Drawing on the Map: An Exploration of Strategic Sensemaking/Giving Practices using Visual Representations

Abstract

In this paper we explain how practitioners perform strategic sensemaking with visual representations. Here, we identify four modes of strategic sensemaking/giving: contentgenerating, process-generating, process-ingraining and content-ingraining. While each of these modes supports strategic sensemaking/giving by focusing practitioners' work on specific issues, they also divert practitioners from focusing on key aspects of strategy making. We conceptualize these limitations as 'blind spots'. As a result, strategic sensemaking appears fragmented and can lead to breakdowns in sensemaking. However, the flexibility of visual representations facilitates strategic sensemaking by allowing practitioners to switch from one mode to another. These findings improve our understanding of the strategic sensemaking/giving practices that are associated with the use of visual representation.

Visualizing practices in project-based design: tracing connections through cascades of visual representations

“…Likewise, Groleau et al (2012) observe architects using visual representations over a six-month period, two days a week, with particular attention to how an intern used 3D software. Others focus on visual representations in meetings: Garreau et al (2015) accessed these through a business office acting as development client, and Ewenstein and Whyte (2009) through an architectural firm. There is a growing use of video ethnography as a way of capturing even richer and more detailed data on social interaction in design and organizational practices (LeBaron and Whittington, 2009;Smets et al, 2014).…”

“…First, through the discussion of these two studies, we offer an alternative approach that supplements situated ethnographies of design practices (e.g. Yaneva, 2009;Groleau, Demers et al, 2012;Garreau, Mouricou et al, 2015;Ewenstein and Whyte, 2009). Rather than assuming that action unfolds where the observation takes place (Czarniawska, 2007), our ethnographic approach allows the researcher to be nimble, tracing connections across engineering projects through visual representations.…”

Beyond the Matrix: Visual Methods for Qualitative Network Research

“…Visual methods for the mapping of social networks form part of an emerging dialogical approach to visual data in management research (Garreau, Mouricou and Grimand, ; Vince and Warren, ). They are related to established techniques for cognitive mapping (Geiger and Finch, ; Ramos and Ford, ; Swan, ).…”

A Sensemaking Perspective on Open Strategy

“…In contrast, an emerging stream of research, borrowing from the practice turn in strategic management, has observed the way strategic sensemaking actually unfolds, without making assumption as to whose meaning matters the most. This stream is less concerned with what meaning is reached, and focuses more on how conversations and other practices bring about meaning during strategic change (e.g., Cooren et al, 2015;Garreau et al, 2015), including through sensegiving (Balogun et al, 2014). This research attitude has allowed recognizing that sensemaking is a cooperative achievement that may implicate an array of organizational members and that may result in the adoption of fragmented interpretations that result from multidirectional relationships (e.g., Ritella & Ligorio, 2016;Tao & Tombros, 2017).…”