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Struggling to make sense of it all : the emotional process of sensemaking following an extreme incident
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Dwyer, Graham, Hardy, Cynthia and Tsoukas, Haridimos (2021) Struggling to make sense of it all : the emotional process of sensemaking following an extreme incident. Human Relations . 001872672110594. doi:10.1177/00187267211059464 ISSN 1741-282X. (In Press)
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267211059464
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’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 – particularly different forms of anxiety – 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.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School | ||||||
| SWORD Depositor: | Library Publications Router | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Human Relations | ||||||
| Publisher: | SAGE Publications | ||||||
| ISSN: | 1741-282X | ||||||
| Official Date: | 7 December 2021 | ||||||
| Dates: |
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| Article Number: | 001872672110594 | ||||||
| DOI: | 10.1177/00187267211059464 | ||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
| Publication Status: | In Press | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
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