Competing Institutional Logics in Diaconal Work

Competing Institutional Logics in Diaconal Work “Institutional logics” is a concept within the context of institutional theory. Institutions can be defined as patterns of activity rooted in material practices and symbolic systems. These institutional orders are all shaped by the history and each of them has a central logic that guides its organizing principles. The institutional logic provides social actors with vocabularies of motive and identity. In organizations we can often find more than one institutional logic. Thus, we can also talk about competing logics. The church’s long history presents a long list of institutional logics. Brodd describes five ecclesiological models of Diaconia: 1. Communio – the church as a diaconal fellowship. 2. Caritas - the distributing church . 3. Parochia – the territorial church. Societas – the church within the church. 5. Sacramentum – the church as sign and instrument of the kingdom of God. My thesis for this paper is that these five historically defined models all are still present in the church today, as institutional logics. I will give examples and discuss the rivalry between them when organizing todays diaconal work in the Swedish context. I will also relate to these five logics and point at some risks for the development of diaconal work