Understanding sensegiving Practices of Middle Managers during Strategic Change: a dynamic perspective

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This research is concerned with how Middle Managers (MM) make sense of strategic change by focusing on understanding what they do in terms of activities and practices, seeing sensemaking as a set of activities. Based on an interpretive unique case study it draws on the implementation of a top down strategic change initiative in a multinational technology firm. Through inductive reasoning, we identify a set of four sensegiving modes that aggregate sixteen practices. Considering how MM made sense of the situation when implementing these sensegiving practices, we identify two sensemaking dimensions that articulate with sensegiving practices. Ordering the sensegiving practices with the underpinning sensemaking elements overtime we identify the dynamics of these practices and propose a process model of sensegiving practices as performed by MM.