Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Making sense of sensemaking narratives
AU - Brown, A D
AU - Stacey, P
AU - Nandhakumar, J
PY - 2008/8
Y1 - 2008/8
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - attributional egotism
KW - computer game development
KW - discourse
KW - impression management
KW - narrative
KW - sensemaking
U2 - 10.1177/0018726708094858
DO - 10.1177/0018726708094858
M3 - Journal article
VL - 61
SP - 1035
EP - 1062
JO - Human Relations
JF - Human Relations
SN - 0018-7267
IS - 8
ER -