Organizational Dischronization: On Meaning and Meaninglessness, Sensemaking and Nonsensemaking

Mats Alvesson, Anna Jonsson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)724-754
Number of pages31
JournalJournal of management studies
Volume59
Issue number3
Early online date8 Dec 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 May 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to thank Anna Biering‐Sorensen for help with the empirical work, Editor Daniel Muzio and the three reviewers as well as Yvonne Due Billing, Martin Blom and Yiannis Gabriel for comments on earlier versions of this article. We also acknowledge the financial support by Wallenberg foundation.

Keywords

  • institutional logics
  • institutional theory
  • meaning
  • nonsensemaking
  • organization
  • organizational dischronization
  • sensemaking

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Business and International Management
  • Strategy and Management
  • Management of Technology and Innovation

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