Abstract

Organisational sensemaking refers to the collective process through which members interpret and align meaning to enable coordinated action under uncertainty. However, our understanding of how sensemaking unfolds across different stages of transformation remains limited. To address this gap, this research-in-progress paper presents an ongoing case study that explores how Geely coordinates cognitive and operational efforts across strategic, business, and technical domains through sensemaking mechanisms during transformation. Based on preliminary findings, we propose a theoretical framework that presents strategic sensemaking for IT-led digital transformation, outlining five key process stages and introducing the concept of sense-combination. This concept captures the dynamic interplay of mechanisms, including sense-breaking, sense-demanding, sense-giving, sense-hiding, sensemaking, sense-exchange, and sense-specification, which are critical to enabling effective transformation. More specifically, our framework highlights that successful transformation hinges not on a single sensemaking action, but on the flexible combination of multiple mechanisms to align cognition and execution.

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