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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

This version was published on May 1, 2008

Administration & Society, Vol. 40, No. 3, 223-252 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0095399707313446


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