Constructing ‘Crisis Events’ in Military Contexts—An Israeli Perspective

Abstract

The present research is based on three case studies among infantry units in the IDF. It uses sensemaking processes in order to examine the way military leaders construct ‘crisis events’. The research findings indicate that ‘crisis events’ in the military context are a subjective matter. It shows that commanders use three criteria for defining a ‘crisis event’: function, control and organizational order. The definition of the constructed ‘event’ differs between commanders depending on their position and role: whereas platoon commanders and company commanders define the ‘events’ examined in the research as ‘crisis events’, battalion commanders and brigade commanders define the different ‘events’ as ‘skirmishes’. These findings suggest that the way commanders construct their definitions of a ‘crisis event’ is a manifestation of the intensity of their organizational embeddedness in the organization implying that different intensities of organizational embeddedness shape the definition that commanders construct in relation to a given ‘event’. These findings strengthen the argument that the contested nature of organizational meanings exists not only in ‘civilian’ organizations but also in military ones.