Sensemaking in virtual settings: a practice-based approach

Since the mainstream uptake of computers and the internet, our world has become \nincreasingly virtualised. Modern organisations are deeply reliant on virtual technologies to carry out \ntheir business across time and distance. Indeed, virtual technologies are now implicated in almost \nall organisational activities, from (virtual) meetings to (online) collaboration. Many scholars have \nbeen drawn to investigate the new organisational phenomena that have resulted from the \nvirtualisation of our world, such a virtual learning, virtual leadership and virtual decision making. \nMy research, however, tackles a more fundamental question about how organising more generally \nis accomplished in the virtual age. Namely, the research question is, “How does sensemaking, as the \nbasis of organising, take place in virtual settings?” To explain, sensemaking – a foundational \nconcept in Organisation Studies – underpins all organisational activities. Therefore understanding \nhow sensemaking takes place in virtual settings will necessarily illuminate how organising more \ngenerally is accomplished virtually. \n \nTo date, how sensemaking takes place in virtual settings has hardly been studied. Further, \nthe studies that do exist impose Weick’s (1969, 1979, 1995) theory of sensemaking (which was \ndeveloped at a time pre-dating virtual technologies) on to the new context. As a result, existing \nstudies do not illuminate what is new, unique and interesting about how we make sense in virtual \nsettings. In this thesis I develop an alternative, practice-based conception of sensemaking (which \nserves as the theoretical framework for the study) that sensitises me to previously overlooked but \ncritical concepts, namely materiality, embodiment and ongoing accomplishment. First, materiality \ndescribes how things, which in virtual settings are often digital, are implicated in sensemaking. \nSecond, embodiment describes how physical bodies, and their digital representations in virtual \nsettings, are involved in accomplishment of activities. Finally, ongoing accomplishment describes \nhow sensemaking takes place in the flow of activities as they are carried out in the physical world, \nthe virtual world, or combination of both. This framework also enables me to position activities as \nthe unit of analysis for sensemaking. Taken together, this is a novel approach that reveals new \nfacets of the phenomenon of sensemaking in virtual settings. \n \nThis theoretical framework is applied in three different fieldsites (of varying levels of \nvirtuality) which are selected using a virtuality continuum developed within the thesis. These \nfieldsites are Yammer (a social media platform), telepresence (a video-based collaboration \nplatform), and Second Life (a three-dimensional virtual world). The methodology is a hybrid \ntraditional-virtual ethnography in which data is collected through participant observation, \ncomplemented by interviews. Empirical data are presented in the form of accounts that exemplify \nthe key activities of practitioners in each fieldsite. The analysis reveals how sensemaking is \nenabled, constrained and altered owing to activities being carried out virtually (rather than in \ntraditional settings). Further, various unique features of sensemaking as it takes place in each \nfieldsite are articulated, which become the subject of a cross-fieldsite comparison. \nBy overlaying the results from each fieldsite on to the virtuality continuum, the question of \nhow sensemaking takes place in virtual settings is answered in two ways. First, features of \nsensemaking that are common across all fieldsites, and therefore levels of virtuality, are identified. \nSecond, I identify features of sensemaking that are specific to particular fieldsites and make \ninferences about how sensemaking features change depending on the level of virtuality of the \nsetting. Some anomalies arising from this analysis are resolved by suggesting an alternative matrix \nmodel of virtuality which has potential to be included in future research. \n \nThe findings culminate in articulation of a practice-based theoretical account of “virtual \nsensemaking”. This virtual sensemaking is then compared to traditional sensemaking, further \nilluminating the uniqueness of how sensemaking takes place in virtual settings. I then articulate \ncontributions to the fields of sensemaking and organising as follows. This is the first study to \narticulate an account of sensemaking as it takes place specifically in virtual settings. Moreover, the \naccount of virtual sensemaking broadens our understanding of sensemaking generally by opening \nup previously under-theorised aspects of how we accomplish (virtual) organisational activities. \nContributions to broader organising include reconsideration of how we define quintessential \norganising activities, such as meetings. Practical implications pertain to creators, administrators and \nusers of virtual technologies who may use this knowledge of virtual sensemaking to inform more \neffective and efficient design, implementation, management and application of virtual technologies \nin organisations. \n \nFinally, exciting avenues for future research are suggested, including opportunities to \nreconceptualise the theoretical, empirical and analytical landscape for investigating organising in \nthe modern virtual age. Namely, we may let go of notions of organising that are rooted in traditional \nsettings and embrace new conceptions of virtual organising. Organising is no longer place-specific \nor linear, nor does it require our physical presence or real-time participation. Instead, modern virtual \norganising is a complex, multi-dimensional blending of the physical and virtual. As technologies \nevolve and our activities become ever more integrated with them, understanding how we achieve \nthis blending will be paramount to progressing the field of Organisation Studies generally.