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Sensemaking in Safety Critical and Complex Situations
this topic ( Bisio, Bye, & Hurlen, 2019; Sandberg & Tsoukas, 2015). Organizational
sensemaking is influenced by the medium of communication where people in organizations interact or the introduction of new technology triggers sensemaking about
the technology itself or sensemaking related to professional identity ( Sandberg &
Tsoukas, 2015). As such, technology sensemaking has been treated as a subset of
organizational sensemaking, focusing on sensemaking of the technological phenomenon in organizations rather than addressing how technological materiality influence
sensemaking ( Mesgari & Okoli, 2019).
There are sensemaking research strands mainly concerned with information
seeking and the use of information technology. Sensemaking in the field of human–
computer interaction ( HCI) is concerned with tools for retrieving and visualizing
information, how people make sense of complex sets of information and their ability
to create and shape external representations of knowledge ( Russell, Stefik, Pirolli, &
Card, 1993). In Library and Information Science ( LIS), the central sensemaking
activities are information seeking, processing, creating, and using ( Dervin, 1998).
Today w eb-based tools have enabled people to seek and access large amounts of
information, thus, the LIS and HCI communities have seen the need to start converging on projects “ to help people make sense of the information resources now
available” ( Russell, Convertino, Kittur, Pirolli, & Watkins, 2018, p 3). Although sensemaking in organizations, like sensemaking on the bridge of a vessel, also includes
information seeking and the use of information technology, these research strands
do fully consider the context; the many different technological applications as well
as the broader sociotechnical work environment.
How technology is influencing sharp-end operator’s sensemaking can, for
instance, be observed in the maritime sector. There has been a steady increase in
digitalized products, applications and services introduced to this domain. The role
and tasks of navigators have gone from navigating the vessel by means of manual
control to increasingly having the role as managers of automated systems ( Lützhöft,
Grech, & Porathe, 2011). The navigators work has changed to increasingly become
more and more dependent on representations of the outside world, making sense of
an increasingly digitalized context ( Danielsen & Lamvik, 2019).
Despite the increase in digitalized products, advanced automated systems and sensors on ships introduced to increase safety, there is still a high number of accidents at
sea. Although shipping is becoming safer every year, in terms of the number of ships
lost ( Porathe, Hoem, Rødseth, Fjørtoft, & Johnsen, 2018), the European Maritime
Safety Agency reported 3174 casualties and incidents in 2018 alone ( EMSA, 2019).
Already in the mid-1980s, scholars described the challenges emerging in the work
cooperation between people and technology ( Bainbridge, 1983; Morgan Jr, Glickman,
Woodard, Blaiwes, and Salas, 1986). Morgan et al. ( 1986) found that the interaction
between individuals in a navy bridge team was partly determined by interaction with
machines and machine procedures which left too little room for communication and
cooperation between the team members. They argued that standardized performance
of tasks can weaken the mechanisms that create the dynamics and flexibility presumed to strengthen a team’s capacity to handle uncertainty and ambiguity – the very
core situations that trigger sensemaking.
Sensemaking in Safety Critical and Complex Situations
this topic ( Bisio, Bye, & Hurlen, 2019; Sandberg & Tsoukas, 2015). Organizational
sensemaking is influenced by the medium of communication where people in organizations interact or the introduction of new technology triggers sensemaking about
the technology itself or sensemaking related to professional identity ( Sandberg &
Tsoukas, 2015). As such, technology sensemaking has been treated as a subset of
organizational sensemaking, focusing on sensemaking of the technological phenomenon in organizations rather than addressing how technological materiality influence
sensemaking ( Mesgari & Okoli, 2019).
There are sensemaking research strands mainly concerned with information
seeking and the use of information technology. Sensemaking in the field of human–
computer interaction ( HCI) is concerned with tools for retrieving and visualizing
information, how people make sense of complex sets of information and their ability
to create and shape external representations of knowledge ( Russell, Stefik, Pirolli, &
Card, 1993). In Library and Information Science ( LIS), the central sensemaking
activities are information seeking, processing, creating, and using ( Dervin, 1998).
Today w eb-based tools have enabled people to seek and access large amounts of
information, thus, the LIS and HCI communities have seen the need to start converging on projects “ to help people make sense of the information resources now
available” ( Russell, Convertino, Kittur, Pirolli, & Watkins, 2018, p 3). Although sensemaking in organizations, like sensemaking on the bridge of a vessel, also includes
information seeking and the use of information technology, these research strands
do fully consider the context; the many different technological applications as well
as the broader sociotechnical work environment.
How technology is influencing sharp-end operator’s sensemaking can, for
instance, be observed in the maritime sector. There has been a steady increase in
digitalized products, applications and services introduced to this domain. The role
and tasks of navigators have gone from navigating the vessel by means of manual
control to increasingly having the role as managers of automated systems ( Lützhöft,
Grech, & Porathe, 2011). The navigators work has changed to increasingly become
more and more dependent on representations of the outside world, making sense of
an increasingly digitalized context ( Danielsen & Lamvik, 2019).
Despite the increase in digitalized products, advanced automated systems and sensors on ships introduced to increase safety, there is still a high number of accidents at
sea. Although shipping is becoming safer every year, in terms of the number of ships
lost ( Porathe, Hoem, Rødseth, Fjørtoft, & Johnsen, 2018), the European Maritime
Safety Agency reported 3174 casualties and incidents in 2018 alone ( EMSA, 2019).
Already in the mid-1980s, scholars described the challenges emerging in the work
cooperation between people and technology ( Bainbridge, 1983; Morgan Jr, Glickman,
Woodard, Blaiwes, and Salas, 1986). Morgan et al. ( 1986) found that the interaction
between individuals in a navy bridge team was partly determined by interaction with
machines and machine procedures which left too little room for communication and
cooperation between the team members. They argued that standardized performance
of tasks can weaken the mechanisms that create the dynamics and flexibility presumed to strengthen a team’s capacity to handle uncertainty and ambiguity – the very
core situations that trigger sensemaking.