Research Topic
Middle Managers’ Sensemaking in Bureaucratic Organisations: Evidence from Chinese State-Owned Enterprises
Research Summary
My PhD examines how middle managers in Chinese state-owned enterprises make sense of organisational demands in bureaucratic settings. The study focuses on how ambiguity, hierarchy, accountability, emotion, and legitimacy shape the ways middle managers interpret and respond to organisational expectations. Drawing on an ethnographic qualitative design, the research will use interviews, observations, and organisational documents to explore how sensemaking unfolds in everyday managerial work. The project aims to contribute to research on middle management, sensemaking, and bureaucracy by showing how organisational demands are not simply implemented, but interpreted, negotiated, delayed, or defended within complex organisational conditions.
Supervisors
- Lead supervisor: Professor Thomas Calvard
- Second supervisor: Dr Ji-Won Song
Research Area
Background
Jie Zhang is a PhD candidate in Organisation Studies at the University of Edinburgh Business School. His research interests include sensemaking, middle management, bureaucracy, emotion, gender, and accountability. His doctoral research is situated in Chinese state-owned enterprises and examines how middle managers interpret and respond to organisational demands within bureaucratic and politically embedded settings.