Translating institutional logics: A sensemaking perspective on policy implementation.

Abstract

This article investigates how organizational actors implement change in situations where multiple competing logics are present. We identified competing logics (academic achievement and holistic development) in public education that were grounded in differing perspectives on the proper role of public schools. Our study centers around an examination of how organizational actors at four public schools in Mississippi cope with organizational challenges brought about by legislation intended to reduce childhood obesity. The examination took place at three levels of analysis, societal, organizational, and individual, and our findings suggest that the sensemaking of local actors in the face of competing logics impacted policy enactment. By taking a situated sensemaking perspective, we direct attention away from the passive construction of institutions, and instead toward the actions of individuals as they accomplish the established, organized procedures that are necessary for the reproduction of institutions over time.