This paper examines data from a qualitative study that explored ways
workers make sense of workplace communication in a food processing
plant in New Zealand. The study focuses specifically on concepts that
injected the relationship of the physical and associated social geogra
phies of blue-collar workers' regular work environments into sense
making about communication. Two concepts are used to illustrate the
link between workers' geosocial environment and their sensemaking
accounts: "working in with others" and "getting on with others."
Analysis of discourse containing these concepts revealed that meaning
depends upon where in the factory the sensemaker using the concept
regularly works. Specifically, the study found that differences in mean ing for each concept mirrors the variation in the geosocial features of the three departments studied. In addition, the demonstrated rela
tionship between conceptual meaning and geosocial environment sug
gests important implications for those seeking to understand and
manage internal organizational communication.
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