Middle managers’ sensemaking of distance managing during COVID-19

Despite the ongoing attention on sensemaking, the processes of sensemaking need further exploration. This article examines the intertwining sensemaking processes of middle managers drawing on a case affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, a major and rare, unplanned event triggering sensemaking across an organization.

We zoom in on middle managers’ sensemaking processes of creation, interpretation and enactment to explore how middle managers develop meanings about distance managing through these processes. We do so by applying temporal bracketing strategy when analyzing our data and organizing the data in first and second-order analysis, further developing overarching dimensions.

The uncovering of sensemaking processes provides insight into how middle managers’ sensemaking processes triggered by rare events unfold as collective sensemaking occurs as well as extend further understanding of the processes involved in sensemaking.