TY - JOUR

T1 - Towards a Sensemaking View of Organizational Decision-Making

AU - Elsahn, Ziad

AU - Benson-Rea, Maureen

PY - 2015/1/1

Y1 - 2015/1/1

N2 - We propose a process model of organizational decision-making that integrates sensemaking and choice processes, which are usually decoupled in the sensemaking and decision-making literature. We argue that a sensemaking approach to decision-making can shed light not only on how decisions are made, but also on the process of meaning-making and on how organizations enact and make sense of their environment. We argue that such approach is shaped by three determinants (External and internal triggers, firms’ attention structures, and firms prior experience and knowledge) that interact to explain different decision-making trajectories by which decision-makers engage in sensemaking processes to construct shared interpretations that guide their choice processes.

AB - We propose a process model of organizational decision-making that integrates sensemaking and choice processes, which are usually decoupled in the sensemaking and decision-making literature. We argue that a sensemaking approach to decision-making can shed light not only on how decisions are made, but also on the process of meaning-making and on how organizations enact and make sense of their environment. We argue that such approach is shaped by three determinants (External and internal triggers, firms’ attention structures, and firms prior experience and knowledge) that interact to explain different decision-making trajectories by which decision-makers engage in sensemaking processes to construct shared interpretations that guide their choice processes.

U2 - 10.5465/ambpp.2015.15221abstract

DO - 10.5465/ambpp.2015.15221abstract

M3 - Journal article

JO - Academy of Management Proceedings

JF - Academy of Management Proceedings

SN - 0065-0668

ER -