Using a framework of meaning-making derived from social psychological research on how individuals manage adverse life events and research on sensemaking, we develop and test a theory about how frontline employees overcome the challenges of implementing strategic change. We find that certain types of meaning-making (strategy worldview and benefits finding) can create the requisite psychological …
Tag Archives: sensemaking
Wrzesniewski, A., Dutton, J. E., & Debebe, G. (2003). Interpersonal sensemaking and the meaning of work. Research in organizational behavior, 25, 93-135.
In this paper, we present a model of interpersonal sensemaking and describe how this process contributes to the meaning that employees make of their work. The cues employees receive from others in the course of their jobs speak directly to the value ascribed by others to the job, role, and employee. We assert that these …
Sonenshein, S., Dutton, J. E., Grant, A. M., Spreitzer, G. M., & Sutcliffe, K. M. (2013). Growing at work: Employees& #39; interpretations of progressive self-change in organizations.
We develop theory about how growing at work is an interpretive accomplishment in which individuals sense that they are making progressive self-change. Through a study of how employees interpret themselves as growing at three organizations, we develop a theoretical account of how employees draw from contextual and personal resources to interpret their growing in ways …