Organized Heterogeneity in Disorganized Fields: The Case of Child Protection Services in Germany

Much of what has been developed in organizational field theory has long been applied to well-organized sector obeying to a clear-cut set of logics that cohabit peacefully after all (e.g. bureaucracy and professionalism). Many of these fields have a public service background. For a while now, however, multiplicity has given way to heterogeneity here in the sense that logics inhabiting such fields come to sit uneasy with another as they trigger decisions or policies pointing to opposite directions (ensuring revenue or giving priority to observed needs, for instance). What is more, new institutional logics encapsulated in quasi-market regulation tend to ‘disorganize’ established field structures and seem to leave permanently the players of a given field with either-or constellations. Drawing on a research project conducted between 2010 and 2013 that has investigated developments in the sector of child protection services in Germany, this paper presents patterns of what has been referred to recently as institutional work, with an eye on two sorts of organizations: public hub agencies with an administrative remit and nonprofits entrusted with service provision. The material consists of an interview-based, in-depth investigation of selected settings, embracing the entire set of agencies relevant to child protection in a given area, with a hermeneutic approach informing its exploitation. The analysis suggests that there are various responses to this ‘organized’ heterogeneity of references (e.g. managerial standards or templates channeling decisions) throughout the field under study; however, most are about processing ambiguity by provisionary and peace-meal action through which these references and the underlying institutional logics become fuzzy themselves.  Hence the disorganization of organizational fields goes alongside the blurring of those cognitive foundations on which they are built.