Sensemaking

Linda Rouleau and Charlotte Cloutier

Chapter 1.25 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Strategy as Practice, 2025, pp 105-108 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This entry discusses the core dimensions and origins of sensemaking as a field of inquiry, how it has been used in strategy-as-practice research until now and what issues still need to be addressed to advance SAP sensemaking research in the future. Sensemaking was first introduced in organization and management studies by Karl E. Weick in his seminal book “Sensemaking in Organizations.” By engaging in action based on their interpretations of what is going on around them, individuals enact and construct reality. Sensemaking thus occurs in cyclical and repeated sequences of action-and-interpretation. These instances are viewed as being omnipresent in daily organizational life. Their intensity increases with ruptures and other forms of discontinuity, such as those triggered by strategic change. Sensemaking is therefore a central notion for strategy-as-practice (SAP) scholars interested in understanding how strategic change and/or crises unfold within and across organizations.

Keywords: Sensemaking; Constructed Reality; SAP; Strategic Change; Interpretation; Cues (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035315956
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