"Out of sight.... Out of mind" How employees made sense of organisational changes resulting from crisis management

Abstract: Abstract Purpose - The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how employees, of the London Hilton on Park Lane hotel, make sense of organisational changes resulting from crisis management during the Covid-19 pandemic. We aim to contribute to the existing literature within the field of change and crisis management and build on Weick’s (1995) concept of sensemaking. Therefore, our study seeks to answer: How do employees make sense of organisational change resulting from crisis management? Methodology and Methods - Following the interpretive tradition, more specifically, symbolic interactionism, this study took on a qualitative method and abductive approach. Data was collected through 12 semi-structured interviews with employees of the London Hilton on Park Lane. Based on the research approach, patterns arose during the interviews. As we engaged with the empirical data, the patterns and the literature we were able to theorize based on empirically grounded argumentations, which we present as excerpt commentaries. Findings – Our findings show that employees make sense of organisational change resulting from crisis management through the following: (1) enacting different sensible environments in different timings, (2) social interaction, and (3) by recalling past experiences (retrospective sensemaking). Conclusion – Our theoretical contribution particularly focuses on the hotel closure and lockdown as the changes, due to the novel and significant impacts they had on sensemaking. The combination of the two cues: not being able to go to work due to the hotel closure and the fact that employees still received remuneration through furlough caused difficulties for sensemaking processes. The free time during lockdown and guaranteed financial safety from furlough meant this change was perceived as a holiday. Employees were not able to engage with the physical organisational setting, and mentally detached themselves from the organisational reality hence we label this as “out of sight… out of mind.”