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management and use. However, the goal of Weick was not to eradicate ambiguity, rather work alongside it, because it is a necessary aspect of growth. His structuring of his research was purposefully complex and ambiguous because Weick believed you cannot impose order on a world that is constantly spiraling toward entropy. While in this is strong reasoning, it makes it difficult for individuals to learn and teach this complex theory. This ambiguity creates a cycle of irony, as Weick's goal is to reduce ambiguity within organizations.
306:
space, but expands into informational realms, especially in reaction to the development of the internet. As information on the internet becomes easily accessible and its consumption increases, the need for this theory is more prominent. Organizations and individuals are constantly acting and reacting in patterns that align with this theory. Its complexity mirrors the humanistic nature of society, and is continuously evolving just as the human race is.
252:. Because the definition of equivocality is uncertainty, Weick's study in sensemaking is an effort to reduce multiple interpretations. Within his research, Weick studies requisite variety and how organizations can achieve it by having a "most single" reality. His contributions to the theory of sensemaking include research papers such as his detailed analysis of the breakdown of sensemaking in the case of the
282:(1999). Weick develops the term "mindfulness" from Langer's (1989) work, who uses it to describe individual cognition. Weick's innovation was transferring this concept into the organizational literature as "collective mindfulness". The effective adoption of collective mindfulness characteristics by an organization appears to cultivate safer cultures that exhibit improved system outcomes. The term
134:. In an unlikely turn of events one of the referees, Arthur R. (Bob) Cohen, wrote the editor indicating that he would like to change his appraisal of the article. This prompted Katz to reconsider the significance of the article. Finally in 1964, Weick's first article to come out of his dissertation was published.
171:
In 1984 until 1988, Weick was the
Harkins and Co. Centennial Chair in Business Administration at University of Texas at Austin. Finally, he moved to the University of Michigan in 1988, where he remains as the Rensis Likert Distinguished University Professor of Organizational Behavior and Psychology.
305:
Organizational
Information theory analyzes how information and sense-making varies from person to person because it is perceptual in nature. Essentially, this theory seeks to answer how people make sense of information in an environment. Weick specifies that environment is not limited to a physical
327:
Weick has disputed the claim of plagiarism in a response. Basbøll and Graham later remarked that Weick's defense violates some of the assumptions of his theory of sensemaking, also noting: "The
American Historical Association acknowledges the existence of this common defence in specific cases of
219:
Loose coupling in Weick's sense is a term intended to capture the necessary degree of flex between an organization's internal abstraction of reality, its theory of the world, on the one hand, and the concrete material actuality within which it finally acts, on the other. A loose coupling is what
301:
builds upon general systems theory, and focuses on the complexity of information management within an organization. It is sometimes also called
Information Systems Theory. The theory addresses how organizations reduce equivocality, or uncertainty through a process of information collection,
286:(HRO) is an emergent property described by Weick (and Karlene Roberts at UC-Berkeley). Highly mindful organizations characteristically exhibit: a) Preoccupation with failure, b) Reluctance to simplify c) Sensitivity to operations, d) Commitment to Resilience, and e) Deference to Expertise.
263:
In Weick's first book, The Social
Psychology of Organizing, he lists seven properties of organizational sensemaking: identity, retrospect, enactment, social contact, ongoing events, cues, and plausibility. This categorization of thought is the human mind's attempt to understand information.
211:
in an organizational context comes from his 1976 paper on "Educational
Organizations as Loosely Coupled Systems" (published in the Administrative Science Quarterly), revisited in his review of subsequent uses of the concept, with JD Orton, in 1990's
289:
Weick explained that mindfulness is when we realize our current expectations, continuously improve those expectations based on new experiences, and implement those expectations to improve the current situation into a better one.
197:
Managers construct, rearrange, single out, and demolish many 'objective' features of their surroundings. When people act they unrandomize variables, insert vestiges of orderliness, and literally create their own
633:
160:
as an associate professor of psychology, and was promoted to full professor in 1968. In 1972, he left
Minnesota to be a professor of psychology and organizational behavior in the business school at
324:, February 4, 1977. Weick republished the poem with minor differences, sometimes without quotation or attribution. The plagiarism was detailed in an article by Thomas Basbøll and Henrik Graham.
318:, "Brief thoughts on maps", in which soldiers lost in the Alps find their way with an old map, revealed at the end to be a map of the Pyrénées. The original poem was published in the
98:
in 1962. Although he tried several degree programs within the psychology department, the department finally built a degree program specifically for Weick and fellow student
164:, and in 1977 was given the title of Nicholas H. Noyes Professor of Organizational Behavior and Professor of Psychology. From 1977 to 1985, he was the editor of the
535:
Weick, K. E. (1964). Reduction of cognitive dissonance through task enhancement and effort expenditure. The
Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 68(5), 533.
232:
it captures between the subjective and the objective, and against uses of the term which 'resolve' the dialectic by folding it into one side or the other.
83:
91:
122:
congratulating him on being the 1961-62 Winner of the Best
Dissertation of the Year Award in Creative Talent Awards Program sponsored by the
99:
805:
830:
131:
671:"Substitutes for Strategy Research: Notes on the source of Karl Weick's anecdote of the young lieutenant and the map of the Pyrenees"
840:
270:
considers a major idea of this book to be summed up as learning to "argue as if you are right and to listen as if you are wrong".
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845:
825:
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People try to make sense of organizations, and organizations themselves try to make sense of their environment. In this
556:
520:
474:
298:
165:
123:
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1984, with
Richard L Daft, "Toward a model of organizations as Interpretation systems". Academy of Management.
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plagiarism, tersely remarking that it "is plausible only in the context of a wider tolerance of shoddy work".
855:
283:
249:
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that suggested Weick write a chapter about laboratory experiments and organizations for the first edition of
138:
670:
228:
idea of 'articulation'). Orton and Weick argue in favour of uses of the term which consciously preserve the
793:
153:, published in 1965. This ultimately established Weick's "identity" as an organizational psychologist.
320:
278:
Weick introduced the term mindfulness into the organizational and safety literatures in the article
765:
27:
704:
157:
115:
43:
835:
641:
260:" - a challenge to assumptions that causes participants to question their own capacity to act.
47:
35:
22:(born October 31, 1936) is an American organizational theorist who introduced the concepts of "
437:
388:
377:
351:
225:
137:
Weick notes that while at Purdue, he was fortunate to develop close ties with faculty in the
75:
67:
581:
Orton, J. Douglas; Weick, Karl E. (1990). "Loosely Coupled Systems: A Reconceptualization".
820:
314:
In several published articles, Weick related a story that originally appeared in a poem by
63:
8:
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95:
598:
161:
552:
516:
470:
257:
111:
71:
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Flory, Marja; Basbøll, Thomas (30 March 2012). "Legitimate peripheral irritations".
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629:
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119:
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incompatible entities to exist and act on each other, without shattering (akin to
546:
510:
253:
59:
315:
208:
146:
79:
23:
750:
814:
190:
39:
244:, Weick pays attention to questions of ambiguity and uncertainty, known as
657:
Managing the unexpected: assuring high performance in an age of complexity
374:
Managing the Unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity
241:
31:
396:
Making Sense of the Organization (Volume 2) The Impermanent Organization
385:
Managing the Unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty
806:
The Collapse of Sensemaking in Organisations - The Mann-Gulch Disaster
602:
467:
Organizational Behavior 2: Essential Theories of Process and Structure
440:
and, David Obstfeld, "Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking", in:
617:
The Collapse of Sensemaking in Organizations: The Mann Gulch Disaster
229:
110:
From 1962 to 1965, Weick was an assistant professor of psychology at
280:
Organizing for high reliability: Processes of collective mindfulness
594:
221:
118:. Six months after arriving at Purdue, he received a letter from
408:
1976, "Educational Organizations as Loosely Coupled Systems."
512:
Management Laureates: A Collection of Autobiographical Essays
87:
429:
1989, "Theory Construction as Disciplined Imagination", in:
126:. Weick submitted an article based on this research to
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1988, "Enacted Sensemaking in Crisis Situation", in:
352:
The Social Psychology of Organizing (Second edition)
293:
344:
The Social Psychology of Organizing (first edition)
189:to denote the idea that certain phenomena (such as
812:
678:Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organizations
444:. Vol. 16, nÂş 4, p. 409-421, Jul/Aug, 2005.
256:disaster, in which he defines the notion of a "
794:Leadership When Events Don't Play By the Rules
628:
548:Handbook of Organizations (RLE: Organizations)
464:
214:Loosely Coupled Systems: A Reconceptualization
668:
655:Weick, K. E., & Sutcliffe, K. M. (2001).
128:The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
736:
705:"Dear editor: A reply to Basbøll and Graham"
16:American organizational theorist (born 1936)
739:Journal of Organizational Change Management
619:, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 38
460:
458:
367:Making Sense of the Organization (Volume 1)
207:Weick's major contribution to the topic of
53:
580:
42:Distinguished University Professor at the
802:interview with Weick in Wired, April 1996
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502:
669:Basbøll, Thomas; Graham, Henrik (2006).
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571:Social Psychology of Organizing, p. 243
508:
248:in organizational research that adopts
58:Weick was born on October 31, 1936, in
813:
499:
544:
482:
426:. 25:4, pp. 305–317, July, 1988.
193:) are created by being talked about.
130:, but it was rejected by the editor,
433:. 14:4, pp. 516–531, Oct, 1989.
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102:called "organizational psychology".
13:
634:"Building the civilized workplace"
14:
867:
831:American organizational theorists
787:
702:
509:Bedeian, Arthur G. (1993-01-01).
419:(pre-1986); 9; pg. 284; Apr 1984.
299:Organizational information theory
294:Organizational information theory
202:
156:Also in 1965, Weick moved to the
583:The Academy of Management Review
417:The Academy of Management Review
410:Administrative Science Quarterly
166:Administrative Science Quarterly
124:American Institutes for Research
841:Ross School of Business faculty
757:
730:
696:
662:
649:
331:
764:Basbøll, Thomas (2006-07-17).
622:
609:
574:
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545:March, James G. (2013-06-26).
538:
529:
273:
235:
1:
770:Research as a Second Language
659:. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
448:
424:Journal of Management Studies
309:
284:high reliability organization
250:information processing theory
139:Krannert School of Management
74:, in 1958. He went on to The
851:Ohio State University alumni
846:Wittenberg University alumni
431:Academy of Management Review
360:Sensemaking in Organizations
220:makes it possible for these
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7:
826:American business theorists
10:
872:
751:10.1108/09534811211213900
321:Times Literary Supplement
151:Handbook of Organizations
105:
54:Early life and education
465:Miner, John B. (2005),
158:University of Minnesota
116:West Lafayette, Indiana
90:under the direction of
82:under the direction of
44:Ross School of Business
642:The McKinsey Quarterly
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48:University of Michigan
36:organizational studies
438:Kathleen M. Sutcliffe
389:Kathleen M. Sutcliffe
378:Kathleen M. Sutcliffe
346:, Addison-Wesley Pub.
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76:Ohio State University
856:Mindfulness movement
796:Short essay by Weick
442:Organization Science
185:Weick uses the term
800:Complicate Yourself
96:Milton J. Rosenberg
766:"Karl Weick and I"
615:Weick, K. (1993).
162:Cornell University
84:Harold B. Pepinsky
68:Wittenberg College
387:. with co-author
376:. with co-author
258:cosmology episode
176:Key contributions
112:Purdue University
92:Douglas P. Crowne
72:Springfield, Ohio
64:bachelor's degree
62:. He earned his
20:Karl Edward Weick
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745:(2): 220–235.
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316:Miroslav Holub
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38:. He is the
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821:1936 births
436:2005, with
274:Mindfulness
236:Sensemaking
32:sensemaking
28:mindfulness
815:Categories
775:31 January
722:31 January
688:31 January
449:References
310:Plagiarism
254:Mann Gulch
100:Genie Plog
230:dialectic
187:enactment
181:Enactment
141:. It was
718:(2): 193
712:Ephemera
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412:21:1-19.
403:Articles
132:Dan Katz
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362:, Sage.
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495:, 2007
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394:2009,
383:2007,
372:2001,
365:2001,
358:1995,
349:1979,
342:1969,
106:Career
708:(PDF)
674:(PDF)
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599:JSTOR
337:Books
88:Ph.D.
777:2017
724:2017
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