Normalisation Process Theory

Theories are important tools in the health and social science world. However, it is important to consider how they are formed and how they inform everyday practice.

In this paper, the authors discuss the Normalisation Process Theory explains how new technologies, ways of acting, and ways of working become routinely embedded in everyday practice.

The aim of the theory is to explore how organisations initially bring practice into action. It explores how practices become embedded in everyday work and how they are sustained and reproduced within the organiation.

In summary, the theory proposes that:

1. Practices become routinely embedded – or normalized – in social contexts as the result of people working, individually and collectively, to enact them.
2. The work of enacting a practice is promoted or inhibited through the operation of generative mechanisms (coherence, cognitive participation, collective action, reflexive monitoring) through which human agency is expressed.
3. The production and reproduction of a practice requires continuous investment by agents in ensembles of action that are carried forward in time and space.

You can find out more about how and why the Normalisation Process Theory was developed here.