Process, Sensemaking, and Organizing

Process, Sensemaking, and Organizing is the first in a series of volumes which explore perspectives on process theories, an emerging approach to the study of organizations that focuses on (understanding) activities, interactions, and change as essential properties of organizations rather than structures and state - an approach which prioritizes activity over product, change over persistence, novelty over continuity, and expression over determination.

Process and sensemaking may be seen as mutually interlocking phenomena and, as such, are cornerstones in process thinking, This volume brings together contributions from an international group of scholars energized by process organization studies. The collection offers perspectives from different disciplines, insights from diverse theoretical traditions and contexts, and parallels made with a range of cultural forms, including art, poetry, and cookery. At the same time, the chapters exhibit a clear emphasis on a process ontology, process theorizing, and narrative thinking. Across this rich and varied collection recurrent themes emerge that distinguish process theorizing from the more logico-scientific, variance-oriented research that dominates organization studies today. This book will appeal to academics, researchers, and graduate students in management, organization studies, and sociology who wish to better understand the emergent, changing, and flow-like character of organizational life and expand their understanding of the nature of sensemaking as a basis for organizing.

Tor Hernes is Professor of Organization Theory at Copenhagen Business School. Among his books are Understanding Organization as Process: Theory for a Tangled World (London: Routledge, 2007) and Actor-network Theory and Organizing (edited with Barbara Czarniawska, 2005, Copenhagen Business School). Tor Hernes works from a combination of process philosophy, systems theory and Actor-Network Theory.


Sally Maitlis is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia. Her work has been published in the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies, MIT Sloan Management Review, Organization Science, and Organization Studies. She is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, and Organization Studies.