- Organizational Meaning Science
- An interdisciplinary research discipline examining meaning as a systemic force that shapes perception, behavior, identity, and coordination within individuals, teams, and organizations. Meaning Science investigates how meaning is constructed, disrupted, interpreted, and stabilized over time.
- Meaning
- The interpretive assignment individuals and groups make when encountering information, signals, or events. Meaning is not inherent in the signal itself—it is constructed through the interaction between the signal, interpretive lenses, and available context.
- Meaning as a Systemic Force
- Meaning operates not as an individual psychological phenomenon alone, but as a force that shapes collective behavior, organizational identity, and system-level coordination. Changes in meaning generate observable shifts in engagement, alignment, and response patterns across systems.
- Interpretive Lens
- The accumulated context, prior experience, and meaning memory through which individuals and groups interpret new information. Lenses are shaped by identity, role, history, and relational dynamics within the system.
- Meaning Memory
- The system's accumulated interpretive history—how past events, decisions, and communications have been understood and internalized. Meaning memory influences how new information is interpreted and whether it aligns with or contradicts prior context.
- Sensemaking vs. Meaning Science
- Sensemaking focuses on how individuals and groups interpret ambiguous or novel situations to reduce uncertainty. Meaning Science examines how meaning operates systemically across time—including stable meaning, meaning disruption, and the conditions that allow meaning to reorganize without harm.