Sense making of a strategic restructuring event in a Singapore business organization

This study examined the cognitive processes that take place in the course of a strategic restructuring event in a business organization in Singapore. The objective was to understand how the managers of the organization make sense of the change. As the organization is largely owned and managed by a Chinese family, another objective was to examine the managers' collective memory on past changes and to determine if the memory contains values specific to the Chinese culture. A further objective was to establish the relationship, if any, between the collective memory and the managerial sense making of the current restructuring.;A qualitative approach to the study was adopted with data collected from interviews of twelve managers who experienced the restructuring event. Through coding of the interview data, themes were identified that made up the elements of the group's schema of change and restructuring and their schema of sense making of the restructuring event. The schemas were constructed using causal mapping techniques.;Seven elements were identified in the manager's collective schema of changes that occurred in the past. The interacting relationships of the schema elements suggest that the collective schema was in constant flux and not a static structure. It would change with time. The schema of the group's sense making of the restructuring showed eight elements, six of which were similar to the elements in their schema of change. The sense-making schema was also found to be unstable in the long term and likely to change with time.;Further examination of the two schemas showed that a part of the collective schema on change and restructuring appeared in the sense-making schema. This would suggest that although the change is seen as imperative to growth, the managers' past experiences raise concerns about internal issues of mission and identity.;Values rooted in Chinese culture appeared to be significant in the managers' schema of change. The values were diluted in the schema of sense making, possibly a reflection of the social forces at play in the environment.