Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Sensemaking and the Creation of Social Webs

The Role of Storytelling and Conversations as Knowledge Processes

  • Chapter
Book cover Rethinking Knowledge Management

Part of the book series: Information Science and Knowledge Management ((ISKM,volume 12))

Narratives have long remained unacknowledged as knowledge processes within organizations. Narratives are so ubiquitous in nature and so taken-for-granted that they have remained in the shadow of formal knowledge management initiatives and programs. Yet, they play a critical role in the creation, transmission and application of knowledge in the workplace. This chapter addresses two types of narratives—storytelling and conversations. The role of these narratives as knowledge processes is examined, especially their contribution to sensemaking and the creation of social webs in work settings. How storytelling and conversations can be enabled within the contexts of designing work, workspaces, and enabling these narratives in virtual and global organizations is also briefly discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Ackerman, M. S. (1998) Augmenting organizational memory: A field study of Answer Garden. ACM Transactions on Information Systems, 16(3), 203–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amato, P. R. (1990) Personality and social network involvement as predictors of helping behavior in everyday life. Social Psychology Quarterly, 53, 31–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1966) The social construction of reality. Garden City: NY: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackler, F., Reed, M., & Whitaker, A. (1993) Editorial introduction: Knowledge workers and contemporary organizations. Journal of Management Studies, 30(6), 851–862.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boland, R. J., & Tenkasi, R. V., & Te’eni, D. (1994). Designing information technology to support distributed cognition. Organization Science, 5(3), 456–475.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boland, R. J., & Tenkasi, R. V. (1995) Perspective making and perspective taking in communities of knowing. Organization Science, 6(4), 350–372.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boje, D. M. (1991) The storytelling organization: A study of story performance in an office-supply firm. Administrative Science Quarterly, 36(1), 106–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boje, D. M. (1995) Stories of the storytelling organization: A postmodern analysis of Disney as “Tamara-Land”. Academy of Management Journal, 38(4), 997–1035.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyce, M. E. (1996) Organizational story and storytelling: A critical review. Journal of Organizational Change, 9(5),5–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J. S., & Duguid, P. (1991) Organizational learning and communities-of-practice: Toward a unified view of working, learning, and innovation. Organization Science, 2(1), 40–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. S. (1986) Actual minds, possible worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UniversityPress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. S. (1990) Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UniversityPress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, J, (1976) Creative mythology. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, W. M., & Levinthal, D. A. (1990) Absorptive capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35, 128–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Constant, D., Sproull, L., & Kiesler, S. (1996) The kindness of strangers: The usefulness of electronic weak ties for technical advice. Organization Science, 7(2), 119–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crossen, M. M., Lane, H. W., & White, R. E. (1999) An organizational learning framework: From intuition to institution. Academy of Management Review, 24, 522–537.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Czarniawska, B. (1997) Narrating the organization. Chicago: University of ChicagoPress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daft, R. L., & Weick, K, E. (1984) Toward a model of organizations as interpretation systems. Academy of Management Review, 9(2), 284–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davenport, T. H., & Prusak, L. (1998) Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know. Boston, MA: Harvard Business SchoolPress.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeLong, D. W., & Fahey, L. (2000) Diagnosing cultural barriers to knowledge management. The Academy of Management Executive, 14(4), 113–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dougherty, D. (1992) Interpretive barriers to successful product innovation in large firms. Organization Science, 3, 179–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dougherty, D., Borrelli, L., Munir, K., & O’Sullivan, A. (2000). Systems of organizational sensemaking for sustained product innovation. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 17, 321–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • du Toit. A. (2003) Knowledge: a sense making process shared through narrative. Journal of Knowledge Management management, 7 (3),27–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, S. P. (1990) Stories as cultural creativity: On the relation between symbolism and politics in organizational change. Human Relations, 43, 809–828.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher, C. (1996) “The 250 lb man in the alley”: Police storytelling. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 9(5),35–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gabriel, Y. (1995) The unmanaged organization: Stories, fantasies and subjectivity. Organization Studies, 16(3), 477–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gabriel, Y. (2000) Storytelling in organizations: Facts, fictions, and fantasies. Oxford, UK: Oxford UniversityPress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galvin, R. (1996) Managing knowledge towards wisdom. European Management Journal, 14(4), 374–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gold, A. H., Malhotra, A., & Segars, A. H. (2001) Knowledge management: An organizational perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems, 18(1), 185–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanson, C. D., & Kahnweiler, W. M. (1993) Storytelling: An instrument for understanding the dynamics of corporate relationships. Human Relations, 46(12), 1391–1410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, A. T. (1996) Critical incident story creation and culture formation in a self-directed work team. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 9(5),27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, G. (1999) Sources of power: How people make decisions. Cambridge, MA:MITPress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kogut, B., & Zander, U. (1992) Knowledge of the firm, competitive capabilities, and the replication of technology. Organization Science, 3(3), 383–397.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krogh, G.V, Ichijo, K, & Nonaka, I. (2000) Enabling knowledge creation. New York: Oxford UniversityPress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leonard-Barton, D. (1995) Wellsprings of knowledge: Building and sustaining the source of innovation. Boston: Harvard Business SchoolPress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linde, C. (2001) Narrative and social tacit knowledge. Journal of Knowledge Management management, 5 (2), 160–170.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Madhavan, R., & Grover, R. (1998) From embedded knowledge to embodied knowledge: New product development as knowledge management. Journal of Marketing, 62,1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahler, J. (1988) The quest for organizational meaning: Identifying and interpreting the symbolism in organizational stories. Administration & Society, 20(3), 344–368.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, J., Feldman, M., Hatch, M. J., & Sitkin, S. (1983) The uniqueness paradox in organizational stories. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28(3), 438–453.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, H. J. (2005) Knowledge sharing: The value of storytelling. International Journal of Organisational Behavior, 9(5), 632–641.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monge, P. R., Rothman, L. W., Eisenberg, E. M., Miller, K. L., and Kirste, K. (1985) The dynamics of organizational proximity. Management Science, 31, 1129–1141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monin, N., & Monin, J. (2005) Hijacking the fairy tale: Genre blurring and allegorical breaching in management literature. Organization, 12(4), 511–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nahapiet, J., & Ghoshal, S. (1998) Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage. Academy of Management Review, 23(2), 242–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, R. R., & Winter, S. G. (1982) An evolutionary theory of economic change. Cambridge, MA: BelknapPress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nonaka, I. (1991) The knowledge-creating company. Harvard Business Review, November-December, 96–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nonaka, I., & Konno, N. (1998) The concept of Ba: Building a foundation for knowledge creation. California Management Review, 40(3),40–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, H. (1995) The knowledge creating company: How Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation. New York: Oxford UniversityPress.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Dell, C., & Grayson, C. J. J. (1998) If only we knew what we know. New York: The FreePress.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Reilly, C., & Chatman, J. (1986) Organizational commitment and psychological attachment: The effects of compliance, identification and internalization on prosocial behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 492–499.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orr, J. E. (1990) Sharing knowledge, celebrating identity: Community memory in a service culture. In D. S. Middleton & D. Edwards (Eds.), Collective remembering: Memory in society (pp. 169–189). Beverly Hills, CA:Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pan, S. L., & Scarbrough, H. (1999) Knowledge management in practice: An exploratory case study. Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, 11(3), 359–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patriotta, G. (2003) Sensemaking on the shop floor: Narratives of knowledge in organizations. Journal of Management Studies, 40(2),349.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pondy, L. R., & Mitroff, I. (1979) Beyond open systems models of organizations. In B. M. Staw (Ed.), Research on organizational behavior. Greenwich, CT: JAIPress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rulke, D. L., & Zaheer, S. (2000) Shared and unshared transactive knowledge in complex organizations: An exploratory study. In Z. Shapira & T. Lant (Eds.), Managerial and organizational cognition (pp. 83–100). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schein, E. H. (1985) Organizational culture and leadership. Newbury Park, CA:Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Senge, P. (1990) The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Currency/Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solovy, A. (1999) Once upon a culture. Hospitals and Health Networks, 73(5),26.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson, W. B., & Gilly, M. C. (1991) Information processing and problem solving: The migration of problems through formal positions and networks of ties. Academy of Management Journal, 34(4), 918–928.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Swap, W., Leonard-Barton, D., Shields, M., & Abrams, L. (2001). Using mentoring and storytelling to transfer knowledge in the workplace. Journal of Management Information Systems, 18(1), 95–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. S., Fisher, D., & Dufresne, R. L. (2002) The aesthetics of management storytelling: A key to organizational learning. Management Learning, 33(3), 313–330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Truran, W. R. (1998) Pathways for knowledge: How companies learn through people. Engineering Management Journal, 10(4),15–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webber, A. M. (1993, January - February). What’s so new about the new economy? Harvard Business Review,4–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. (1993) The collapse of sensemaking in organizations: the Mann Gulch disaster. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38(4), 628–652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. (1995) Sensemaking in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. (1997) Cosmos vs. chaos: Sense and nonsense in electronic contexts. In L. Prusak. (Ed.). Knowledge in organizations. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, L. (1999) Collection and connection: The anatomy of knowledge sharing in professional service firms. Organization Development Journal, 17(4),61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiser, M., & Morrison, J. (1998) Project memory: Information management for project teams. Journal of Management Information Systems, 14(4), 149–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Szulanski, G. (2000) The process of knowledge transfer: A diachronic analysis of stickiness. Organization Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 82(1),9–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Hippel, E. (1998) Economics of product development by users: The impact of “sticky” local information. Management Science, 44(5), 629–644.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Zander, U., & Kogut, B. (1995) Knowledge and the speed of the transfer and imitation of organizational capabilities. Organization Studies, 6(1),76–92.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arizona State University, USA

    Minu Ipe

Authors
  1. Minu Ipe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Communication, Information and Library Studies, The State University of New Jersey, 4 Huntington St, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA

    Claire R. McInerney

  2. School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, 1320 East 10th Street, LI 011, Bloomington, IN, 47405-3907, USA

    Ronald E. Day

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2007 Springer-Verlag

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ipe, M. (2007). Sensemaking and the Creation of Social Webs. In: McInerney, C.R., Day, R.E. (eds) Rethinking Knowledge Management. Information Science and Knowledge Management, vol 12. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-71011-6_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-71011-6_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-71010-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-71011-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation