Abstract:This article studies how to think institutionally. It examines what this particular line of thinking means, and sketches the coherence and significance of mental life inside any and all such institutions. The second half of the article is focused on determining why thinking institutionally is important.
“…For others, there is a deeper respect for the whole, inherited tradition handed down over the generations that extends well beyond rewards for any individual member to collective service for a larger purpose. Still, loyalty to an institution is “not a universal moral obligation to act justly” (Ward, , p. 299) and can go awry (Heclo, ): However good the institution and its organizational manifesto might be, there is no morally simple way of deciding the limits of loyalty. Group loyalty can too easily become the highest form of morality.…”
Section: The Institution Of the State Legislature: Its Meaning And Trmentioning
This article explores growing pessimism among those scholars who wish to see rigorous research used more frequently to formulate public policy. That commonsense aspiration is threatened by the impoverished dialogue between the communities that conduct studies (researchers) and those that apply them to decisions (policymakers). To examine this disconnect, the authors advance community dissonance theory, which proposes that a better understanding in the research community of the inhabitants, institutions, and cultures of the policy community could increase communication and trust. Community dissonance theory extends earlier two‐communities theories by deconstructing the cultural impediments to optimal communication. Building on previous literature and supported with in‐depth interviews of state policymakers, this article examines professional culture and institutional culture (e.g., preferred decision‐making processes, interactional preferences, favored epistemological frameworks, dominant influence loops, salient goals, salient stakeholders). The article presents several frictions that occur when cultures clash, discussing their promise and peril for improving research use in policymaking.
“…For others, there is a deeper respect for the whole, inherited tradition handed down over the generations that extends well beyond rewards for any individual member to collective service for a larger purpose. Still, loyalty to an institution is “not a universal moral obligation to act justly” (Ward, , p. 299) and can go awry (Heclo, ): However good the institution and its organizational manifesto might be, there is no morally simple way of deciding the limits of loyalty. Group loyalty can too easily become the highest form of morality.…”
Section: The Institution Of the State Legislature: Its Meaning And Trmentioning
This article explores growing pessimism among those scholars who wish to see rigorous research used more frequently to formulate public policy. That commonsense aspiration is threatened by the impoverished dialogue between the communities that conduct studies (researchers) and those that apply them to decisions (policymakers). To examine this disconnect, the authors advance community dissonance theory, which proposes that a better understanding in the research community of the inhabitants, institutions, and cultures of the policy community could increase communication and trust. Community dissonance theory extends earlier two‐communities theories by deconstructing the cultural impediments to optimal communication. Building on previous literature and supported with in‐depth interviews of state policymakers, this article examines professional culture and institutional culture (e.g., preferred decision‐making processes, interactional preferences, favored epistemological frameworks, dominant influence loops, salient goals, salient stakeholders). The article presents several frictions that occur when cultures clash, discussing their promise and peril for improving research use in policymaking.
“…(interview, 23 April 1998) BancoSol-NGO's operational success, then, can be fairly described as a moment of dissonance (Festinger, 1957). Its success and the financing difficulties it generated created an opportunity for institutional thinking (Heclo, 2008). Interestingly, consistent with institutional theory insights (Meyer & Rowan, 1977), the group of individuals involved, namely Acción's staff, Otero, and Romero, discussed and generated ideas which, while testing their boundaries, followed by and large the dominant financing logics.…”
Section: Launching Of Bancosol-ngo and Subsequent Launching Of Bancosolmentioning
This paper contributes to the emerging literature on inhabited institutions. It argues that institutional entrepreneurship, as most social action, is not an individual-bounded endeavor, at the hands of isolated individuals, but a group-bounded one, at the hands of social individuals inhabiting groups which motivate, inspire, and enable their engagement. The inhabited group-bounded conceptualization offered helps to overcome voluntaristic biases and atemporalism plaguing much micro research on institutional entrepreneurship. The paper builds on a qualitative case study of the emergence of commercial microfinance in Bolivia.
“…See alsoHeclo (2006) for an excellent account of the American academic atmosphere that surrounded the fall and rise of institutions in the social sciences.…”
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