The role of artefacts within facilitated modelling workshops

Scholars have emphasized the role of artefacts and conversational practices within the Facilitated Modelling (FM) workshops. However, there is a dearth of research into the use of artefacts and discursive practices intertwined at the micro-level of sensemaking within FM workshops, as well as how artefacts and sensemaking shape one another. To address this gap, this research empirically analyzes a facilitated modelling workshop. The authors assess the extent to which stakeholders’ appropriation of artefacts enables them to engage in negotiation of meaning with action implications. We contribute to the behavioural OR practice by suggesting that appropriating artefacts helps stakeholders negotiate meaning effectively, but appropriation occurs at varying intensities depending on the issue of concern. Moreover, we identify that artefacts are only reproduced if their reproduction is an aim or part of an aim of strategic discourse.