Planning Salmon Recovery: Applying Sociological Concepts to Spawn New Organizational Insights

• Published in: Society & natural resources Vol. 24; no. 7; pp. 751 - 766
• Main Authors: Safford, Thomas G., Norman, Karma C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia Taylor & Francis Group 01.07.2011; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Civil society; collaborative planning; Culture; Environmental policy; Federal legislation; Fish farming; Fish preservation; Fishery management; Legislation; Local Planning; Localism; Natural resource management; Natural Resources; Organizational behavior; Organizational behaviour; Organizational Culture; Organizational Sociology; Planners; Planning; Planning methods; Regulation; Resource Management; Salmon; Salmon industry; salmon recovery; Salmonidae; Seattle; Social sciences; Studies; Washington; Washington State; United States > US; Puget Sound; INE, USA, Washington, Puget Sound
• DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2011.555445
• ISSN: 0894-1920

Restoring salmon is a complex organizational as well as technical endeavor. The Washington Salmon Recovery Planning Act has played a key role in these efforts by stimulating the creation of local planning organizations known as lead entities. This study utilizes conceptual and theoretical tools from organizational sociology to analyze regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive institutional forces shaping the structure and behavior of lead entity organizations in the Puget Sound region. Findings demonstrate that the regulative influence of the act only partly explains the distinct structure and behavior of lead entities. Other institutional influences such as the normative importance of technically driven salmon recovery approaches and the culture of localism embedded in these multiparty groups are equally important in explaining the organization of lead entity planning. Results from this study illustrate how research built upon theoretical insights from organizational sociology may provide planners with novel insights into the organization of natural resource management.