Title: Flexible sense-making

Authors: Per Sigurd Agrell

Addresses: Ekelow Infosecurity AB, Rokubbsgatan 6, 11559, Stockholm

Abstract: In management science, we have a debate about the role of a priori structures and my stand in this dilemma is that no reasonable synthesis may be produced without a simultaneous consideration of explicit structures and a mood of making sense of those. A balance has to be struck. I recognise that a structure may be produced early or late in a project. What I find important is that a structure appears at all, so that the make sense will refer to something visible. So that democracy and audit can have a chance. This way of thinking creates freedom and varieties for control. The more you know about how to make sense, to yourself and to others, as analyst or as client, the more variety you can permit your procedures for thinking and choice. To be explicit both about the perspective and about how the parties make sense of it, that is the methodological idea. It is tested and it provides a help to avoid paroichal and corrupt decisions.

Keywords: explicit perspectives; making sense; policy; decision making; democracy; ethics; management science; explicit structures.

DOI: 10.1504/IJASS.2007.015586

International Journal of Applied Systemic Studies, 2007 Vol.1 No.2, pp.154 - 167

Published online: 01 Nov 2007 *

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