This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 0095399707313446v1 40/3/223    most recent References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Add to My Marked Citations Google Scholar Articles by Jeong, H.-S. Articles by Brower, R. S. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Extending the Present Understanding of Organizational Sensemaking

Three Stages and Three Contexts

Kyungpook National University, South Korea

Ralph S. Brower

Florida State University, Tallahassee

Despite a growing literature on the topic, our understanding of organizational sensemaking remains somewhat fragmented, and discussions have not yet fully integrated related ideas into a conceptual framework that includes the contextual terrain in which these activities occur. This article offers such a model. We begin with a story from a Korean fire inspector, delineating the process of his sensemaking into three stages: noticing, interpretation, and action. We demonstrate how sensemaking can be understood in three separate contexts— the ecological, institutional, and social relational. We show how each context provides a setting for a unique account of the three stages of sensemaking. We derive four theoretical propositions and conclude with implications and discuss prospects for this promising research area.

Key Words: sensemaking • phenomenology • grounded analysis • Korean fire officials

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?