Anticipating the end : exploring future-oriented sensemaking of change through metaphors
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore whether there is a link between retrospective and prospective sensemaking by analyzing metaphors of past and potential future changes. Design/methodology/approach: The article draws on interview data from employees, team managers and middle managers at an IT department of a Nordic bank. Findings: The study found that organizational members' sensemaking of changes in the past were characterized by trivializing metaphors. In contrast, future-oriented sensemaking of potential changes were characterized by emotionally charged metaphors of uncertainty, war and the End, indicating that the organizational members anticipating a gloomier future. Research limitations/implications: These findings might be limited to the organizational context of an IT department of a bank with IT professionals having an urge for control and sharing a history of a financial sector changing dramatically the last decade. Originality/value: This article contributes to the emerging field of future-oriented sensemaking by showing what characterize past and future-oriented sensemaking of changes at a bank. Further, the paper contributes with an empirical study unpacking how organizational members anticipate an undesired future which might not be grounded in retrospective sensemaking.
Year of publication: |
2020
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Authors: | Bruskin, Signe ; Mikkelsen, Elisabeth Naima |
Published in: |
Journal of Organizational Change Management. - Emerald, ISSN 0953-4814, ZDB-ID 2020442-5. - Vol. 33.2020, 7 (18.07.), p. 1401-1415
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Publisher: |
Emerald |
Saved in:
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