary ERPs in organisations. Weickean Sensemaking Theory is adopted as conceptual framework to enable the investigation of instances of incongruence as events experienced by users in the context of their work environments. The theory dictates that users, rather than passively adopting the impositions of software artefacts, en- act information systems in unpredictable ways based on subjective and shared processes of sensemaking. An empirical investigation is performed and takes the form of a single, cross-sectional case study in which a variety of data collection techniques are utilised. The data sources are analysed and triangulated to trace the relationship between experiences of incongruence and patterns of information systems enactment among the user community. The ndings of the study reveal that experiences of incongruence cultivate knowledge sharing among a user community, a process which aligns their beliefs about the nature, role and use of a technology in an organisation. Furthermore, experiences of incongruence encourage users to augment designed technologies through the development informal information processing activities and alternative work ows. These forms of behaviour, while resolving users' experiences incongruence, lead to variance between the designed technology and the enacted technology creating various risks for the integrity of the organisation's business processes.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In die ses dekades sedert organisasies rekenaar masjinerie begin toepas het om hul bedrywighede te ondersteun, het hierdie vorm van tegnologie dramatiese ontwikkeling ondergaan. Hierdie ontwikkeling word gekenmerk deur beide die bevordering van die masjiene self, asook die uitbreiding van hul toepassings in die organisatoriese domein deur die ontwikkeling van meer gevorderde sagteware. 'n Besonder invloedryke ontwikkeling vir groot ondernemings was die bekendstelling van gerekenariseerde Enterprise Resource Plan- ning Systems (ERPs) en die popularisering van kommersiële ERP pakkette. Deur die integrasie van 'n toenemend wye verskeidenheid funksionaliteit stel ERPs organisasies in staat om 'n groot deel van hul inligting verwerking vereistes deur die aanneming van 'n enkele sagteware produk te dek - 'n benadering wat talle voordele bied aangesien dit die integrasie van inligting verwerking tussen organisatoriese funksies verseker. Die verwesenliking van hierdie voordele is egter afhanklik van die organisasie se vermoë om kongruensie tussen sy eie strukture en die van ERP pakkette te bewerkstelling. Dit sluit die bestuur van prosesse waartydens organisatoriese akteurs aanpas by 'n nuwe tegnologie in, asook die kon gurasie van die pakket om belyning met die organisasie se operasionele prosedures te verseker. Ten spyte van die gewildheid van ERPs is die bereiking van kongruensie in inligtingstelsels 'n ontwykende ideaal vir baie organisasies. Gevolglik word die organisatoriese, tegniese en sosiale faktore wat kongruensie belemmer gereeld deur Information Systems (IS) akademici ondersoek. 'n Prominenete bevinding wat uit hierdie navorsing voortspruit is dat organisasies dikwels hul werk moet voortsit ten spyte van inkongruensie in hul inligtingstelsels. In hierdie studie word die bovermelde fenomeen verder ondersoek deur die implikasies van inkongruensie vir die gedrag van gebruikers van kommersiële ERP pakkette te ondersoek. Weick se Sensemaking teorie word toegepas as konseptuele raamwerk om gevalle van inkongruensie as gebeure wat deur gebruikers ervaar word te ondersoek. Die teorie bepaal dat die gebruikers nie bloot rekenaarstelsels aanvaar nie, maar dit op onvoorspelbare maniere enact op grond van subjektiewe en gedeelde prosesse van singewing. 'n Gevallestudie word uitgevoer waarin 'n verskeidenheid data-insamelingstegnieke gebruik word. Die databronne word ontleed en kruisvalidasie word gedoen om die verhouding tussen ervarings van inkongruensie en patrone van gedrag binne inligtingstelsels te beskryf. Die bevindinge van die studie dui daarop dat ervarings van inkongruensie die deel van kennis binne 'n gebruikersgemeenskap tot gevolg het. Hierdie proses belyn gebruikers se verwysingsraamwerke oor die aard, rol en gebruik van 'n tegnologie in 'n organisasie. Verder word bevind dat gebruikers, agv ervarings van inkongruensie, 'n tegnologie uitbrei dmv die ontwikkeling van informele inligting verwerkingstegnieke en alternatiewe werksprosesse. Hierdie gedrag stel gebruikers in staat om inkongruensie te oorkom, maar lei tot variansie tussen die ontwerpte tegnologie en die toepassing daarvan binne die organisasie. Dit hou verskeie risiko's vir die integriteit van die organisasie se besigheidsprosesse in.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis considers the contribution that Karl Weick’s notion of sensemaking can make to an improved understanding of weak signals, cues, warning analysis, and software within early warning systems. Weick’s sensemaking provides a framework through which the above mentioned concepts are discussed and analysed. The concepts of weak signals, early warning systems, and Visual Analytics are investigated from within current business and formal intelligence viewpoints. Intelligence failure has been a characteristic of events such as 9/11, the recent financial crisis triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and the so-called Arab Spring. Popular methodologies such as early warning analysis, weak signal analysis and environmental scanning employed within both the business and government sphere failed to provide adequate early warning in many of these events. These failures warrant renewed attention as to what improvements can be made and how new technology can enhance early warning analysis. Chapter One is introductory and states the research question, methodology, and delimits the thesis. Chapter Two sets the scene by investigating current conceptions of the main constructs. Chapter Three explores Weick’s theory of sensemaking, and provides the analytical framework against which these concepts are then analysed in Chapter Four. The emphasis is directed towards the extent of integration of frames within the analysis phase of early warning systems and how frames may be incorporated within the theoretical foundation of Visual Analytics to enhance warning systems. The findings of this thesis suggest that Weick’s conceptualisation of sensemaking provide conceptual clarity to weak signal analysis in that Weick’s “seed” metaphor, representing the embellishment and elaboration of cues, epitomizes the progressive nature of weak signals. The importance of Weick’s notion of belief driven sensemaking, in specific the role of expectation in the elaboration of frames, and discussed and confirmed by various researchers in different study areas, is a core feature underlined in this thesis. The centrality of the act of noticing and the effect that framing and re-framing has thereon is highlighted as a primary notion in the process of not only making sense of warning signals but identifying them in the first place. This ties in to the valuable contribution Weick’s sensemaking makes to understanding the effect that a specification has on identifying transients and signals in the resulting visualization in Visual Analytic software.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek hoe Karl Weick se konsep van singewing ons insig teenoor swak seine, tekens, waarskuwingsanalise en sagteware binne vroeë waarskuwingstelsels verbeter. Weick se bydrae verskaf ‘n raamwerk waarbinne hierdie konsepte geanaliseer en ondersoek kan word. Die konsep van swak seine, vroeë-waarskuwing en visuele analise word binne huidige besigheidsuitgangspunte, en die formele intelligensie arena ondersoek. Die mislukking van intelligensie is kenmerkend van gebeure soos 9/11, die onlangse finansiёle krisis wat deur die ondergang van Lehman Brothers ingelei is, en die sogenaamde “Arab Spring”. Hierdie gebeure het ‘n wêreldwye opskudding op ekonomiese en politiese vlak veroorsaak. Moderne metodologieё soos vroeë waarskuwingsanalise, swaksein-analise en omgewingsaanskouing binne regerings- en besigheidsverband het duidelik in hul doelstelling misluk om voortydig te waarsku oor hierdie gebeurtenisse. Dit is juis hierdie mislukkings wat dit noodsaaklik maak om meer aandag te skenk aan hierdie konsepte, asook nuwe tegnologie wat dit kan verbeter. Hoofstuk Een is inleidend en stel die navorsingsvraagstuk, doelwitte en afbakkening. Hoofstuk Twee lê die fondasie van die tesis deur ‘n ondersoek van die hoof konsepte. Hoofstuk Drie verskaf die teoretiese raamwerk, die van Weick se singewingsteorie, waarteen die hoof konsepte in Hoofstuk Twee ondersoek word in Hoofstuk Vier. Klem word gelê op die diepte van integrasie en die toepassing van raamwerke in die analisefase van vroeё waarskuwingstelsels en hoe dit binne die teoretiese beginsels van visuele analise geïnkorporeer word. Die bevindinge van hierdie tesis spreek die feit aan dat Weick se konsepsualisering van singewing konseptuele helderheid rakende die begrip “swakseine” verskaf. In hierdie verband verteenwoordig Weick se “saad”- metafoor die samewerking en uitbouing van seine en “padpredikante” wat die progressiewe aard van swakseine weerspieёl. Die kernbeskouing van hierdie tesis is die belangrikheid van Weick se geloofsgedrewesingewing, veral die uitkoms van die bou van raamwerke asook die bespreking hiervan deur verskeie navorsers. Die belangrikheid van die aksie om seine op te merk, en die effek wat dit op die herbeskouing van raamwerke het, asook die raaksien daarvan in die eerste plek word beklemtoon. Laasgenoemde dui ook aan tot watter mate Weick se singewingsteorie ‘n bydrae maak tot visuele analise veral in ons begrip van die gevolg wat data of inligtingspesifikasie het op die identifisering van seine en onsinnighede in visualisering binne visuele analise-sagteware.

La thèse intitulée dans sa version originale ‘Strengthening weak organizations’ a pour équivalent ‘La force du faible : Une perspective organisationnelle’ en français. Elle a pour objet d’élucider comment une organisation faible et vulnérable peut se transformer en une organisation forte et pérenne. En intégrant l’environnement interne à l’environnement externe, la question telle qu’elle est formulée n’a jamais été traitée à ce jour dans la littérature en management. Cette recherche vise à explorer ce vide selon différentes perspectives afin de renforcer la robustesse et la pertinence des résultats proposés. L’étude se compose précisément de quatre parties dont la particularité est de répondre à la même question via trois designs de recherche. La partie #1 analyse le sujet de recherche selon une posture d’extériorité. La partie #2 et la partie #3 l’étudient selon une posture d’intériorité. La partie #4 combine les deux postures antérieures par l’intermédiaire d’une métatriangulation. L’ensemble de la thèse gravite autour du terme underdog qui signifie sommairement, dans le cas présent, une organisation faible et vulnérable. Il est essentiel de noter que chaque partie est distincte des autres au niveau du rendu final mais qu’aucune partie n’aurait pu voir le jour en l’état sans l’apport des autres<br>This thesis entitled ‘Strengthening weak organizations’ translates to ‘La force du faible: Une perspective organisationnelle’ in French. It is intended to elucidate how a weak and vulnerable organization can transform into a strong and secure organization. By integrating the internal environment with the external environment, the question as formulated has never been investigated in the management literature before. This research aims to explore this void from different perspectives in order to beef up the robustness and relevance of the proposed findings. Specifically, the study consists of four parts whose distinctiveness lies in the examination of the same question using three research designs. Part #1 analyzes the topic from an outside perspective. Part #2 and Part #3 study the topic from an inside perspective. Part #4 combines the two previous stances by using metatriangulation. The whole thesis revolves around the term underdog which summarily equates herein to a weak and vulnerable organization. It is essential to note that each part is written as a standalone paper, but no part would have been possible without the contribution of the others