Public Management in an Era of the Unprecedented: Dominant Institutional Logics as a Barrier to Organizational Sensemaking

Abstract

Abstract In an era when unprecedented events are occurring with increasing frequency, public management theory is challenged to consider whether it is possible to better prepare agencies to respond to situations previously neither expected, nor even seriously imagined. In this paper, we consider the case of the 2016 Chimney Tops 2 wildfire that contributed to the destruction of neighborhoods in and around Gatlinburg, TN. We argue this case illuminates a critical gap in extant organizational theory concerning the factors that impede sensemaking processes, which are fundamental to models of high reliability organizations during unprecedented events. Specifically, based on insights from this case considered through an institutional lens, we theorize that the nature of unprecedented events undermines an adaptive response through both structural and cultural/institutional processes. Structurally, we demonstrate how public agencies evolve to the contingencies of their normal task environment, which we should anticipate will be maladapted to the task demands of an unprecedented event. However, we theorize the greater challenge lies in the processes by which these structural features of the agency, over time, create, and reinforce a dominant institutional logic which can delay and weaken sensemaking processes, even when discrepant environmental cues are present. We conclude with a discussion of remedies that may facilitate earlier recognition, and thus more effective agency response, when the unprecedented is occurring.