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The Paradox of Sensemaking in Organizational Analysis

Institut de Recherche en Gestion, Université Paris XII Val-de-Marne, France, allard-poesi{at}univ-paris12.fr

Taking Weick’s theory of sensemaking as illustrative of a socioconstructionist conception of sensemaking and learning in organization studies, I examine the methodological approaches used in this research. This analysis reveals that, although departing from the structuro-functionalist perspective of conventional cognitive theory, sensemaking research nonetheless aims to establish objective knowledge of these subjective processes. In so doing, it is faced with the interpretive paradox implied in seeking an ‘objective science of subjectivity’. Fully acknowledging that studying sensemaking is an active and subjective sensemaking process in itself implies that we re-engage in sensemaking processes. The postmodern route, on the one hand, invites us, through deconstruction, to engage against our sensemaking as a way of uncovering both the constitutive and the undecidable character of sensemaking activities. The pragmatist (or participative) route, on the other hand, suggests that, through participative action research, we fully engage in sensemaking with organization members and recognize the socially constructed aspect of all sensemaking activities. Though not without difficulties, these proposals encourage us to make sense differently of sensemaking processes in organizations.

Key Words: grounded methodology • interpretivism • knowledge • paradox • participative action research • postmodernism • sensemaking • Verstehen

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