@article {bnh-8302, title = {Struggling to make sense of it all: the emotional process of sensemaking following an extreme incident}, journal = {Human Relations}, year = {2021}, month = {12/2021}, abstract = {

Organizations operating in extreme contexts regularly face dangerous incidents they can neither prevent nor easily control. In such circumstances, successful sensemaking can mean the difference between life and death. But what happens afterwards? Our study of emergency management practitioners following a major bushfire reveals a process of post-incident sensemaking during which practitioners continue to make sense of the incident after it ends, during the subsequent public inquiry, and as they try to implement the inquiry{\textquoteright}s recommendations. Different varieties of sensemaking arise during this process as practitioners rely on different forms of coping to develop and share new understandings, which not only make sense of the original incident, but also enable changes to help the organization deal with future incidents. Our study also shows that practitioners experience a range of emotions during this process, some of which inhibit sensemaking while others {\textendash} particularly different forms of anxiety {\textendash} can facilitate it. Our study makes an important empirical contribution to recent theoretical work on varieties of sensemaking and provides new insights into the complex role of emotions in sensemaking in extreme contexts.

}, keywords = {Coping, crises and disasters, emotions, inquiries, organisational change, sensemaking}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1177\%2F00187267211059464}, url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00187267211059464}, author = {Graham Dwyer and Cynthia Hardy and Haridimos Tsoukas} } @article {bnh-6592, title = {Post-inquiry sensemaking: the case of the {\textquoteleft}Black Saturday{\textquoteright} bushfires}, journal = {Organization Studies}, year = {2020}, month = {01/2020}, abstract = {

We examine post-inquiry sensemaking by emergency management practitioners following an inquiry into the most damaging bushfire disaster in Australia{\textquoteright}s history. We theorize a model of post-inquiry sensemaking with four distinct but overlapping phases during which sensemaking becomes more prospective over time. In addition to providing important insights into what has, hitherto, been a neglected arena for sensemaking studies, i.e. post-inquiry sensemaking, we contribute to the understanding of sensemaking more generally. Specifically, we show the complex nature of the relationship between sensemaking and equivocality, explain how multiple frames enhance sensemaking, and explore temporality in sensemaking over time.

}, keywords = {interpretive scheme, Learning, organizational learning, sensemaking theory, single case study, vicarious learning}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840619896271}, url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0170840619896271}, author = {Graham Dwyer and Cynthia Hardy and Steve Maguire} } @article {bnh-2232, title = {We have not lived long enough: Sensemaking and learning from bushfire in Australia}, journal = {Management Learning}, year = {2015}, month = {04/2015}, abstract = {

Organizations increasingly find themselves responding to unprecedented natural disasters that are experienced as complex, unpredictable, and harmful. We examine how organizations make sense and learn from these novel experiences by examining three Australian bushfires. We show how sensemaking and learning occurred during the public inquiries that followed these events, as well as how learning continued afterward with the help of {\textquotedblleft}learning cues.{\textquotedblright} We propose a model that links public inquiry activities to changes in organizational practices. Given the interesting times in which we live, this model has important implications for future research on how new organizational practices can be enacted after public inquiries have concluded their work.

}, doi = {10.1177/13500507615577047}, url = {http://mlq.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/04/01/1350507615577047.abstract}, author = {Graham Dwyer and Cynthia Hardy} }