Sensemaking as a communicative process in the middle management practice of an organization from the it industry

Abstract

This article aims to analyse evidences of the sensemaking process as a result of communicative practices promoted by the middle management in an organization from the Information Technology (IT) industry, regarding the focus on technical skills development. We studied communicative processes from the perspective of interaction and social organization, which goes beyond the mere transmission of information (CASALI, 2005), a concept grounded in James Taylor (2004) on verbal action, and from the understanding of sensemaking (WEICK, 1995). A qualitative research strategy was used and a case study (YIN, 2001) was conducted at Teevo S/A, an IT company headquartered in Caxias do Sul (RS) and branches in five other cities. Eight interviews were conducted using a semi-structured research protocol, as well as seven hours of observation, which were subsequently analyzed using Content Analysis (BARDIN, 1977). The results indicate that middle management seeks to accomplish constant interactions and they establish a frequent communicative process with each employee about their performance, expectations and career development. These meetings promote a communicative process that may be triggering a process of sensemaking by increasing the ambiguity between the knowledge that employees need and the current knowledge (knowledge gap). To reduce the ambiguity, middle management and employees conduct a sensemaking process that can be observed from the seven properties of sensemaking perspective. Moreover, these conversations can be considered as the basis for collective action in defining a career path to the employees involved. Suggestions and limitations are then specified.