
Mats Alvesson
Professor

Organizational dischronization: On meaning and meaninglessness, sensemaking and nonsensemaking
Author
Summary, in English
This paper contributes to close up studies of how members in organizations experience and act in relationship to what is broadly and vaguely referred to as institutionalized structures and practices. Based on a case study about scorecards, a quality control system, it is illustrated that this practice works poorly, because of inconsistent ideas of purpose and functioning. We introduce the concept of organizational dischronization (OD) to illuminate this. OD indicates a deviation from the ideal of shared or synchronized meanings, and the existence of diverging understandings and lack of clarification of this, in an organization. The paper challenges some core ideas of institutional theory (logics) and sensemaking, suggesting the use of counter concepts such is organizational illogics and nonsensemaking, thus opening up for a broader and less ‘smooth’ understanding of how institutions and sensemaking work than assumed in the literature.
Department/s
- Organizational Studies
Publishing year
2022
Language
English
Pages
724-754
Publication/Series
Journal of Management Studies
Volume
59
Issue
3
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Topic
- Business Administration
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1467-6486