Sensemaking Theory

Kristi Andrews
Beth Bare
Garry Featherstone
 Agenda

• Kristi:
– History/overview of Sensemaking
– Major tenets of the theory
• Beth:
– Overall Relation to Human Communication
– Examples of Sensemaking Theory
• Garry:
– Critique of the theory
– Suggestions for possible future direction
– Discussion Activity
– “Question to ponder” & article
• ALL: Q&A
 History/Overview

• Introduced in 1971 by Dr.

Karl Weick
• Sensemaking postulates
making people’s ideas and
points of view the focus of
organizing and managing.
– “Specifically, I would suggest
that the effective organization
is garrulous, hypocritical,
monstrous, octopoid,
wondering, and grouchy”
(Weick, 1971)
 Major Tenets

1. Grounded in Identity
Construction
2. Retrospective
3. Enactive of Sensible
Environments
4. Social
5. Ongoing
6. Focused on and by Extracted
Cues
7. Driven by Plausibility Rather
 1. Grounded in Identity Construction

• Begins with a Sensemaker

• Situation Meaning
– Identity Dependence
– Ongoing Puzzle
• Derives from Need for a Sense
of Identity
• Simultaneously Shape and
React
• Self-Referential
 2. Retrospective

• Most Distinguishing Characteristic

of SM
• Schutz and “Meaningful Lived
Experience”
• Perceived World is a Past World
• Hindsight
– Schutz, “We are conscious always of what we
have done, never of doing it.”
• T.M.I.
• Example
 3. Enactive of Sensible Environments
• People Produce Part of the
Environment they Face
– Example:Laws
• People Create Environments,
Environments Constrained Actions
• No Detached, External Environment
• Follett
• Action and Thought Cycle
• Ring and Van de Ven (1989)
 4. Social

• Conduct Contingent on Others

– Allport
• Never Solitary
• Symbolic Interactionism
• Talk, Discourse, and Conversation
 5. Ongoing

• Sensemaking Never Stops

• Continuous Flows
• Interruptions and Emotional
Responses
 6. Focused on and by Extracted Cues
• Curse of Effortless Sensemaking
– Products of Process
– Need to watch Cues
• Extracted Cue Example
• Extracted Cues Depend on Context
• Cues Tie Elements Together
 7. Driven by Plausibility Rather Than
Accuracy

• Accuracy is Nice but not

Necessary
• Strength of Sensemaking
• Why Accuracy is Secondary
– Need to Filter
– Embellishment
– Speed
– Impossibility
• What is Necessary?
 Recap

1. Grounded in Identity
Construction
2. Retrospective
3. Enactive of Sensible
Environments
4. Social
5. Ongoing
6. Focused on and by Extracted
Cues
7. Driven by Plausibility Rather
 Crisis Discussion

1. How did Kristi’s identity to

or/within the situation enable her
to “make sense” of the situation?
2. Were Kristi’s
reactions/sensemaking
retrospective?
3. What did Kristi do to affect/create
her environment?
4. What affect did the social aspect
of the class have?
Overall Relation to Human Communication

• What came first? - Sensemaking or

communication?
• Organizations evolve as they make
sense of themselves and their
environment
• Communication is key because of its
role in the sense-making processes
people use.
• Thru story telling (a.k.a. Narrative),
we “make sense” of events.
 Practical Examples of Sensemaking

• Organizational communication
directly affects employees’ ability
to sensemake
• For example…..
Sensemaking/Sensegiving Example

• What’s the
sensemaking and
sensegiving
activity you see in
the this brief clip?
Sensemaking/Sensegiving Example

• Lumbergh “tries” to
provide a new vision
or mental model of the
business (“Is this good
for the company?”) –
sensemaking
• “Tries” to
communicate to others
to gain their support –
sensegiving.
sensegiving
 Practical Example of Sensemaking
• Making sense of the
price of gas:
– How does who I am
affect what I think
about the price of
gas?
– Price of gas makes
$2.55 $2.75 me mad! (extracted
cue)
– Decision to purchase
gas is an affect of
the environment and
Sensemaking Model
 Practical Application of Weick’s Model

• Environment change: HP and Compaq

merge.
• Enactment: how to merge two different
and large companies?
– People
– Systems
– Locations
• Selection: “Keep the best and reinvent
the rest”
• Retention: Deciding who to retain, who
to let go, what not to duplicate
 Critique of the Theory
• Theory seems to be reliant on people’s feelings
and motivations (very subjective).
• Driven by plausibility rather than accuracy
• * During a crisis, sensemaking appears to be
ineffective
• According to Weick, one part of an organization
shouldn’t consider itself more important than
another – how realistic is this?
• Is this theory really more of just a “would be
nice…” considering the reality of companies like
Enron, MCI and the like?
• Developed over 33 years ago – is it still
applicable in today’s cut throat business world?
• Is this just a U.S. centric theory?
• Does the size of an organization affect the use of
Sensemaking and Crisis Situations

• Weick’s 1991 study

of fire fighters
• Sensemaking and
working in a high-
reliability in an
organization
• Study found
“shocks” in ongoing
events constitute
moments for
sensemaking
Suggestions for Possible Future Direction

• Interesting to truly test the theory

in a company/organization just
forming.
• Litmus test the theory in a major
organization/corporation (e.g., IBM,
Motorola, etc.) to see how it plays
out.
• Before and after study of
sensemaking
• * Sensemaking and it’s role in
“Over the past decade, the business market has seen extraordinary
advances in data mining, information visualization, and many other tools
for ‘sensemaking,’ a broad-brush term that covers all the ways people
bring meaning to the huge volumes of data (equivocality) that flood the
modern world.”
“Can Sensemaking Keep Us Safe?” – Technology Review, March 2003.
 Discussion Activity

• How can
sensemaking be
applied to 9/11?
 Article & Question to Ponder

• Article: “Enacted Sensemaking in

Crisis Situations” (Weick, 1998.)
• Question to ponder: How does your
organization use sensemaking?
Thanks for your time and interest
tonight!
Any additional questions?