How do human resource managers make sense of their work? A study of changing work meaningfulness using the critical incident technique

Abstract

Despite the meaningfulness of one’s work being of crucial professional and personal importance, in HRD, it remains understudied. Employing narrative interviews, this research retrospectively explores the formation and transformation of the process of work’s meaningfulness. A sensemaking approach and the critical incident technique were applied. The data, collected during interviews with 16 HR managers, consisted of 37 critical incidents. This research contributes to the understanding of the dilemma of meaningfulness’ dual nature by showing how work meaningfulness can change through an exploration of the role of meaning mechanisms in the experience and dynamic formation of meaningful work. Furthermore, it augments our knowledge about how ambivalent, complex, and critical situations affect their work as meaningful. It presents possible scenarios and phases of this process. It also shows how a critical situation can lead to a re-evaluation of the sources of meaningfulness. It explores how the ambivalence and ambiguity inherent in HR managers’ role affects the meaningfulness of their work. The practical implication of the findings emphasises HRD professionals’ responsibility to monitor the extent to which employees experience their work to be meaningful and to intervene as needed, while the methodological implication is a further distinction between sensemaking and meaningfulness-making processes.