Process, Sensemaking, and Organizing

• Comprehensive treatment of theories underlying process thinking and sensemaking
• Critical analysis of current research on the subject
• Contributions from leading European and North American scholars
• Provides insights from a diverse range of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives

Readership: Academics, researchers, and graduate students in management, organization studies, and sociology

Edited by Tor Hernes, Copenhagen Business School, and Sally Maitlis, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia

Tor Hernes is Professor of Organization Theory at Copenhagen Business School. Among his books are Understanding Organization as Process: Theory for a Tangled World (London: Routledge, 2007) and Actor-network Theory and Organizing (edited with Barbara Czarniawska, 2005, Copenhagen Business School). Tor Hernes works from a combination of process philosophy, systems theory and Actor-Network Theory.

Sally Maitlis is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia. Her work has been published in the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies, MIT Sloan Management Review, Organization Science, and Organization Studies. She is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, and Organization Studies.

Review(s) from previous edition

"Praise for the series: "As we become more willing to convert reified entities into differentiated streams, the resulting images of process have become more viable and more elusive. Organization becomes organizing, being becomes becoming, construction becomes constructing. But as we see ourselves saying more words that end in "ing," what must we be thinking? That is not always clear. But now, under the experienced guidance of editors Langley and Tsoukas, there is an annual forum that moves us toward continuity and consolidation in process studies. This book series promises to be a vigorous, thoughtful forum dedicated to improvements in the substance and craft of process articulation." - Karl E. Weick, Rensis Likert Distinguished University Professor of Organizational Behavior and Psychology, University of Michigan, USA

""Perspectives on Process Organization Studies will be the definitive annual volume of theories and research that advance our understanding of process questions dealing with how things emerge, grow, develop, and terminate over time. I applaud Professors Ann Langley and Haridimos Tsoukas for launching this important book series, and encourage colleagues to submit their process research and subscribe to PROS."" - Andrew H. Van de Ven, Vernon H. Heath Professor of Organizational Innovation and Change, University of Minnesota, USA

""The recent decades witnessed conspicuous changes in organization theory: a slow but inexorable shift from the focus on structures to the focus on processes. The whirlwinds of the global economy made it clear that everything flows, even if change itself can become stable. While the interest in processes of organizing is not new, it is now acquiring a distinct presence, as more and more voices join in. A forum is therefore needed where such voices can speak to one another, and to the interested readers. The series Perspectives on Process Organization Studies will provide an excellent forum of that kind, both for those for whom a processual perspective is a matter of ontology, and those who see it as an epistemological choice." " - Barbara Czarniawska, Professor of Management Studies, School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Ann Langley and Haridimos Tsoukas: Introducing Perspectives on Process Organization Studies
Tor Hernes and Sally Maitlis: Process, Sensemaking, and Organizing: an Introduction
John Mullarkey: Stop Making (Philosophical) Sense: Notes towards a Process Organizational-thinking beyond 'Philosophy'
Kenneth J. Gergen: Co-Constitution, Causality, and Confluence: Organizing in a World without Entities
John Shotter: Adopting a Process Orientation....in Practice: Chiasmic Relations, Language, and Embodiment in a Living World
Karl E. Weick: The Poetics of Process: Theorizing the Ineffable in Organization Studies
Robert Chia: Rediscovering Becoming: Insights from an Oriental Perspective on Process Organization Studies
Barbara Czarniawska: Going Back to Go Forward: On Studying Organizing in Action Nets
Tor Hernes: Actor-Network Theory, Callon's Scallops, and Process-based Organization Studies
Sergey E. Osadchiy, Irma Bogenrieder, and Pursey P.M.A.R. Heugens: Organizational Learning through Problem Absorption: a Processual View
Elden Wiebe: Temporal Sensemaking: Managers' Use of Time to Frame Organizational Change
Silvia Jordan and Hermann Mitterhofer: Studying Metaphors-in-use in their Social and Institutional Context - Sensemaking and Discourse Theory
Robert P. Gephart, Jr., Cagri Topal, and Zhen Zhang: Future-oriented Sensemaking: Temporalities and Institutional Legitimation