Institutional Agency and Divergent Innovation: How Micro-institutional Change Happens in Meso-level Contexts

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Can’t use the file because of accessibility barriers? Contact us with the title of the item, permanent link, and specifics of your accommodation need.

Date

2022-11-11

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Indiana University Workshop in Methods

Abstract

Institutions are a stabilizing force in society. At the same time, institutional resilience and persistence can be counterproductive when existing institutions cannot meet the new demands of a changing world. One example is U.S. public schooling where institutionalized work practices, namely classroom instructions, too often undermines forms of learning needed for a modern economy and to provide equitable learning opportunities across diverse student groups. Existing research on changes in institutionalized work practices or micro-institutional changes focuses mainly on fraught and politicized processes between groups of reformers and resisters sometimes resulting in ‘turmoil’. In contrast to questions about how political processes unfold among competing groups, it is also important to ask questions about what makes it possible for groups of individuals to conceive of and gain a shared understanding of alternatives to institutionalized work practices in the first place. The current paper examines this question in two related multi-method studies: a multi-stage group experiment examining changes in institutionalized work practices and a study using qualitative comparative case methods to identify possible necessary conditions for generating the novel work conceptions involved in micro-institutional change. The findings confirm and extend prior research demonstrating the important role of socialization and innovation opportunities for micro-institutional change. The findings also indicate there is at least one necessary, if not sufficient, condition for generating novel alternatives to institutionalized practice: the mutual presence of (a) task certainty, (b) the perceived expertise and competence of group members, and (c) explicit encouragement to challenge accepted practice. Implications for existing understandings of micro-institutional change and for public school reforms are discussed.

Description

Ebony Bridwell-Mitchell is a professor of education with expertise in leadership, management, and organizations at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Bridwell-Mitchell’s research builds on her three areas of training and study: organizational management and theory, public policy, and education. Specifically, her research and teaching integrates these three fields to examine how organizational factors constrain and enable the success of U.S. public school reform. For example, one of her current research projects asks how teachers’ activities in the classroom are influenced by their integration into local networks or communities of teachers and to what extent community integration depend on factors such as teachers’ status or standing in their schools. Bridwell-Mitchell holds a degree in American policy studies and a concentration in education policy from Cornell University; a master’s in public policy with a concentration in human labor resources and education from the Harvard Kennedy School; and a Ph.D. in organization theory and management with a focus on school organizations at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, presented at numerous professional conferences, and published in high impact academic journals. She works to extend her research and teaching beyond academia by helping leading-edge education organizations provide leadership and management training for schools across the country.

Keywords

Citation

Journal

DOI

Link(s) to data and video for this item

Rights

Type

Presentation