Karl Weick and the Aesthetics of Contingency
Organization Studies · 2006 · Volume 27 · Issue 11
Abstract
In this essay, I reflect on Karl Weick’s best-known texts as a means of tracing his influence on the field of organizational communication. From this perspective, his main contributions are: (1) recognizing the centrality of language and interaction in the social construction of organizational realities; and (2) focusing squarely on communicative praxis as a site for improving our understanding of cognition and culture. Beyond these substantive contributions, an ‘aesthetics of contingency’ pervades Weick’s writings. I maintain that this perspective presents a much needed alternative to seeking meaning and stability through the pursuit of various fundamentalisms.
Keywords
Karl Weick, contingency, ambiguity, organizational communication, equivocality, sensemaking, heedful interrelating
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