Thursday, February 02, 2006

Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking

Walt sent an academic-type document called "Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking" and posed the question:
Is it a serious manuscript? Is it a hoax? YOU DECIDE.
I responded:
Boy, this reads like utter dreck. Therefore it must be a serious manuscript.
Here are excerpts - let me know if you'd like a copy of this. Is it better than William Shatner singing 'Rocket Man,' or worse?:
We sense joint enthusiasm to restate sensemaking in ways that make it more future oriented, more action oriented, more macro, more closely tied to organizing, meshed more boldly with identity, more visible, more behaviorally defined, less sedentary and backward looking, more infused with emotion and with issues of sensegiving and persuasion.

....The emerging picture is one of sensemaking as a process that is ongoing, instrumental, subtle, swift, social, and easily taken for granted. The seemingly transient nature of sensemaking (“a way station”) belies its central role in the determination of human behavior. Sensemaking is central because it is the primary site where meanings materialize that inform and constrain identity and action (Mills 2002, p. 35). When we say that meanings materialize, we mean that sensemaking is importantly an issue of language, talk, and communication. Situations, organizations, and environments are talked into existence.
Etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum. But I do like the last paragraph - it reminds me of community theater!:
Taken together these properties suggest that increased skill at sensemaking should occur when people are socialized to make do, be resilient, treat constraints as self-imposed, strive for plausibility, keep showing up, use retrospect to get a sense of direction, and articulate descriptions that energize. These are micro-level actions. They are small actions. But they are small actions with large consequences.

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