Institutional Theory and Buffering Strategies

Symbolic Coding
Organizations code institutional elements into categories and labels. These categorical rules are then assimilated into the organizational structure and affect the overall coding structures that orgnizations use to sort and rout inputs (Scott p. 209).

De-Coupling
Meyer and Rowan (1977) note that organizations often "de-couple" their normative structure from their operational structure, and adopt many institutional elements only ceremoniously.