MEDIATED SENSEMAKING

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Strike, Vanessa M.; Rerup, Claus
• 署名单位: University of British Columbia; University of British Columbia; Western University (University of Western Ontario)
• 刊物名称: ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4273
• DOI: 10.5465/amj.2012.0665
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 880-905
• 关键词: RESOURCEFUL SENSEMAKING; decision-making; SOCIAL POSITION; work; ORGANIZATIONS; IDENTITY; MODEL; sense; field

摘要

We use a multi-case analysis of nine Most Trusted Advisors (MTAs) in six family firms to introduce the concept of mediated sensemaking-that is, the social position, orientation, and actions used by mediators to facilitate adaptive sensemaking that unfolds when someone begins to doubt the sense already made. Our data captures the mediation process through which MTAs help Family Business Entrepreneurs (FBEs) interrupt momentum in sensemaking by slowing down action and facilitating doubt. Interestingly, FBEs have no motive to slow down and doubt their own sensemaking, yet MTAs can induce them to do so. We unpack the social skills and tactics used by MTAs to accomplish this pacing. We synthesize our findings in a grounded theoretical process theory that captures how MTAs facilitate adaptive sensemaking by regulating the pacing and temporality of FBEs' sensemaking.