Sensemaking Processes

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SensemakingProcesses

• Organizational Behavior
• Summer 2007
• Cameron M. Ford, Ph.D.

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Cognitive Structures thatFacilitate Sensemaking

• Schemas Cognitive structures that represent
  attributes of concepts and relationships among
  concept attributes
• Schemas represent the common features of repeated
  experiences, observations or thought patterns
• Used to actively construct a simplified version
  of reality by interpreting specific instances in
  light of general cases/categories

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The Structure of Schemas

• Schemas are organized hierarchically from
  recollections of particulars to abstractions of
  generalities.
• Imagistic representations
• Abstract representations
• Linguistic/symbolic representations
• Because of automatic processing and the
  inaccessibility of abstract representations, most
  cognitive processing occurs outside awareness.

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Why Its Difficult to Obtain Self-awareness
Explicit Knowledge Utilizes perceptible forms of
information (i.e., imagistic, symbolic/ linguistic
)
Tacit Knowledge Comprised of abstractions that
can not be represented directly in consciousness
Schema
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Processes that LimitLearning From Experience

• Automatic cognitive processing results in
  habitual patterns of thinking and acting.
• The perseverance effect results in
  schema-discrepant information being ignored.
  This makes schemas stubbornly resistant to
  change.
• Gap filling results in schema-consistent
  information that was not observed in a particular
  case being added to recollections. This process
  also tends to reinforce current ways of thinking.

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Processes That EnhanceLearning From Experience

• Enactment The process of learning through action
  (e.g., discovering preferences by trying new
  things, testing new ideas or old assumptions,
  etc.).
• Enactment creates new experiences that instigate
  sensemaking. It provides a means for testing the
  validity of ones ideas and beliefs.
• Unfortunately, people often base knowledge on
  avoided tests (failing to act vs. failing while
  acting).
• Disasters and crises often instigate
  retrospective sensemaking that yields new
  insights related to prior experiences

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Pervasive Cognition Phenomena

• Selective Perception (attention directed by)
• Personal Goals
• Schema-based expectations (e.g., stereotypes,
  halo effects, etc.)
• Sudden, major changes in sensory inputs
• Self-fulfilling Prophecies
• Attribution Errors
• The Fundamental Attribution Error
• Self-Serving Bias
• The Actor-Observer Difference

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Application 1 Organizational Inertia

• Strategic frames (schema) direct and limit
  attention
• Unquestioned routines guide daily decisions and
  actions, thus reinforcing schema
• Stable relationships limit access to new
  perspectives and information
• Shared beliefs and values limit questioning of
  decision premises and legitimacy of current
  practices

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Application 2 Decision Heuristics

• The Anchoring Trap
• The Status-Quo Trap
• The Sunk-Cost Trap (Escalation of Commitment)
• The Confirming-Evidence Trap
• The Framing Trap
• Estimating and Forecasting Traps
• The Overconfidence Trap
• The Prudence Trap
• The Recallability Trap

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Application 3 Managing Diversity

• Assimilation Focuses on discrimination and
  fairness perceptions (eliminating differences)
• Differentiation Focuses on acceptance of
  differences (matching organizational diversity to
  diversity of stakeholders)
• Integration Focuses on leveraging differences as
  a source of substantive conflict, improved
  decision making, and creativity (recombinant
  knowledge)

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Application 3 Facilitating Collective
Sensemaking

• Leadership truly values varied opinions
• Leadership emphasizes organizational learning
  opportunities created by integration
• Culture has high solidarity (clear mission and
  high performance expectations)
• Culture emphasizes personal development
• Culture emphasizes substantive conflict
• Organization structure supports egalitarian
  norms, values, and processes