The Right Shock to Initiate Change: A Sensemaking Perspective

Changes in patterns of organizing often follow disruptions, so-called shocks, in the way that people understand their organization and organizing practices. People engage in a process of sensemaking, and new meanings emerge to guide future practices. Yet, organizations often deal with such shocks in ways that do not lead to any fundamental differences in the observed patterns of organizing practices. Managers and scholars often conclude that such shocks were simply not "big enough" to occasion change. The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness that shocks that are "too big" may also fail as occasions for change. The paper develops a framework that describes how organizational activity following a shock might unfold in a manner that does not occasion cognitive restructuring and organizational change. Four alternative means of disposing of shocks are discussed. Organizations might not notice these shocks, might not take action, might not take novel action, or might not undergo cognitive restructuring. Shocks, which may arise from both external and internal sources, may be either too small or too large relative to the organization‟s current cognitive schema. The paper juxtaposes the four means of disposing of shocks against a dimension representing the magnitude of the shocks to form a framework used for discussion of how small shocks and large shocks might occasion each of these four modes of disposition, drawing on relevant literature and providing examples. An important implication for the practice of organizational change is that agents who wish to induce organizational change should benefit from attending to cues from their organizations that indicate whether shocks to occasion sensemaking are too small or too large.