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Making Sense of Inquiry Sensemaking

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  • Andrew D. Brown

Abstract

This paper presents a discourse analysis of a report of a tribunal of inquiry in order to further our understanding of inquiry team sensemaking. The subject of the paper is the report of the Allitt Inquiry into attacks on children on Ward 4 at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital in the UK. Premised on an understanding of the report as an exercise in sensemaking, and sensemaking as a narrative process, the paper illustrates how authorial strategies centred on issues of normalization, observation and absolution are employed to create a rhetorical and verisimilitudinous artefact. This, it is argued, is accomplished as part of a more general strategy of depoliticizing the disaster event, legitimating social institutions (especially those connected with the medical profession), ameliorating anxieties by elaborating fantasies of omnipotence and control, and thenceforth acting as a sensitizing narrative archetype.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew D. Brown, 2000. "Making Sense of Inquiry Sensemaking," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 1-1, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:37:y:2000:i:1:p:no-no:6
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-6486.00172
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    Cited by:

    1. Cecilia Idika‐Kalu, 2023. "Women, education, and violence: How women displaced into camps in north‐east Nigeria take up education," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(6), November.
    2. Florence Allard-Poesi & Véronique Perret, 2004. "La construction collective du problème dans la recherche-action:difficultés, ressorts et enjeux," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 7(4), pages 5-36, December.
    3. Sanne, Johan M., 2012. "Learning from adverse events in the nuclear power industry: Organizational learning, policy making and normalization," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 239-250.
    4. Patriotta, Gerardo & Brown, Andrew D., 2011. "Sensemaking, metaphors and performance evaluation," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 34-43, March.
    5. Xiaoli Zhao & David R. Stiles, 2024. "Stuck in Limbo: how sensemaking discrepancy over strategy-related performance leads to disjointed collaboration in an international joint venture," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 903-945, June.
    6. Masashi Goto, 2021. "Accepting the Future as Unforeseeable: Sensemaking by Professionals in the Rise of Artificial Intelligence," Discussion Paper Series DP2021-05, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    7. Sharda, Kirti, 2016. "Sensemaking and Institutionalization in Armed Conflict: Applying Concepts to Practice," IIMA Working Papers WP2016-03-18, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    8. Sébastien Travadel & Franck Guarnieri & Aurélien Portelli, 2018. "Industrial Safety and Utopia: Insights from the Fukushima Daiichi Accident," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(1), pages 56-70, January.
    9. Ponsiglione, C. & Cannavacciuolo, L. & Primario, S. & Quinto, I. & Zollo, G., 2021. "The ambiguity of natural language as resource for organizational design: A computational analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 654-665.
    10. Hald, Julie & Gillespie, Alex & Reader, Tom W., 2024. "Problems in dealing with problems: how breakdowns in corrective culture lead to institutional failure," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 122814, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Eero Vaara & Andrea Whittle, 2022. "Common Sense, New Sense or Non‐Sense? A Critical Discursive Perspective on Power in Collective Sensemaking," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(3), pages 755-781, May.
    12. Brown, Andrew D., 2018. "Making sense of the war in Afghanistan," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 43-56.
    13. Alastair Stark & Sophie Yates, 2021. "Public inquiries as procedural policy tools [Policy tools theory and implementation networks: understanding state enterprise zone partnerships]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 40(3), pages 345-361.
    14. Florence Allard-Poesi, 2005. "The Paradox of Sensemaking in Organizational Analysis," Post-Print hal-01251211, HAL.
    15. Sally Maitlis & Scott Sonenshein, 2010. "Sensemaking in Crisis and Change: Inspiration and Insights From Weick (1988)," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 551-580, May.
    16. Jane Hendy & Danielle A. Tucker, 2021. "Public Sector Organizational Failure: A Study of Collective Denial in the UK National Health Service," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(4), pages 691-706, September.
    17. repec:dau:papers:123456789/298 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Martin Ratzmann & Robin Pesch & Ricarda Bouncken & Carla Martínez Climent, 2018. "The Price of Team Spirit for Sensemaking Through Task Discourse in Innovation Teams," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 321-341, June.
    19. Dawn Eubanks & Andrew Brown & Sierk Ybema, 2012. "Leadership, Identity, and Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(1), pages 1-3, April.
    20. Nick Oliver & Thomas Calvard & Kristina Potočnik, 2017. "Cognition, Technology, and Organizational Limits: Lessons from the Air France 447 Disaster," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(4), pages 729-743, August.
    21. Collins, David & Dewing, Ian & Russell, Peter, 2009. "Postcards from the Front: Changing narratives in UK financial services," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(8), pages 884-895.
    22. Karl E. Weick & Kathleen M. Sutcliffe & David Obstfeld, 2005. "Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(4), pages 409-421, August.

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