Egmond, Suzanne, van
(2024)
Making sense of organizational change.
Master thesis, Master Godsdienstwetenschap.
Abstract
In this thesis I present an ethnographic study of sensemaking in relation to organizational
change within a public organization. The main outcome is that organizational change is much
messier than suggested by the staged, continuous, or cyclic processes that scholars propose.
Using the sensemaking perspective, I found four reasons for that. First, different people make
sense at different moments of different events. Second, people make sense of happenings in
their everyday work lives with the aim of making the situation work for them and are not
necessarily concerned about creating a commonly shared view. Third, sensemaking is done
both at the longer-term level to create a common understanding of the change and on the
level of the everyday work and those levels do not necessarily align. Finally, people engage in
sensegiving, they attempt to influence the sensemaking of one another, which is often ad hoc
and embodied in nature, and hence might go unnoticed or made sense of in numerous ways.
Although I think that the messiness cannot be avoided, I suggest that leaders can use their
position to see and align the different views that live within the organization, providing
employees with the confidence they need to make sense of the chaos in their everyday work
life.
| Type: |
Thesis
(Master)
|
| Supervisors (RUG): |
| Supervisor | E-mail | Tutor organization | Tutor email |
|---|
| Wiering, J.O. | | Faculteit GGW, Faculteit Religie, Cultuur en Maatschappij | J.O.Wiering@rug.nl | | Knibbe, K.E. | | Faculteit GGW, Vergelijkende Religiewetenschap | K.E.Knibbe@rug.nl |
|
| Degree programme: |
Master Godsdienstwetenschap |
| Academic year: |
2023-2024 |
| Date of delivery: |
03 Feb 2026 11:15 |
| Last modified: |
03 Feb 2026 11:15 |
| URI: |
https://rcs.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/840 |
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