ABSTRACT
Sensemaking is retrospective in the sense that people can know what they "are doing only after [they] have done it". Communication can be used to perpetuate ignorance about topics that reflect too negatively on the self and one's group. Brown and Starkey (2000) argued that highly identified organizational members will defend their ego by defending the organization through communication strategies, such as denial, idealization, and rationalizations. Rationalizations, therefore, are associated with self-deception. Self-deception is an ordinary—not aberrant—part of an individuals' psychology. Written in the language of sensemaking, individuals tend to make decisions on autopilot while also making sense of their moral judgments as representing superior executive function. When organizational members hear that their organization is accused of wrongdoing, they have communication strategies like denial and rationalization to avoid considering that possibility and the threat it may constitute to their identity.
