67
Making Sense of Sensemaking
that sensemaking creates resilience but also that sources of resilience help to make
sense of the situation ( Kilskar, Danielsen, & Johnsen, 2020).
CONCLUSION
This chapter reviewed sensemaking literature and defined sensemaking as “ a process,
prompted by violated expectations, that involves attending to and bracketing cues in
the environment, creating intersubjective meaning through cycles of interpretation
and action, and thereby enacting a more ordered environment from which further
cues can be drawn” ( Maitlis & Christianson, 2014, p . 67). The cognitive sensemaking process of creation, interpretation and enactment is described, highlighting that
sensemaking is about partly creating the environment or situation to make sense of
( Weick, 1995). Sensemaking is most often described as being triggered by ambiguous or surprising events influenced by expectations, emotions, embodied sensations,
technology, the social context for sensemaking as well as identity. Safety-critical
situations or crisis are especially demanding for sensemaking. Sensemaking should
be adaptive to be helpful in these situations ( Maitlis & Sonenshein, 2010).
In the context of sociotechnical systems, the sharp end operators, like navigators,
are confronted with dynamic evolving situations and complex stimuli. According to
Klein et al. ( 2007), sensemaking contributes to our understanding of human behavior
at a macrocognitive scale needed to understand and design complex cognitive systems. As such it should be a useful perspective for both accident analysis and for the
future design of safety-critical systems.
There are several areas where future research could develop the sensemaking
concept or perspective further ( Maitlis & Christianson, 2014; Sandberg & Tsoukas,
2015). In line with Sandberg and Tsoukas ( 2015), this review found that there are
relatively few studies investigating how technologies influence sensemaking, especially how the design of technology can hamper or support sensemaking in high-risk
industries, like the maritime sector. The design of technology is part of a general
trend with increasing digitalization and automation of work. An interesting direction
for future sensemaking research would be to investigate how meaningful work can
be designed in this context and how meaningfulness relates to resilience and safety.
REFERENCES
AIBN. (2019). Report on the collision on 8 November 2018 between the frigate HNoMS Helge
Ingstad and the oil tanker Sola TS outside the Sture terminal in the Hjeltefjord in
Hordaland county. Accident Investigation Board Norway
Bainbridge, L. ( 1983). Ironies of automation. Automatica, 19(6), 775–779.
Bisio, R., Bye, A., & Hurlen, L. ( 2019). Human machine interface for supporting sensemaking
in critical situations, a literature review. Paper presented at the European Safety and
Reliability Conference, Hannover, Germany.
Brown, A. D. ( 2004). Authoritative sensemaking in a public inquiry report. Organization
Studies, 25(1), 95–112. doi:10.1177/0170840604038182
Brown, A. D. ( 2005). Making sense of the collapse of Barings Bank. Human Relations, 58(12), 1579–1604. doi:10.1177/ 0018726705061433
Making Sense of Sensemaking
that sensemaking creates resilience but also that sources of resilience help to make
sense of the situation ( Kilskar, Danielsen, & Johnsen, 2020).
CONCLUSION
This chapter reviewed sensemaking literature and defined sensemaking as “ a process,
prompted by violated expectations, that involves attending to and bracketing cues in
the environment, creating intersubjective meaning through cycles of interpretation
and action, and thereby enacting a more ordered environment from which further
cues can be drawn” ( Maitlis & Christianson, 2014, p . 67). The cognitive sensemaking process of creation, interpretation and enactment is described, highlighting that
sensemaking is about partly creating the environment or situation to make sense of
( Weick, 1995). Sensemaking is most often described as being triggered by ambiguous or surprising events influenced by expectations, emotions, embodied sensations,
technology, the social context for sensemaking as well as identity. Safety-critical
situations or crisis are especially demanding for sensemaking. Sensemaking should
be adaptive to be helpful in these situations ( Maitlis & Sonenshein, 2010).
In the context of sociotechnical systems, the sharp end operators, like navigators,
are confronted with dynamic evolving situations and complex stimuli. According to
Klein et al. ( 2007), sensemaking contributes to our understanding of human behavior
at a macrocognitive scale needed to understand and design complex cognitive systems. As such it should be a useful perspective for both accident analysis and for the
future design of safety-critical systems.
There are several areas where future research could develop the sensemaking
concept or perspective further ( Maitlis & Christianson, 2014; Sandberg & Tsoukas,
2015). In line with Sandberg and Tsoukas ( 2015), this review found that there are
relatively few studies investigating how technologies influence sensemaking, especially how the design of technology can hamper or support sensemaking in high-risk
industries, like the maritime sector. The design of technology is part of a general
trend with increasing digitalization and automation of work. An interesting direction
for future sensemaking research would be to investigate how meaningful work can
be designed in this context and how meaningfulness relates to resilience and safety.
REFERENCES
AIBN. (2019). Report on the collision on 8 November 2018 between the frigate HNoMS Helge
Ingstad and the oil tanker Sola TS outside the Sture terminal in the Hjeltefjord in
Hordaland county. Accident Investigation Board Norway
Bainbridge, L. ( 1983). Ironies of automation. Automatica, 19(6), 775–779.
Bisio, R., Bye, A., & Hurlen, L. ( 2019). Human machine interface for supporting sensemaking
in critical situations, a literature review. Paper presented at the European Safety and
Reliability Conference, Hannover, Germany.
Brown, A. D. ( 2004). Authoritative sensemaking in a public inquiry report. Organization
Studies, 25(1), 95–112. doi:10.1177/0170840604038182
Brown, A. D. ( 2005). Making sense of the collapse of Barings Bank. Human Relations, 58(12), 1579–1604. doi:10.1177/ 0018726705061433