Power and Sensemaking: Contested Practices in Organizations

What are the effects of power relations on sensemaking processes—and vice versa? This chapter explores the mutual entanglement of sensemaking and power, two concepts often treated separately in organizational theory. While sensemaking illuminates how individuals and groups interpret ambiguous situations, it has been criticized for underplaying the role of power, politics, and social structures. Foundational accounts often portray sensemaking as participatory, overlooking the uneven distribution of roles, resources, and influence, as well as the impact of institutional and macro-social structures. Conversely, power itself is frequently conceptualized in linear, managerial terms, particularly in research that draws on sensegiving, which implies a one-way transmission of meaning from leaders to followers. To move beyond this, the chapter draws on Michel Foucault’s relational and productive notion of power, which not only constrains but also produces practices, subjectivities, and the realities through which organizational life becomes meaningful. These generative realities, in turn, give rise to new power relations. By exploring how different conceptions of power illuminate sensemaking—and how sensemaking shapes the enactment and experience of power—the chapter reframes sensemaking as a contested, situated, and uneven practice. This approach contributes to a more critical, nuanced, and realistic understanding of organizational life, highlighting the interplay of interpretation, influence, and social positioning.