Today’s leaders face unprecedented complexity and dynamism in the external environment. Sensemaking provides a useful framework for understanding how leaders extract meaning from that environment; however, its focus on purely conscious processes limits its applicability. We revisit and overcome major epistemological and ontological arguments against reconciling sensemaking with other decision-making models. This allows us to propose a dual systems model of sensemaking by introducing unconscious sensemaking as a complementary process that supports conscious sensemaking. We propose that the plausible stories that result from conscious sensemaking lead to schemas over time through which leaders can unconsciously make sense of their environment. This dual systems model holds important implications for leadership scholarship, in both describing leaders’ cognitive processes and how those leaders can utilize this improved model to better effect change.
AjzenI.FishbeinM. (1977). Attitude-behavior relations: A theoretical analysis and review of empirical research. Psychological Bulletin, 84, 888-918.
2.
AnconaD. (2012). Sensemaking: Framing and acting in the unknown. In SnookS.NohriaN.KhuranaR. (Eds.), The handbook for teaching leadership: Knowing, doing, and being (pp. 3-21). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
3.
AnconaD.MaloneT. W.OrlikowskiW. J.SengeP. M. (2007). In praise of the incomplete leader. Harvard Business Review, 85(2), 92-100.
4.
BarghJ. A.ChartrandT. L. (1999). The unbearable automaticity of being. American Psychologist, 54, 462-479.
5.
BarnettC. K.TichyN. M. (2000). How new leaders learn to take charge: Rapid-cycle CEO development. Organizational Dynamics, 29, 16-32.
6.
BeachL. R.ConnollyT. (2005). The psychology of decision making. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
7.
BeanC. J.HamiltonF. E. (2006). Leader framing and follower sensemaking: Response to downsizing in the brave new workplace. Human Relations, 59, 321-349.
8.
BehlingO.EckelN. L. (1991). Making sense out of intuition. The Executive, 5(1), 46-54.
BettisP. J.MillsM.WilliamsJ. M.NolanR. (2005). Faculty in a liminal landscape: A case study of a college reorganization. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 11(3), 47-61.
11.
BolandR. (2008). Decision making and sensemaking. In BursteinF.HolsappleC. W. (Eds.), Handbook on decision support systems 1 (pp. 55-63). Berlin, Germany: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
12.
ChaudhryA.Coyle-ShapiroJ. A.WayneS. J. (2011). A longitudinal study of the impact of organizational change on transactional, relational, and balanced psychological contracts. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 18, 247-259.
13.
ChurchlandP. M. (1989). A neurocomputational perspective: The nature of mind and the structure of science. Cambridge: MIT Press.
14.
DamasioA. R. (1999). The feeling of what happens: Body and emotion in the making of consciousness. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace.
15.
DaneE.PrattM. G. (2007). Exploring intuition and its role in managerial decision making. Academy of Management Review, 32, 33-54.
16.
DrazinR.GlynnM. A.KazanjianR. K. (1999). Multilevel theorizing about creativity in organizations: A sensemaking perspective. Academy of Management Review, 24, 286-307.
17.
EcclesR.NohriaN.BerkleyJ. D. (1992). Beyond the hype: Rediscovering the essence of management. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
18.
EpsteinS. (1994). Integration of the cognitive and the psychodynamic unconscious. American Psychologist, 49, 709-724.
19.
EvansJ. (2008). Dual-processing accounts of reasoning, judgment, and social cognition. Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 255-278.
20.
EvansJ.St.B. T.StanovichK. E. (2013). Dual-process theories of higher cognition: Advancing the debate. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8, 223-241.
21.
FiedlerF. E. (1986). The contribution of cognitive resources and leader behavior to organizational performance. Journal of Applied Social Pyschology, 16, 532-548.
22.
FiskeS. T.TaylorS. E. (1984). Social cognition. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
23.
FissP. C.ZajacE. J. (2006). The symbolic management of strategic change: Sensegiving via framing and decoupling. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 1173-1193.
24.
FreudS. (1901). Psychopathology of everyday life (BrillA. A., Trans.). London, England: T. Fisher Unwin.
25.
GazzanigaM. S. (2000). The new cognitive neurosciences (2nd ed.). Cambridge: MIT Press.
26.
GigerenzerG.SeltenR. (2002). Bounded rationality. Cambridge: MIT Press.
27.
GioiaD. A.ChittipeddiK. (1991). Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation. Strategic Management Journal, 12, 433-448.
28.
GreenwaldA. G.BanajiM. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological Review, 102, 4-27.
29.
GreenwaldA. G.PoehlmanT. A.UhlmannE. L.BanajiM. R. (2009). Understanding and using the implicit association test: III. Meta-analysis of predictive validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 17-41.
30.
GubaE. G.LincolnY. S. (2005). Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging influences. In DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S. (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 191-215). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
31.
HannahS. T.Uhl-BienM.AvolioB. J.CavarrettaF. L. (2009). A framework for examining leadership in extreme contexts. Leadership Quarterly, 20, 897-919.
32.
HarperS. C. (1989). Intuition: What separates executives from managers. In AgorW. H. (Ed.), Intuition in organizations: Leading and managing productively (pp. 111-124). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
33.
HarrisS. G. (1994). Organizational culture and individual sensemaking: A schema-based perspective. Organization Science, 5, 309-321.
34.
HassinR. R.UlemanJ. S.BarghJ. A. (2005). The new unconscious. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
IngvarD. H. (1985). “Memory of the future”: An essay on the temporal organization of conscious awareness. Human Neurobiology, 4, 127-136.
37.
JudgeT. A.ColbertA. E.IliesR. (2004). Intelligence and leadership: A quantitative review and test of theoretical propositions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 542-552.
38.
KahnemanD. (2003). A perspective on judgment and choice. American Psychologist, 58, 697-720.
39.
KellerL. R.HoJ. L. (1988). Decision problem structuring: Generating options. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 18, 715-728.
40.
LangeC. G.JamesW. (1922). The emotions. Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins.
41.
LiebermanM. D. (2000). Intuition: A social cognitive neuroscience approach. Psychological Bulletin, 126(1), 109-137.
42.
LiebermanM. D.GauntR.GilbertD. T.TropeY. (2002). Reflexion and reflection: A social cognitive neuroscience approach to attributional inference. In ZannaM. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 199-249). New York, NY: Academic Press.
43.
LiebermanM. D.JarchoJ. M.SatputeA. B. (2004). Evidence-based and intuition-based self-knowledge: An fMRI study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 421-435.
44.
MaitlisS.LawrenceT. B. (2007). Triggers and enablers of sensegiving in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 50, 57-84.
45.
MarionR.Uhl-BienM. (2002). Leadership in complex organizations. Leadership Quarterly, 12, 389-418.
46.
McAfeeA.BrynjolfssonE. (2012). Big data: The management revolution. Harvard Business Review, 90(10), 61-67.
47.
McKinsey Global Institute. (2011). Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity. Lexington, KY: McKinsey.
48.
MoggK.BradleyB. P. (2005). Attentional bias in generalized anxiety disorder versus depressive disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 29, 29-45.
PyeA. (2005). Leadership and organizing: Sensemaking in action. Leadership, 1, 31-49.
51.
RaidlM. L.LubartT. L. (2001). An empirical study of intuition and creativity. Imagination Cognition and Personality, 20, 217-230.
52.
RumelhartD. E. (1978). Schemata: The building blocks of cognition (Tech. Rep. CHIP 79). San Diego: Center for Human Information Processing, University of California.
53.
ShamirB.EilamG. (2005). “What’s your story?” A life-stories approach to authentic leadership development. Leadership Quarterly, 16, 395-417.
54.
ShirleyD. A.Langan-FoxJ. (1996). Intuition: A review of the literature. Psychological Reports, 79, 563-584.
55.
SimonH. A. (1955). A behavioral model of rational choice. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 69, 99-188.
56.
SmerekR. (2010). Sensemaking and sensegiving: An exploratory study of the simultaneous “being and learning” of new college and university presidents. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 18, 180-194.
57.
SnowdenD. J.BooneM. E. (2007). A leader’s framework for decision making. Harvard Business Review, 85(11), 68.
58.
SnyderM.WhiteP. (1982). Moods and memories: Elation, depression, and the remembering of the events of one’s life. Journal of Personality, 50, 149-67.
59.
SparroweR. T. (2005). Authentic leadership and the narrative self. Leadership Quarterly, 16, 419-439.
60.
StanovichK. E.WestR. F. (1998). Cognitive ability and variation in selection task performance. Thinking & Reasoning, 4, 193-230.
61.
StarbuckW. H.MillikenF. J. (1988). Executives’ perceptual filters: What they notice and how they make sense. In HambrickD. C. (Ed.), The executive effect: Concepts and methods for studying top managers (pp. 35-65). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
62.
StrackF.DeutschR. (2004). Reflective and impulsive determinants of social behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8, 220-247.
63.
TichyN. M.CohenE. (1997). The leadership engine. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
64.
WeickK. E. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
65.
WeickK. E.SutcliffeK. M.ObstfeldD. (2005). Organizing and the process of sensemaking. Organization Science, 16, 409-421.
66.
WilsonR. A.KeilF. C. (2001). The MIT encyclopedia of the cognitive sciences. Cambridge: MIT Press.
67.
ZajoncR. B. (1980). Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences. American Psychologist, 35, 151-175.
