Thesis, Undergraduate (BA Communication Arts) -- U. P. in Mindanao

Sense-making is a social process of creating collective meanings or interpretations that serve as the context of organizational action. It is central because it is the primary site where meanings materialize (Weick, Sutcliffe & Obstfeld, 2005). This qualitative study was conducted to satisfy a research concerned with the sense-making process of a non-government organization that deals with the Mindanao Conflict- the Mindanao People's Peace Movement. Determining MPPM as a sense-making community demanded rigorous analyses of the organization's overall thrust, the equivocality of the Mindanao Conflict, the ways MPPM isolates certain aspects/issues of the Conflict for closer attention(enactment), the process of selecting interpretations for these issues (selection), and the ideas and beliefs that members agree to retain after enactment and selection(retention). The primary data for analyses were acquired by observing an MPPM informal discussion while supplementary data were provided by six in-depth individual interviews among MPPM officials/members. Baseline information was also utilized to meet the objectives of this study. The analyses of the data acquired yielded a plausible model of the Mindanao People's Peace Movement's sense-making process. With the data, analyses and results, this study recognizes the Mindanao People's Peace Movement as a sense-making community that creates shared meaning through communication and discourse.