Summary Introduction to management and organization BA2:SEM1
Lecture 1: Managing and Organizations
Learning objectives:
- What does sensemaking mean?
- What is managerialism?
- Can you describe and discuss managerial rationality?
1. What does sensemaking mean
Management is the process of communicating, coordinating and
accomplishing action in pursuit of organizational objectives. It is not just a
neutral activity aimed at maximizing productivity or efficiency but a socio-
political practice with ethical responsibiliti
es. Managers work within organizations to coordinate actions and build
relationships with stakeholders, technologies, and communities. It entails
two critical things; sensemaking and framing.
a) Sensemaking is the process through which individuals and groups
give meaning to something, especially to explain novel, unexcepted
or confusing experiences and events. Within organizations, top
management teams strive to set a common frame so that the
members within the organization can make common sense of the
organization. So, we are trying to understand and explain what is
happening around us – we make sense of our surroundings.
Sensemaking is a continuous and social process. People may
experience the same thing in a diferent way because everyone’s
brain functions differently. This means that the role of the manager
is to make sense to certain situations.
1
,Summary Introduction to management and organization BA2:SEM1
b) Framing
- Fairhurst: framing involves the creation of devices that assign
meaning to organizational situations
- Deets et al: Framing entails the ideational use of metaphors, the
repition of stores, the citing of traditions, the articulation of slogans
and the material creation of artefacts to highlight or contrast a
particular organizational issue
- Fairhurst and Sarr: Framing is what leaders do, especially when they
are seeking to reframe in the case of organizational change
A significan part of managing is to try and cue people to make common
meaning. This is important because people are individuals, and as a
result, can make different sense of the same set of events or cues. So,
manager must create a frame.. Managers use framing to shape how
others perceive events. It involves selecting relevant aspects of a situation
and ignoring others,It’s about deciding what information is relevant.
Framing occurs through…
- Senemaking
- Sensegiving: Influencing others to adopt a particular
interpretation. This is often linked to leadership as leaders strive to
align collective understanding during change or crises.
- Sensebreaking: Disrupting established interpretations to allow
new frameworks to emerge.
2. What is managerialism?
Managerialism is the idea that people trained in management are the best
decision-makers in an organization because they have specialized
knowledge. It portras management as a universal solution to all
problems . This leads to the belief that only managers can make important
decisions, and other employees or people outside the management world
might not be trusted to make those decisions, even if they have valuable
knowledge.
A few key characteristics of managerialism:
- A single source of authority (deprives the rest of decision-making)
- Emerged in profit-making organizations as an expression of
economic rationalism ( = argues that markets and prices are the
only reliable indices of value).
- One-dimensional application of managerial techniques
However, this perspective overlooks the fact that organizations are not
purely driven by financial capital. Intangible assets such as symbolic
capital (reputation) and social capital (connections and relationships) are
equally significant.
Yes, organizations focus on professionalized workflows but these
organizations are full of stories (rumour, gossip). This is why managers
cannot rely solely on rational decision-making—where decisions are based
2
, Summary Introduction to management and organization BA2:SEM1
purely on logic and facts—because they rarely have perfect knowledge of
every situation. No organization can be fully rationalized due to the
inherent complexity and the impossibility of knowing all relevant
information. Therefore, managerialism alone is insufficient, and managers
must move beyond a purely rationalist approach.
3. Can you describe and discuss managerial rationality?
Managerial rationality is about making logical and efficient decisions
within a specific context, using reasoning and data to find the best
solution. It focuses on optimizing resources, processes and outcomes and
seeks to achieve efficiency, consistency and predicability. Some feminist
critics say that managerial rationality seems a like a quite masculine view
of the world.
It is distinct from managerialism, which is rooted in the belief that
management is a universal solution for any problem and elevates the
necessity of management into an overarching ideology of the modern
world.
3
Lecture 1: Managing and Organizations
Learning objectives:
- What does sensemaking mean?
- What is managerialism?
- Can you describe and discuss managerial rationality?
1. What does sensemaking mean
Management is the process of communicating, coordinating and
accomplishing action in pursuit of organizational objectives. It is not just a
neutral activity aimed at maximizing productivity or efficiency but a socio-
political practice with ethical responsibiliti
es. Managers work within organizations to coordinate actions and build
relationships with stakeholders, technologies, and communities. It entails
two critical things; sensemaking and framing.
a) Sensemaking is the process through which individuals and groups
give meaning to something, especially to explain novel, unexcepted
or confusing experiences and events. Within organizations, top
management teams strive to set a common frame so that the
members within the organization can make common sense of the
organization. So, we are trying to understand and explain what is
happening around us – we make sense of our surroundings.
Sensemaking is a continuous and social process. People may
experience the same thing in a diferent way because everyone’s
brain functions differently. This means that the role of the manager
is to make sense to certain situations.
1
,Summary Introduction to management and organization BA2:SEM1
b) Framing
- Fairhurst: framing involves the creation of devices that assign
meaning to organizational situations
- Deets et al: Framing entails the ideational use of metaphors, the
repition of stores, the citing of traditions, the articulation of slogans
and the material creation of artefacts to highlight or contrast a
particular organizational issue
- Fairhurst and Sarr: Framing is what leaders do, especially when they
are seeking to reframe in the case of organizational change
A significan part of managing is to try and cue people to make common
meaning. This is important because people are individuals, and as a
result, can make different sense of the same set of events or cues. So,
manager must create a frame.. Managers use framing to shape how
others perceive events. It involves selecting relevant aspects of a situation
and ignoring others,It’s about deciding what information is relevant.
Framing occurs through…
- Senemaking
- Sensegiving: Influencing others to adopt a particular
interpretation. This is often linked to leadership as leaders strive to
align collective understanding during change or crises.
- Sensebreaking: Disrupting established interpretations to allow
new frameworks to emerge.
2. What is managerialism?
Managerialism is the idea that people trained in management are the best
decision-makers in an organization because they have specialized
knowledge. It portras management as a universal solution to all
problems . This leads to the belief that only managers can make important
decisions, and other employees or people outside the management world
might not be trusted to make those decisions, even if they have valuable
knowledge.
A few key characteristics of managerialism:
- A single source of authority (deprives the rest of decision-making)
- Emerged in profit-making organizations as an expression of
economic rationalism ( = argues that markets and prices are the
only reliable indices of value).
- One-dimensional application of managerial techniques
However, this perspective overlooks the fact that organizations are not
purely driven by financial capital. Intangible assets such as symbolic
capital (reputation) and social capital (connections and relationships) are
equally significant.
Yes, organizations focus on professionalized workflows but these
organizations are full of stories (rumour, gossip). This is why managers
cannot rely solely on rational decision-making—where decisions are based
2
, Summary Introduction to management and organization BA2:SEM1
purely on logic and facts—because they rarely have perfect knowledge of
every situation. No organization can be fully rationalized due to the
inherent complexity and the impossibility of knowing all relevant
information. Therefore, managerialism alone is insufficient, and managers
must move beyond a purely rationalist approach.
3. Can you describe and discuss managerial rationality?
Managerial rationality is about making logical and efficient decisions
within a specific context, using reasoning and data to find the best
solution. It focuses on optimizing resources, processes and outcomes and
seeks to achieve efficiency, consistency and predicability. Some feminist
critics say that managerial rationality seems a like a quite masculine view
of the world.
It is distinct from managerialism, which is rooted in the belief that
management is a universal solution for any problem and elevates the
necessity of management into an overarching ideology of the modern
world.
3
