Group Sense Making in Dynamic Environments: A Complex Adaptive System Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine ways in which complex theory informs the current sensemaking practices of firms facing turbulent environments. It is postulated that understanding sensemaking theory from this new perspective will offer new insights for scholars and practitioners as to how organizational groups adapt to environmental change. Many researchers have suggested that complexity theory (versus conventional theories) may be a better management model for understanding how organizations successfully react to change because dynamism in the marketplace. Given this premise, the existing managerial routines associated with environmental sensing and sensemaking only provide a limited success level for the turbulent marketplace that companies now face. Furthermore, much of the sensemaking literature has focused on the individual as the unit of analysis and the conversation on collaborative group sensemaking is in its early conceptual stages. Using the lens of complex adaptive systems (CAS), this paper endeavors to explore the relationship between organizational complexity, group sensemaking, and new product development efforts. A thematic synthesis comprising of multiple case studies is used to consolidate key concepts documented in the literature. A resultant theoretical framework for group sensemaking is developed and support is found for CAS as suitable organizational models for modern organizations. Interestingly, support is also found for certain managerial activities having positive effects on firm-level sensemaking activities leading to new product development. The findings from this paper suggest that group sensemaking is a distinctly different process than sensemaking for the individual and sheds some insight into specific management activities that are empirically validated on application of CAS for management in rapidly changing environments.