Making sense of adaptability initiatives in the teeth of rigidity

Abstract: This case study explores how members of a large complex organization make sense of its efforts to be more adaptable. Using ideas from institutional theory, we problematize efforts toward adaptability and identify adaptability as an area where organizations engage in some degree of hypocrisy, meaning that they talk about being flexible to stay competitive in a fast-paced environment, but often act according to rigid processes that are in place. Organizational members then make sense of this discrepancy interdependently. We conduct interviews with 12 employees at Consumer Goods Inc., a rigid organization, and analyze how they make sense of the attempts at increasing adaptability. We find that explicit efforts at sensemaking are heightened by a certain politicization that occurs with the introduction of adaptability initiatives. These individual interpretations can be understood as micro events connected to the macro events of adaptability and rigidity. We explore the connection between competing macro events and sensemaking to understand discrepancies in how individuals made sense of the adaptability contradictions at Consumer Goods Inc.