Sensemaking as an organizational dimension of global change

Global issues that involve organizing on a massive scale have been described as contested, nonlinear metaproblems with long lead times, unintended side effects, unclear cause-effect structures, and consequences that are often irreversible (Cooperrider & Bilimoria, 1993, p. 110). Issues demanding change on a global scale are like an onrushing wall of fire and are just as tricky to manage. Normally, managing complexity on a global scale, especially when it is framed in a strategic framework, as Cooperrider and Bilimoria have done, means that the primary organizational issue is one of strategies for decision making.