Common Sense, New Sense or Non‐Sense? A Critical Discursive Perspective on Power in Collective Sensemaking

Eero Vaara and Andrea Whittle

Journal of Management Studies, 2022, vol. 59, issue 3, 755-781

Abstract: Despite a growing interest in power in sensemaking, our understanding of how power is linked with language is still theoretically underdeveloped. To this end, we develop a critical discursive perspective on sensemaking comprised of a three‐part theoretical framework that elucidates the discursive underpinnings of power in organisational sensemaking. We first explain how discursive practices are used to turn cues into meaning. We then conceptualize how power operates within three layers of discursive practices: discursive strategies, genres, and discourses. This leads us to explain how the resulting sense can be conceptualized as common sense, new sense, or non‐sense. The main contribution of this paper is to help us understand how discursive practices underpin the operation of power in organisational sensemaking, thus adding a missing piece to sensemaking research. Our discursive analysis also advances understanding of the role of language in sensemaking more generally, has methodological implications for sensemaking research, and helps to move critical discourse studies forward in organisational contexts.

Date: 2022
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