EXAMINING THE INSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATION PROCESS: The Importance of Sensemaking, Interrelated Strategies, and Balance

This study develops elements of a transformational change framework that is theoretically and empirically grounded and is context based through case studies of 6 institutions over a 4-year period. The 3 key findings include: (a) 5 core strategies for transformational change; (b) the characteristic that makes them the essential, sensemaking; and (c) the interrelationship among core and secondary strategies, the nonlinear process of change, and the need for balance among strategies. Two major conclusions are developed from the study findings: (a) the efficacy for researchers of combining multiple conceptual models for understanding change processes; and (b) the importance of social cognition models for future studies of transformational change based on the significance of sensemaking.