Toward a Model of Organizations as Interpretation Systems

Authors
Daft, Richard L. Weick, Karl E.
Citation
L. Daft, Richard et E. Weick, Karl, Toward a Model of Organizations as Interpretation Systems, Academy of Management review , 9(2), 1984, pp. 284-295
Journal title
Academy of Management review → ACNP
ISSN journal
03637425
Volume
9
Issue
2
Year of publication
1984
Pages
284 - 295
Database
ACNP
SICI code
Abstract
A comparative model of organizations as interpretation systems is proposed.The model describes four interpretation modes: enacting, discovering, undirected viewing, and conditioned viewing.Each mode is determined by (1) management's beliefs about the environment and (2) organizational intrusiveness.Interpretation modes are hypothesized to be associated with organizational differences in environmental scanning, equivocality reduction, strategy, and decision making.