Cette recherche aborde la contribution du leadership à la construction de l’intelligence collective dans une équipe de travail qui produit un bulletin de nouvelles télévisé. L’intelligence collective est une façon de travailler qu’ont développée les organisations hautement fiables, c’est-à-dire les organisations où la moindre erreur peut mener à la catastrophe. En favorisant la capacité de s’adapter à un environnement en constante évolution, le développement de l’intelligence collective permet aux organisations d’être plus compétitives dans un univers imprévisible. Nous avons tenté de voir si les mécanismes de construction de l’intelligence collective étaient présents dans une salle des nouvelles et comment le leadership émergent contribuait à la construction de ces mécanismes. Nous avons mobilisé les théories du sensemaking et de l’organizing de Weick et avons étudié les interactions entre les acteurs de l’organisation en contexte. L’analyse a montré comment un leadership distribué parmi les membres a contribué à l’émergence des mécanismes de l’intelligence collective. L’originalité de ce travail repose sur la mise en relation de l’observation du leadership en émergence et de la construction de l’intelligence collective. En ce sens, nous croyons qu’il peut contribuer aux recherches sur l’intelligence collective en présentant concrètement comment elle se construit dans une équipe de travail.

Ethical hacking is one important information security risk management strategy business and academic organizations use to protect their information assets from the growing threat of hackers. Most published books on ethical hacking have focused on its technical applications in risk assessment practices. This thesis addressed a gap within the organizational communication literature on ethical hacking. Taking a qualitative exploratory case study approach, the thesis paired technoethical inquiry theory with Karl Weick’s sensemaking model to explore ethical hacking in a Canadian university. In-depth interviews with key stakeholder groups and a document review were conducted. Guided by the Technoethical Inquiry Decision-making Grid (TEI-DMG), a qualitative framework for use in technological assessment, findings pointed to the need to expand the communicative and social considerations involved in decision making about ethical hacking practices. Guided by Weick’s theory, findings pointed to security awareness training for increasing sensemaking opportunities and reducing equivocality in the information environment.

Within Canada, the ever-changing context of universities is paralleled by an increased number of unfinished presidential mandates, approximately 16 in the past ten years. “Never has Canadian university presidential leadership been under greater scrutiny than it is today” (MacKinnon, 2004, p. 132). The trend of an increasing number of unfinished mandates of university presidents in Canada leads to some important questions that require further exploration. Through an in-depth series of interviews with six of the 16 Canadian university presidents with unfinished mandates, this research dives deeply into leadership experiences and highlights patterns and trends within the individual trajectories leading to their shortened mandate. More precisely, the leaders’ transitional process within their presidential role is examined in order to gain insight into the challenges of transition, particularly for the person at the top of the organization. The findings are focused on the themes of board governance and communication, university transitions, relationships within the executive team, the role of the predecessor, and diversity and leadership. This dissertation contributes a unique piece of research to the higher educational literature, and also provides concrete recommendations to improve transitional practices for leaders within the higher education environment.

This thesis presents a qualitative multiple case study which examines the early implementation of the community matron policy in three primary care trusts in England. The community matron was a new role in nursing, introduced by the Department of Health in 2004, as part of its strategy for the management of long term conditions (DH, 2005e). There was a paucity of research literature underpinning the policy and the implementation of the community matron role in England. A descriptive multiple case study was used as it generates a richness of data using multiple data collection methods, ideally positioned to investigate phenomena in context and contemporaneously. In addition to documentary material, 49 participants were recruited across the three case study sites, from community matrons, active case managers, health and social care colleagues and patients. A total of 30 interviews, 33 observations and one focus group were undertaken between 2006 and 2008. Framework Analysis was used to interpret the data and critical sensemaking was applied as a heuristic to gain insight into the findings.This study explored the early role implementation from the perspective of the community matron. It found that the community matron role had been adopted with regard to the national model but there was variation in its implementation between case study sites, seen in service structures, eligibility criteria and caseload management. Practitioners had exercised professional discretion to flex local service models to fit their ways of practice and professional decision making, although this may not have been conscious behaviour. They also expanded the role to include psychosocial support, beyond the nationally defined functions. Advanced practice was integral to the role; whilst there appeared to be a medical influence on this aspect of role development; practitioners had adopted traditionally medical tasks and incorporated them into nursing practice, making such roles their own. Community matrons described experiencing resistance to the role initially from some district nurses and GPs, outlining how they adopted strategies to address these and promote acceptance of the role. As such, individual community matrons were the key change agents. They experienced dissonance between organisational values and professional values, which they addressed by reinterpreting collective targets such as reducing hospital admissions into individual patient outcomes related to improved quality of life. Critical sensemaking gives a unique perspective on the implementation of national policy, through the lens of the community matron, highlighting the experience of nursing role development at an individual and team level, and the ways in which variation can occur. Further research is needed into nursing policy implementation to better understand the processes at play nationally and organisationally. Critical sensemaking might be used to inform how implementation can be effective and sustainable.

I denna studie undersöks en mediebyrå som befinner sig mitt i en branschförändring.  Mediebyråns förutsättningar har sedan 2014 förändrats i och med intåget av ett nytt, automatiserat sätt att köpa medieutrymme, vilket kallas för programmatiska medieköp. Detta nya köpförfarande riskerar att förändra, och har redan förändrat många av byråns anställdas roll och branschförändringen ligger i fokus för studien. Studien syftar således till att undersöka hur organisationen ställer sig till intåget av programmatiska köp, samt hur förändring förstås genom  kommunikation inom organisationen. Tidigare forskning kring förändring och förändringskommunikation har identifierat att ett förändringsmotstånd ofta uppkommer i samband med större förändringar. Denna studie fann dock att det inte förekom några tydliga tecken på förändringsmotstånd i samband med branschförändringen. Flera olika förklaringar till bristen på förändringsmotstånd upptäcktes under studiens gång. Företagets organisatoriska kontext är en huvudsaklig anledning till den positiva inställningen till förändring. Företaget befinner sig i en organisatorisk kontext som är utsatt för konstanta förändringar, något som gör att företagets medlemmar är mer öppna till förändring. Genom meningsskapande, kommunikativa processer försöker företagets anställda hela tiden skapa mening av förändringarna genom intern och externt influerad kommunikation, i form av utbildning och informationsspridande. Studien fann även att en bidragande orsak till bristen på förändringsmotstånd är att de anställda tillåts delta i förändringsprocessen på olika sätt, och detta leder till att de blir mer informerade och redo att ta till sig förändring. / Aim: The aim of this study is to research how organizational change is communicated and accepted in a media organisation. This is done by analyzing different strategies of change communication and sense making strategies in uncertain environments.  Contribution: The papers contribution to the field is mainly empirical. A lot of studies have been done on change resistance, but not as many has been done on reasons for lack thereof. This paper strives to bring clearness to how a company manages to prevent change resistance in a ever changing environment.  Results and conclusion: The study found that one of the biggest challenges in the studied organisation was a business wide emergence of a new way to buy advertising space. Although the change is likely going to effect a lot of employees in the organisation, a lack of resistance towards the change was found in the initial period of the observations conducted at the company. The aim was thereafter to find out how this could be. The findings was that several aspects could explain the phenomenon. The company’s organizational context was a main reason for the positive attitudes towards change. The company operates in a context that is largely affected by constant changes, and this makes the members of the organisation more open to change. Also, through sense making mechanisms, the company constantly strives to make sense of the changes by internal and externally influenced communication. A second reason to the lack of resistance is found to be the fact that the employees are allowed to participate in different ways in the change, leading them to become more informed and ready for the emerging change.

Today, video communication is common in private and professional communication, and during corona pandemic 2020, its use has increased significantly. This has raised the issue on the fact that video communication is not as perceived as natural as a face-to-face conversation, and the lack of eye contact can be a contributing cause. This study has developed and evaluated a video communication design where it was possible for users to have eye contact. It was also possible to manipulate the camera position. The aim of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of the design in research on eye contact, which gave the opportunity to also investigate how this affects the experience of the conversation. The study also investigated how the self-view affects experience of conversations. Twelve persons participated in the study. After a relaxed conversation, a semi-structured interview was conducted on how they experienced the different camera angles. The participants eye movements were also recorded. The result shows a significant and consistent perceived difference between different camera positions. The usual camera position with 15° decentration felt familiar and the extreme decentration of 45° position felt unreal and abnormal. When given the opportunity for eye contact, the participants felt significantly more present in the conversation with increased sense of reality. The Self-view was perceived as an obstacle to feel present, but gave a sense of control. These results are discussed in relation to the need to adapt video communication to social processes and its biological origin, e.g. the eyes function for we-ness and the implication of seeing oneself during conversations.

Frågeställning: Hur kommunicerar och skapar mellanchefer mening under kris? Syfte: Vi vill skapa en större förståelse för hur mellanchefer arbetar med intern kommunikation och sensemaking under kris. Vi vill även undersöka på vilka sätt social distansering påverkar mellanchefers arbete med sensemaking och intern kommunikation under kris.   Metod: En kvalitativ tvärsnittsstudie har genomförts utifrån en deduktiv forskningsansats.  Resultat & Slutsats: Den viktigaste upptäckten är att mellanchefer tar på sig rollen som ett kommunikationsfilter i sensegiving processen, vilket kan leda till att medarbetarna inte får samma information i slutändan, vilket i sin tur ökar mängden informell kommunikation (ryktesspridning). Om den informella kommunikationen blir större än den formella kommunikationen kan det minska förtroendet för mellancheferna och i värsta fall resultera i intern kommunikationskris. Vi fann också att social distansering till följd av Folkhälsomyndighetens begränsningar kan öka risken för intern kommunikationskris på grund av bristande kontroll gällande den informella kommunikationen samt försvagat förtroende för ledarskapet. Slutligen framträder sensegiving och sensemaking som viktiga verktyg för mellanchefen i arbetet med att förebygga och förhindra psykisk ohälsa under krisen. Nyckelord: Sensemaking, sensegiving, internal communication, internal communication crisis, crisis management och crisis leadership / This study aims to examine how the middle manager creates meaning and communicates during an exceptional crisis. The purpose of the study is to raise awareness, and create a greater understanding of the importance, of the middle manager during a crisis, like Covid-19, in terms of sensemaking and internal communication. Our research question is: How does middle managers communicate and create meaning during a crisis?  To investigate the phenomenon, a cross-sectional study was used to provide a wider picture and enable comparisons between organisations. The study was done through a deductive research approach, and empirical data was obtained through a qualitative strategy.  The most important finding, is that middle managers take on the role of a communication filter in the sensegiving-process. This role, may result in employees not getting the same information, which in turn raises the amount of informal communication (spreading rumors). Moreover, if the informal communication becomes greater than the formal communication, it may threaten leadership confidence, which may result in an internal communication crisis.  We also found, that sensegiving and sensemaking become important tools for the middle manager to prevent mental illness, during social distancing and its restrictions, enforced by the Public Health Authority.   Finally, we present a theoretical contribution to increase understanding of the phenomenon.   Keywords: Sensemaking, sensegiving, internal communication, internal communication crisis, crisis management and crisis leadership

Thesis advisor: Martin Scanlan / This qualitative single-site case study examined how district administrators in one racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse Massachusetts school district supported and strengthened principals’ culturally responsive leadership practice. Building coherent culture and structures that provide space to critically self-reflect and collaboratively learn are essential. Data collection included interviews with district administrators and principals, observations of leadership meetings, document review, and a survey. Findings revealed district administrators established collaborative relationships with principals by employing a coherent service-oriented approach. Participants perceived the intentionality of the superintendent’s efforts as foundational to building trust, however prior experiences with district leadership impeded these efforts. The superintendent controlled sensemaking to signal equity as a district priority, yet the lack of a shared understanding of culturally responsive practice led participants to conflate culturally responsive practice with other district endorsed equity practices. Attempts were made to align structures and tools to equity priorities, however culturally responsive practices were subsumed within other equity initiatives creating variance in the perception of the effectiveness of how structures and tools support principals’ culturally responsive leadership practice. Implications include developing a district definition of culturally responsive practice and using equity practices as a scaffold to support principals’ understanding and enactment of culturally responsive practices that bring critical self-reflection and conversations about racial and cultural bias to the forefront. Future research may extend this study to analyze sensegiving interactions and examine the impact of these interactions on principals’ culturally responsive leadership practice / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Raquel Muniz / Traditionally, district leaders are the initiators of large-scale reform efforts including the establishment of social emotional learning (SEL) initiatives. However, school-based leaders also bear the responsibility of implementing the programs and practices associated with such district-wide initiatives. While there is a significant body of research on strategies leaders can use during the implementation process, as well as the content of those strategies that enable sensemaking, there is little information about what district and school leaders should do to ensure successful implementation of social emotional learning (SEL) initiatives. Further, no research to date has focused on the manner in which district leaders support school-based leaders as they make sense of a district-wide focus on SEL, and how such a focus on SEL shapes school-based leadership practices. This study is part of a larger qualitative case study about leadership practices that model SEL competencies for adults or, promote the social and emotional learning for teachers and other staff, and the way those leadership practices shape a district and its schools in a Massachusetts public school district. The purpose of this individual study was to examine, through the lens of sensemaking, how district leaders supported school-based leaders as they made sense of a district-wide focus on SEL, how a district-wide focus on SEL shaped school-based leadership practices, and which school-based leadership practices, if any, modeled SEL competencies. Findings indicate that district leaders supported school-based leaders’ sensemaking by articulating a clear mission and goals, providing structures that fostered collaboration, and supporting professional development. However, the school-based leaders’ sensemaking could be deepened through greater opportunities to share their learning through collaboration. School-based leaders acknowledged that a district-wide focus on SEL shaped their leadership practices, namely that SEL serves as the foundation from which they lead. More specifically, all respondents mentioned leadership practices associated with the competencies of social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. Implications suggest successful implementation of district-wide SEL initiatives relies on district leaders creating and supporting interactions that will support school-based leaders’ sensemaking of a district-wide focus on SEL. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Martin Scanlan / While the U.S. student body is increasingly racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse, the teaching population itself, however, does not mirror this same diversity. As such, there is an urgent need for teachers who can adequately meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student population (Sleeter, 2001). Some teachers are undeniably more successful at the task of educating diverse student populations than others. How then - are these teachers in particular - successfully able to effectively teach students across various lines of difference? The purpose of this qualitative individual study is to explore teachers’ views on how they have developed their cultural proficiency. How do teachers who have been identified by school leaders as particularly effective at teaching diverse student populations develop their culturally responsive practice, and more pointedly - their capacity to effectively teach students from historically marginalized groups (i.e. students from racially minoritized groups or socio-economically disadvantaged groups)? Utilizing a sense-making framework, and gathering information using methods including semi-structured interviews, teacher questionnaires, and reflective journaling, this study uncovers emergent themes and trends in how individual teachers within a diverse Massachusetts school district make sense of the process by which they developed their culturally responsive teaching capacities and practice. If educational leaders form a better understanding of how teachers effectively develop their cultural competencies, then principals and district leaders will be able to use this information to more effectively design professional development programs that sustain teachers’ cultural proficiency and better equip them to successfully serve the increasingly diverse student population. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.