Making Sense of Sensemaking Narratives

Human Relations, Vol. 61, p. 1035, 2008

29 Pages Posted: 1 Jul 2010

See all articles by Andrew D. Brown

Andrew D. Brown

University of Bath - School of Management

Patrick Stacey

Imperial College London - Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Technology Management; Lancaster University Management School; University of Warwick - Warwick Business School; University of Warwick - Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM)

Joe Nandhakumar

University of Southampton - School of Management

Date Written: 2008

Abstract

This article analyses the agreed and discrepant sensemaking of members of a project team. Embedded in a narratological approach to sensemaking research, we argue that before scholars may be able to understand in detail how agreements are reached and action becomes coordinated,we need first to take seriously the proposition that sensemaking occurs in the context of individuals’ idiosyncratic efforts at identity construction. This, we suggest, means attending to the narratives that actors tell about their work and self both for others and their selves. The key research contribution that we make is to demonstrate how work on ‘impression management’ and ‘attributional egotism’may be employed in order to account for discrepant sensemaking. This is important in the context of a literature that has left relatively unexplored the reasons why people interpret differently experiences they have in common.

Suggested Citation

Brown, Andrew D. and Stacey, Patrick K. and Stacey, Patrick K. and Nandhakumar, Joe, Making Sense of Sensemaking Narratives (2008). Human Relations, Vol. 61, p. 1035, 2008, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1632910

Andrew D. Brown

University of Bath - School of Management ( email )

Claverton Down
Bath, BA2 7AY
United Kingdom

Patrick K. Stacey (Contact Author)

Imperial College London - Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Technology Management ( email )

United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/p.stacey

Lancaster University Management School ( email )

Bailrigg
Lancaster, LA1 4YX
United Kingdom
+44 (0)7969049007 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/profiles/patrick-stacey/

University of Warwick - Warwick Business School ( email )

Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

University of Warwick - Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM) ( email )

Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

Joe Nandhakumar

University of Southampton - School of Management ( email )

Highfield
Southampton SP10 1BJ, Hampshire SO17 1BJ
United Kingdom
(01703) 593844 (Fax)

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