5.1 Introduction
5.1.1 Standard Operating Procedures
Institutional theories of organization provide a rich, complex view of organizations.
In these theories, organizations are influenced by normative pressures, sometimes arising from external sources such as the state, other times arising from within the organization itself. Under some conditions, these pressures lead the organization to be guided by legitimated elements, from standard operating procedures to professional certification (Zucker 1987:443 emphasis added).
As Zucker points out, institutional explanations of organizations are inherently concerned with those processes which become institutionalized or taken for granted, and we can find these points of institutionalization by examining both the “standard operating procedures” and the role of the professional in any organizations. In this chapter, I first discuss how the development and maintenance of standard operating procedures is directly linked with the role of the professional in a given field. Second, I show how these procedures become institutionalized in religious organizations. Finally, I use my data to demonstrate how some people consciously resist the institutionalization of organizational procedures by developing a system of unregulated discretion involving professionals and non-professionals alike. First, however, it is necessary to get some definitions straight. In this opening section I will explain the role and importance of organizational procedures in the overall process of institutionalization for organizations
in general and religious organizations in particular.
Zucker (1987:447) also notes that one of the key insights of institutional approaches to organizations is that “institutionalization increases stability, creating routines that enhance organizational performance except when more efficient alternatives are ignored.” Two things about this quote are key for this chapter. First, it is important to understand that for institutional scholars stability is consonant with predictability (Powell and DiMaggio 1991). The people in this study are intent on constructing organizations which are unpredictable and unstable by resisting those processes which are likely to become institutionalized and predictable. Second, they are interested in resisting institutionalized processes precisely because of Zucker’s other main point. They feel that avoiding institutionalization is a more “efficient” religious experience for them.
Of course, they would never use the term efficient. Most people, at least in the U.S., do not want to think about their religious experience in the same way as they think about vehicle production or fast food. But all efficiency means here is reaching organizational goals, and it is clear the people in the Emerging Church have decided that the best way to reach the goal of an authentic, inclusive and meaningful religious experience is by
creating an organization which is inherently unpredictable and unstable. As we will see in this chapter, one of the key ways they accomplish this goal is by resisting the
institutionalization of organizational procedures.
Organizational processes have long been identified as a key hotpoint for institutionalization in organizations in general. Due to the increased role of symbolic processes, religious organizations are even more likely to become institutionalized around standard operating procedures (Benson and Dorsett 1971; Weber 1993, 1997).
Most organizations in the field of religion employ religious professionals to institute and maintain these organizational processes, and thus the study of religious organizational processes is, to a large extent, the study of religious professionals.
Professionals in all fields are those workers whose jobs require them to apply extensive, specialized, and credentialed educational training (Simon 1985).
Organizations essentially trade external regulation for the promised likelihood of internal regulation that is developed during the professionalization process in order to reap the benefits of professionals’ advanced training and extensive knowledge. Where
predictability in the bureaucratic organizational structure is achieved through a complex division of labor, hierarchy of positions, and established rules and procedures,
predictability of organizational processes is achieved through the use of credentialed professionals (Collins 1979; Evetts 2005)27. Additionally, professionals have long been associated with a set of characteristics such as the ability and authority to exercise personal discretion, freedom from oversight, a high degree of status, and an expectation that their chosen vocation is not only a job to be worked on a full-time, salaried basis, but also as part of a life-long commitment. As I discuss below, however, these
characteristics have begun to shift over time as the organization of work has shifted from relying heavily on professionals to manage the output of goods and services in an
industrialized economy, to a postindustrial economy in which the services provided by professionals are the dominant economic activity. In particular, I will address how
27 It is understood that not every ordained minister will qualify as a religious professional, especially for those congregations which exist outside of mainstream denominations. For example, many churches in the evangelical tradition ordain people who do not have extensive educational training, the ability to exercise personal discretion, or operate independently. They do not qualify as religious professionals for sociologists (Balmer 2000).
professional autonomy has undergone a tremendous change in the last 50 years, affecting organizations in all sectors including religion.
In addition to these usual characteristics, religious professionals also maintain a unique relationship with their congregations due to the distinctive nature of the religious call (Marty 1988). The religious professional is called by a congregation to serve them, but also to have authority over them. As I discuss in detail below, the dual nature of the calling affects the way organizational processes become institutionalized. Thus, the dominant profile of the religious professional is a person who has specialized training and credentials which enables him/her to pursue a lifelong, full-time career in ministry to whichever congregation he/she is called. These characteristics of the religious
professional not only allow for procedures to become routinized, but in fact encourage such standardization due to both internal (personal) and external
(congregational/denominational) regulations deriving from professionalization.
However, this institutionalization can be avoided while still garnering much of the benefits that a trained and committed clergy person provides. In the resistant
organization, professionals are employed on a part-time or volunteer basis. Additionally, experience is emphasized much more than training and is even preferred over traditional education. Finally, vocation is viewed as calling to a particular project, cause or
organization rather than as a calling by a group. The utilization of these strategies increases legitimacy by allowing the organization to make use of professionals in a variety of traditional or legitimate ways while ultimately contributing to the resistance of institutionalized organizational procedures. In section 2 of this chapter, I discuss these aspects of the deregulated professional in depth.