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Understanding Sense-Making
Abstract
The relevance of decision-making theory in improving understanding has been called into question especially when attempting to understand organisational environments faced with organisational change (Craig-Lees, 2001; Mintzberg, Waters, Pettigrew, & Butler, 1990; Reed, 1991). For example, Mintzberg et al. (1990) commented that, in understanding organisational change, the relevance of decision-making theory takes on the appearance of the continued playing of the orchestra on the Titanic as it sank. In fact, Weick (1993) commented that there have been a number of responses to this problem of the over-reliance on decision-making theory in organisational studies, for example, there has been a shift toward examining naturalistic decisionmaking with more attention to situational assessment and sense-making (Weick, 1993). Weick (1993, p. 635) commented that one way to shift the focus from decision making to meaning is to look more closely at sense-making in organisations. The basic idea of sense-making is that reality is an ongoing accomplishment that emerges from efforts to create order and make retrospective sense of what occurs. Consider these scenarios as examples as you start to read this entry: if someone was to say to you “I do not want you to make a decision right away, I just want you to think about it and come back to me when you have time,” you would immediately begin a sense-making process regarding the action you have taken at some point in the past around it. Furthermore, in an interview, if an interviewer asks an interviewee about a project that they were involved in for the past 6 months (for example), the interviewer is triggering sense-making where the interviewee looks back over the project and attributes meaning to what happened.
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