ECOLOGICAL SENSEMAKING

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Whiteman, Gail; Cooper, William H.
• 署名单位: Erasmus University Rotterdam - Excl Erasmus MC; Erasmus University Rotterdam; Queens University - Canada
• 刊物名称: ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4273
• DOI: 10.5465/amj.2008.0843
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 889-911
• 关键词: resilience; vulnerability; TECHNOLOGY; management; KNOWLEDGE; SURPRISE; LESSONS; SYSTEM; SPACE; RISK

摘要

Karl Weick's classic study of sensemaking showed that there is much to be learned from a wildland fire. In this tradition, we present an ethnographic tale from the subarctic to introduce the concept of ecological sensemaking-the process used to make sense of material landscapes and ecological processes. We then reanalyze data from the Mann Gulch fire and conclude that ecological sensemaking and ecological materiality were underappreciated dimensions of this historic tragedy. Comparisons of incidents and actors suggest that ecological embeddedness enables sensemaking and that inability to make sense of subtle ecological cues introduces hidden vulnerability.