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Paid time off as a vehicle for self‐definition and sensemaking
Author(s) -
Ford Lucy R.,
Locke Karen
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of organizational behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.938
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1099-1379
pISSN - 0894-3796
DOI - 10.1002/job.152
Subject(s) - sensemaking , explication , symbolic interactionism , psychology , sociology , epistemology , social psychology , public relations , political science , philosophy
Qualitative data collected in a small manufacturing company following implementation of a new paid time‐off policy (PTO), demonstrates how organizational members use self‐conceptions in sensemaking about that policy. In turn, how they understand the policy results in application and enactment that is inconsistent with the intentions of the management team. Informed by the symbolic interactionist school of thought, we provide a micro‐level examination of the introduction of the policy, an examination of the processes by which these definitions of self and others are drawn upon and advanced, and an explication of the micro‐level processes by which the policy is implemented and responded to in ways other than those intended by its designers and promoters. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.