The Role of Interpreters in Sense-Making by Women Leaders

Abstract

In this study, we examine individual sense-making by women leaders using meta-synthesis, a modification of meta-ethnography, to analyze 11 vignettes written by women leaders published in three prior studies. The data were coded and the text analyzed, to create a new interpretation from the existing qualitative studies. Two theoretical lenses informed this study: gendered leadership in education contexts and sense-making. The data were organized into five categories and common to all was the finding that the women leaders tested their perceptions of events as a form of sense-making. Using Dervin's (2003) "situations-gaps-users" model we determined that most of the women relied upon interpreters (who in general are neither formal mentors nor advisors) to help them bridge information gaps.