Making Sense of Organizationally Based Environmental Disasters

Abstract

Organizationally based environmental disasters are addressed. These have generally been neglected in the social and administrative science literature. Turner's (1976, 1978) model of the organizational basis of disasters is reviewed. Basic assumptions of the model are made explicit, and the relevance of the model for understanding environmental disasters is noted. An alternative political "sensemaking" model of disasters is then proposed. The model assumes that divergent views of reality emerge in the written and verbal statements of government, industry, and public critics involved in the disasters. These views of reality compete for acceptance as the dominant reality. The political sensemaking perspective is systematically applied to two case studies of organizationally based environmental disasters; propositions are developed which summarize key features of such disasters.