Organizational Sensemaking

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This study examined strange experiences in the workplace from an interpretive-empirical framework. The goal of this study was to examine employee interpretation of strange, unusual, and unexpected workplace experiences. Interviews were conducted with 22 employees of a large national insurance firm in the Midwest that were intended to capture the story theme, employee response, attributions or assignments of causes, and degree of organizational change. Results indicated that the most common strangeness experience themes were lapse or lack of professionalism, general uncertainty, threat to the internal organizational environment, and embarrassment. Employee responses to strange experiences included greater efforts toward information seeking, assistance giving, use of humor, and accommodation to others in the organization. Causal attributions revolved around themes of communication, organizational change, and the nature of personal problems in the workplace. Finally, change themes included “no changes,” consequences for employee actions, and improvements (improved communication, teamwork, problem-solving, conflict management).