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Cited by 1,764Management and Organizational StudiesOrganizational Learning and LeadershipAppreciative Inquiry and Organizational Change

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 270 of the 270 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Sensemaking in Organizations: Taking Stock and Moving Forward

Maitlis, Sally, Christianson, Marlys·2014·Academy of Management Annals
DOI 10.5465/19416520.2014.873177
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Abstract

Sensemaking is the process through which people work to understand issues or events that are novel, ambiguous, confusing, or in some other way violate expectations. As an activity central to organizing, sensemaking has been the subject of considerable research which has intensified over the last decade. We begin this review with a historical overview of the field, and develop a definition of sensemaking rooted in recurrent themes from the literature. We then review and integrate existing theory and research, focusing on two key bodies of work. The first explores how sensemaking is accomplished, unpacking the sensemaking process by examining how events become triggers for sensemaking, how intersubjective meaning is created, and the role of action in sensemaking. The second body considers how sensemaking enables the accomplishment of other key organizational processes, such organizational change, learning, and creativity and innovation. The final part of the chapter draws on areas of difference and debate highlighted throughout the review to discuss the implications of key tensions in the sensemaking literature, and identifies important theoretical and methodological opportunities for the field.

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Crossref · 10.5465/19416520.2014.873177

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Citations

Cites

Show all 268 references

Research works printed but not linked: 17

  1. Ancona D., 2011, The handbook for teaching leadership, 3
  2. Brown A. D., 2000, Academy of Management Review, 25, 102, 10.5465/amr.2000.2791605 · DOI · Paper page
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  5. Dewey J., 1922, Human nature and conduct
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  8. Leung A., 2013, Organization Studies
  9. 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2004.00407.x · DOI
  10. 10.5465/amr.2011.61031809 · DOI
  11. Orton J. D., 1990, Academy of Management Review, 15, 203, 10.5465/amr.1990.4308154 · DOI · Paper page
  12. Phillips N., 2004, Academy of Management Review, 29, 635, 10.5465/amr.2004.14497617 · DOI · Paper page
  13. Shrivastava P., 1987, Bhopal: Anatomy of a crisis
  14. Smircich L., 1985, Academy of Management Review, 10, 724, 10.5465/amr.1985.4279096 · DOI · Paper page
  15. Sutcliffe K. M. (2013). Sensemaking. In M. Augier & D. Teece (Eds.), The Palgrave encyclopedia of strategic management . Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Advance online publication. Retrieved from http://www.palgraveconnect.com/pc/doifinder/10.1057/9781137294678.0623 · DOI
  16. Watzlawick P., 1976, How real is real?
  17. Weick K. E., 1979, The social psychology of organizing

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Metadata

Authors
Maitlis, S., & Christianson, M.
Affiliations
University of British Columbia (CA)
ORCID
Venue
Academy of Management Annals
Publisher
Academy of Management
Published
2014-01
Volume
8
Issue
1
Pages
57-125
ISSN
  • 1941-6067 (ISSN-L)
  • 1941-6520
DOI
10.5465/19416520.2014.873177
OpenAlex
W4245597957
Cited by
1,764
References
268
Citations by year
2026: 332 · 2025: 187 · 2024: 167 · 2023: 192 · 2022: 182 · 2021: 188 · 2020: 160 · 2019: 139 · 2018: 87 · 2017: 55 · 2016: 39 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 3
FWCI
93.84
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Academy of Management Annals (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Organizational Learning and Leadership
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Appreciative Inquiry and Organizational Change
Keywords
sensemaking, organizational sensemaking, ambiguity, intersubjective meaning, organizational change, organizational learning, creativity and innovation

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Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.