Sense-making theory seems to challenge IA tools in a number of ways. A key challenge is the break with what March terms the myth of rationality, as sense-making theory gives rise to an understanding of choices as following from the search for meaning, interpretation and identity. Some of the implications of relating sense-making and IA are:
- Sense-making challenges the view on the relation between decision-making processes and SEA, which is often very simply modelled in SEA literature. Examples of such simple models are found in World Bank (2011) and Therivel (2004).
- Compared to concepts like 'decisive moments' and 'windows of opportunity', sense-making theory blurs these temporal conceptions by emphasising the ongoing element of human choice. It is even possible to use sense-making theory to argue that such moments or opportunities exists at all moments in time and it is a matter of which ones are enacted.
- It puts attention to the story behind SEA documents as it directs attention to the earlier events leading to the presented SEA documents rather than taking these as a starting point for scrutiny or decision-making. It thereby criticises the retrospective noticing of cues in the documentation, which may oversimplify causality and overemphasise order (Weick 1995, p. 28).
- It equals prospect with retrospect in the interaction between action and meaning creation, which contradict the emphasis on prospect in SEA theory. The model may e.g. lead to a potential of hearing as an action-driven sense-making process following Weick's "How can I know what I think until I hear what I say?"
- It replaces accuracy with plausibility so that the aim of SEA becomes assessments and alternatives that are plausible for the actors rather than accuracy of impacts and the sufficiency of mitigation options..