Corporate change initiatives trigger a series of activities aimed at implementing change. It is often assumed that successful implementation requires consistent action based on a shared understanding of the changes among employees. This article examines how implementation activities affect individual and organizational sensemaking processes and thereby contribute to a shared understanding and consistent change action. Based on inductive analyses of longitudinal data, the study suggests that many implementation activities focus predominantly on further planning and creating a cognitive understanding among change recipients prior to any action. Although participation in planning activities facilitates sensemaking at the individual level, it neither ensures organizational sensemaking nor necessarily leads to collective action. The limitations of cognitively focused implementation activities are discussed, followed by suggestions on how change agents can supplement these with activities aimed at sensemaking through action.
Antaki, C. (1994). Explaining and arguing: The social organization of accounts. London: Sage.
2.
Ashmos, D.P., Duchon, D., McDaniel, R.R., Jr. , & Huonker, J.W. (2002). What a mess! Participation as a simple managerial rule to "complexify" organizations. Journal of Management Studies, 39, 189-205.
3.
Baier, V., March, J., & Sætren, H. (1988). Implementation and ambiguity. In J. G. March (Ed.), Decisions and organizations (pp. 150-164). Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
4.
Balogun, J. (2006). Managing change: Steering a course between intended strategies and unanticipated outcomes. Long Range Planning , 39, 26-49.
5.
Balogun, J., & Johnson, G. (2004). Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 523-549.
6.
Balogun, J., & Johnson, G. (2005). From intended strategies to unintended outcomes: The impact of change recipient sensemaking. Organization Studies , 26, 1573-1601.
7.
Bartunek, J.M., Rosseau, D.M., Rudolph, J.W., & DePalma, J.A. (2006). On the receiving end: Sensemaking, emotion and assessments of an organizational change initiated by others. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 42, 182-206.
8.
Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. (1967). The social construction of reality. New York: Doubleday.
9.
Black, J.S., & Gregersen, H.B. (1997). Participative decision-making: An integration of multiple dimensions. Human Relations, 50, 859-878.
10.
Bunker, B. B., & Alban, B. (Eds.). (2005). Large group interventions [Special issue]. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science , 41(1).
11.
Czarniawska, B. (2001). The uses of narrative in social science research (Working paper). Göteborg, SwedenGothenburgResearch Institute.
12.
Czarniawska-Jorges, B., & Jorges, B. (1996). Travels of ideas. In B. Czarniawska & G. Sevon (Eds.), Translating organizational change (pp. 13-47). Berlin : De Gruyter.
13.
de La Ville, V., & Mounoud, E. (2005). Strategy as everyday practice. European Business Forum, 21, 22.
14.
Drazin, R., Glynn, M.A., & Kazanjian, R. (1999). Multilevel theorizing about creativity in organizations: A sensemaking perspective, Academy of Management Review, 24, 286-307.
15.
Eisenhardt, K.M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. In G. Huber & A. Van de Ven (Eds.), Longitudinal field research methods: Studying processes of organizational change (pp. 65-91). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
16.
Feldman, M., & March, J. (1981). Information in organizations as signal and symbol , Administrative Science Quarterly, 26, 171-186.
17.
Floyd, S., & Wooldridge, B. (1992). Middle management involvement in strategy and its association with strategic type: A research note. Strategic Management Journal, 13, 153-168.
18.
Floyd, S., & Wooldridge, B. (1997). Middle management's strategic influence and organizational performance. Journal of Management Studies, 34, 465-485.
19.
Gephart, R.P. (1993). The textural approach: Risk and blame in disaster sensemaking, Academy of Management Journal, 36, 1465-1515.
20.
Gioia, D.A., & Chittipeddi, K. (1991). Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation. Strategic Management Journal , 12, 433-448.
21.
Guth, W., & MacMillan, I. (1986). Strategy implementation versus middle management self-interest. Strategic Management Journal, 7, 313-327.
22.
Hambrick, D., & Cannella, A.A. (1989). Strategy implementation as substance and selling. Academy of Management Executive , 3, 278-285.
23.
Harris, S. (1994). Organizational culture and individual sensemaking: A schema-based perspective. Organization Science, 5, 309-321.
24.
Hrebiniak, L., & Joyce, W. (1984). Implementing strategy. New York: Macmillan.
25.
Jarzabkowski, P. (2004). Strategy as practice: Recursiveness, adaptation and strategic practices-in-use. Organization Studies, 25, 529-560.
26.
Johnson, G. (1987). Strategic change and the management process. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
27.
Johnson, G., Melin, L., & Whittington, R. (2003). Micro strategy and strategizing: Towards an activity-based view. Journal of Management Studies , 40, 3-22.
28.
Johnson-Cramer, M., Cross, R., & Yan, A. (2003). Sources of fidelity in purposive organizational change: Lessons from a re-engineering case. Journal of Management Studies, 40, 1837-1870.
29.
Langley, A. (1989). In search of rationality: The purposes behind the use of formal analysis in organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 34, 598-631.
30.
Langley, A. (1999). Strategies for theorizing from process data. Academy of Management Review, 24, 691-710.
31.
Lau, C., Kilbourne, L.M., & Woodman, R.W. (2003). A shared schema approach to understanding cultural change. Research in Organizational Change and Development , 14, 225-256.
32.
Li, A., & Butler, A.B. (2004). The effects of participation in goal setting and goal rationales on goal commitment: An exploration of justice mediators. Journal of Business and Psychology, 19, 37-52.
33.
Lozeau, D., Langley, A., & Denis, J. (2002). The corruption of managerial techniques. Human Relations, 55, 537-564.
34.
Maitlis, S. (2005). The social processes of organizational sensemaking . Academy of Management Journal, 48, 21-49.
35.
Maitlis, S., & Lawrence, T.B. (2007). Triggers and enablers of sensegiving in organizations. Academy of Management Journal , 50, 57-84.
36.
Maxwell, J.A. (1992). Understanding and validity in qualitative research . Harvard Educational Review, 62, 279-300.
37.
Pasmore, W.A., & Fagans, M.R. (1992). Participation, individual development, and organizational change: A review and synthesis. Journal of Management, 18, 375-397.
38.
Pettigrew, A. (1990). Longitudinal field research on change: Theory and practice. Organization Science, 1, 267-292.
39.
Piderit, S.K. (2000). Rethinking resistance and recognizing ambivalence: A multidimensional view of attitudes toward an organizational change. Academy of Management Review, 25, 783-794.
40.
Poole, P., Gioia, D., & Gray, B. (1989). Influence modes, schema change, and organizational transformation. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science , 25, 271-289.
41.
Pressman, J., & Wildavsky, A. (1984). Implementation (3rd ed.). Los Angeles: University of California Press.
42.
Thomas, J., Clark, S., & Gioia, D. (1993). Strategic sensemaking and organizational performance: Linkages among scanning, interpretation, action and outcomes. Academy of Management Journal, 36, 239-264.
43.
Volkema, R.J., Farquhar, K., & Bergmann, T.K. (1996). Third-party sensemaking in interpersonal conflicts at work: A theoretical framework. Human Relations, 49, 1437-1454.
44.
Weick, K. (1993). The collapse of sensemaking in organizations: The Mann Gulch disaster. Administrative Science Quarterly , 38, 628-652.
45.
Weick, K. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
46.
Whittington, R. (2002). Practice perspectives on strategy: Unifying and developing a field. Proceedings of the Academy of Management, C1-C6.
47.
Whittington, R. (2003). The work of strategizing and organizing: For a practice perspective. Strategic Organization, 1, 117-125.
48.
Wooldridge, B., & Floyd, S.W. (1999). Idea generation in strategic renewal. Proceedings of the Academy of Management, N1-N6.
