Educational organizations can be characterized by the institution's bureaucratic controls and the varied ways teachers respond to these controls. Although different controls and responses are studied in disparate theories and empirical research, the process of how teachers respond is not often studied and integrated in a singular theoretical framework. In this conceptual article, I argue that the teacher response process is characterized by three distinct, nonlinear phases of individual cognition, social formation, and response execution. Within these phases are dynamics and tensions, which are mediated and appropriated by the relationship between the educational institution and teachers.