Shared Sense-Making Processes Within a National Reform Implementation: Principals' Voices

• In Event: 35.079 - Sheraton Roundtable Session Five - Grand Centre
  In Roundtable Session: 35.079-3 - Designing Research With Organizational Theory

Abstract

Managing between internal expectations and external demands, principals and faculty members make sense out of conflicting policy messages. This study explored the variability in principals' perceptions and enactment of shared sense-making processes during a national reform implementation, particularly with reference to principals' experiences and their varying school contexts. Data were collected through a heterogenic sampling via 60 in-depth interviews with high school principals. Findings indicate three major themes: a common language, a collaborative learning process, and a shared working culture. Leveraging a shared sense-making process in a post-truth era can be a beneficial organizational framework through which principals and faculty members collectively navigate complexity and uncertainty while implementing policy demands within their unique organizational contexts.

Authors

• Sherry Ganon-Shilon, Ono Academic College

• Chen Schechter, Bar-Ilan University