When Theory Meets Practice: Sensemaking and Change Communication in a Communicatively Expert Organisation

Sammanfattning

This thesis explores how sensemaking is constructed and negotiated in internal change communication during an organisational merger, specifically within an institution where communicative expertise is central to its professional identity. The study draws on Weick’s sensemaking theory, Gioia and Chittipeddi’s sensegiving, and Lewis’s communication-centered approach to organisational change to analyse how formal and informal communication shape meaning during a centrally initiated merger. The empirical material consists of six semi-structured interviews with leadership, academic staff, and middle management, complemented by project documentation and decision records. The research adopts a qualitative single case study design, interpretivist epistemology, and an abductive approach. The findings show a clear disconnect between leadership’s formal narratives and employees’ sensemaking. Despite high communicative expertise, the process was marked by information gaps, rumors, and symbolic ambiguity. Employees used their communicative skills to critically assess leadership’s sensegiving, questioning both content and framing. The study concludes that communication expertise does not guarantee effective internal change communication. Centralised narratives emphasizing structural necessity increased skepticism, and sensemaking primarily arose through informal interaction and symbolic action, not managerial directives. The findings highlight how communicative competence among recipients changes the dynamics of sensegiving in public knowledge organisations.