It has become the norm for organisations in many industrial sectors to constantly
operate in dynamic, uncertain and challenging business environments. Technology,
regulations, global economy, changing political actions and international conditions are
all changing rapidly, creating dynamic business conditions for organisations to
understand, react to and thus survive. The Oil and Gas (O&G) sector which is the
backbone of the economic growth for many countries in the Middle East region is not
an exception to the real world of business filled with uncertainties.
The construction of meaning or sensemaking is a prerequisite management skill for
complex problem solving and decision-making for survival in today’s increasingly
dynamic business environments. Current literature on sensemaking tends to focus on
senior management’s role in the process, overlooking the critical role middle
management teams play in the construction of meaning. Further, although
sensemaking literature illustrates the influence of sensegiving and sensebreaking on
sensemaking, there is limited empirical research in existing literature on how middle
management teams apply sensegiving and sensebreaking to influence the process.
Finally, this research fills a gap in sensemaking research in developing countries to
decolonise Western-based research and ensure that local culture and ideologies are
taken into account. In particular, it provides important data for the O&G sector in
Bahrain, which is important for the Middle East region.
Therefore, this research investigates how middle management teams use sensemaking
to understand complex problems and how they apply sensegiving and sensebreaking
to influence the sensemaking process in Bahrain’s O&G sector. The data was gathered
using a qualitative approach using in-depth semi-structured interviews, middle
management team meeting observations and operational documents review.
The findings include seven themes and 26 sub-themes are visualised in a four-step
sensemaking process framework. This framework also illustrates the sensemaking
triggers and properties, as well as the influences and sources of information middle management teams adopt to construct meaning in dynamic O&G environments.
Further, the four-step sensemaking process framework incorporates the different
sensegiving and sensebreaking techniques embraced.
This research extends the existing sensemaking literature by providing a descriptive
empirical framework to better understand middle management team sensemaking,
sensegiving and sensebreaking in dynamic O&G environments. This four-step
sensemaking process framework gives middle management teams a way to organise
information related to events in an objective manner, enabling them to develop effective
reactions to a fast-changing environment. The framework also offers human resource
practitioners a platform to assess and develop middle management sensemaking skills.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/19542 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Husain, Ismaeel M. |
| Contributors | Weerakkody, Vishanth J.P. |
| Publisher | University of Bradford, Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, doctoral, DBA |
| Rights | <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. |
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