Frame shifting, sense making and accounting

Abstract

How does one choose between paradigms? Is there a neutral language that can be used in translating descriptions of phenomena from one frame of reference (functional organization) to a sensible description within another frame of reference (local integration)? The empirical content of this problem complex is illustrated through a case study of the organizing efforts of two actors in an experiment with a new principle of local coordination across departmental frontiers in a professionally sectorized structure. The analysis of the material focuses on how the respondents try to make sense of the processes they initiate and participate in, and what role a sophisticated accounting system played. By shifting frames of reference the actor, in this case a change agent, can construct decision packages that are meaningful also to actors in the old organizational structure. Agreements, after political processes, across jurisdictional frontiers are confirmed through changes in the budget/accounting system.