Garbage Can Model sob a perspectiva do Sensemaking: proposição do “Can” dos docentes que atuam nas plataformas MOOCs
Authors:   , Correa Renata Martins 
Published: February 2024

The Garbage Can Model literature was chosen in this study because, among the various non-linear decision process models, it is one of the existing theoretical propositions that contributes to the understanding and sense of accumulation of experiences and incidents that have occurred and that provide shelter to explain future attitudes. The “can” metaphor is presented in this study, as a metaphorical resource, to illustrate that the solutions accumulated over time and that precede problems and challenges and, in general, related to remarkable experiences throughout life, are accumulated in our “can”, that is, in each person’s memory. At the moment of decision, the solution is removed from the “can” and used even before the problem exists; therefore, it is a non-linear decision process. And, above all, in situations where the decision generally happens when the person is faced with unusual, complex and dynamic experiences. The objective of this study is to advance the “can” or “can” metaphor as a new proposition for the Garbage Can Model literature, from the perspective of Sensemaking theory. The proposal is to understand the types of “cans” in volume and consistency of teachers who decide to work on MOOCs platforms, massive open online courses. To do this, reflect on the meaning that your significant experiences in the personal, professional and academic spheres contribute to the decision to work in MOOCs. As a theoretical contribution, after 5 decades of the seminal article (1972), this study indicates that the "can" cannot be seen in a homogeneous way for different individuals and different organizational contexts. Therefore, there was no proposition for understanding the “can” metaphor, as “can” can be different for each person. From this discovery, the theoretical gap was identified in the theoretical review and interviews with 18 prolific researchers investigating the Garbage Can Model theory. Furthermore, the theoretical bases of the fields of organizations and management on the use of metaphors were mixed. This qualitative and descriptive study was carried out using the Critical Incident Technique (TIC), together with the Dialogical Method. Both were constituted as inductive and interactive methodological research resources. Semi-structured interviews were chosen and the technique (ICT) was used from the perspective of the sensemaking process, in order to understand the meaning that significant experiences revealed as a solution to the decision to work in MOOCs, as well as supporting retrospective analyses. The Dialogical Method was chosen to reflect on the perspectives of important researchers who went beyond the state of the art. These paths allowed for a clearer understanding of the types of “can” of teachers who decide to work on MOOC platforms. The results found support a new theoretical proposition on the use of the “Garbage Can” model and, thus, the “can” metaphor, that is, the “can”, is advanced for decision-making as a contribution to this thesis. So, for the teacher who presents a non-linear decision process and has been successful in his work in the organizational context of MOOC platforms, his “can, metaphorically, indicates greater volume and light and flexible consistency. The practical contribution indicates the importance of accumulating personal, professional and academic experiences, in intensity (effort) and frequency (continuity), in order to increase the chances of success in unusual situations, with little or no previous reference, from a non-linear decision-making process