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.A third social enterprise has undergone organisational metamorphosis from a project culture, with an almost day-to-day way of managing work-integration and educational activities, to a highly specialized and professional organisation.Now all participants have recognizable procedures and firm routines based upon their individual contract with the WISE.This has caused a number of organisational changes in the direction of delegation of responsibilities and competencies.Members of staff work both in the production based upon their professional skills and as trainers and teachers.The organisational changes have had an impact on the way a typical working day is organized, and the position expressed by the manager is widely recognized: "Beforehand, when we met in the morning, everybody gathered upstairs.Each and every individual participant chose what they wanted to do, and it changed constantly.That was the practise for several years.I did not find this way of organizing things appropriate.Now there are fixed schemes and recognizable procedures and routines.We make individual plans and make contracts with the participants.Everybody knows where to meet in the morning".These changes have been followed by a clarification of what it means to be employed at this specific WISE.The organisation has been divided into five service and work areas, and based upon these divisions the participants sign contracts with the organisation.Generally the institutional changes are influenced by changes in the stakeholder dynamics.Whereas ideological and political values amongst stakeholders played a significant role on the goal structure in the first period after the foundation, the enterprises gradually start to adopt more professional approaches combined with growing confidence in own experiences.If we observe "Danish social enterprises" as an organisational field we find some interesting similarities to the discovery made by DiMaggio and Powell (1983), according to whom in the initial stages of organisational forms and practices, organisations adopt a multitude of forms and approaches, but this does not last: "Once a field becomes well established, however, there is an inexorable push towards homogenization".A fourth social enterprise in the Danish sample was initially founded upon a vision of a combination of political empowerment and community development.But such "ideological" arguments have gradually been pushed in the background and replaced by a wide range of praxis oriented arguments coming from "real life" experiences with different methods and projects.This type of evolution seems to cover if not most, at least several of the organisations.As the manager of one of the biggest enterprises stated: "We have gained a lot of confidence as an organisation in our approach.When we first started to develop our approach we made it a crucial point to emphasize that the less fortunate and most marginalized groups were represented and heard - which was very much based on political assumptions amongst the people in the network.Nowadays we tend to use the knowledge we have gained in the past years".Attitudes and approaches adopted in the early years were often motivated by explicit aims of providing social empowerment and fulfilling community oriented objectives.Current approaches put greater emphasis on business orientation as a method to achieve the social objectives of the organisation.Changes are often accompanied by vivid internal discussions: "In the beginning we all saw a more business oriented strategy and our social objectives as opposites or a paradox; we were like "oh no, we are turning this into a profit-seeking enterprise" - which we, at that time, found extremely contradictory with our socially motivated objectives.But at the same time we began to realize the positive effect of the professionalisation of our activities, because we were becoming way more effective.Somehow down the line we used our experience to overcome our 'ideological' scepticism towards the ongoing business orientation".In their classical article on institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organisational fields, DiMaggio and Powell display how institutional isomorphism occurs through three mechanisms.The first is coercive isomorphism, that happens as a consequence of political influence and pressure; the second is mimetic isomorphism, which is happening when organisations - especially in times of uncertainty - "borrow" or copy models that have worked for other organisations; and the third mechanism is normative isomorphism, that stems from a process of professionalisation.The study carried out in the framework of the PERSE project has shown that especially the first and the third mechanisms are at work in Danish WISEs.Coercive isomorphism has been observed in cases where public authorities change basic grants, originally given as general contributions, into subsidies for achieving specific purposes, such as work integration.This is not only the case, however, for the social enterprises presented here; it is rather a general trend in the non-profit sector across local and even national boundaries.The General Secretary of "Church Cross Army" (the largest voluntary association within the social area, with 350 employees and 6,000 volunteers engaged in the provision of basic social services for the most vulnerable part of the Danish population) raises a prominent voice against current tendencies towards coercive isomorphism stemming from state pressure.He has observed a clear tendency from public authorities to consider that voluntary work can be more deeply integrated into the public provision of social services and health services.If the voluntary sector becomes the primary responsible provider of social services and solutions to social problems, there is a clear risk that this sector might loose its ability to act as a "critical counter power, provoking alternative and innovative pioneer".The General Secretary admits that this would be "some kind of a horror-scenario, but one that is already tending to become real".Norwegian political scientist Per Selle has registered a similar tendency from public authorities to increase "project support" and decrease "basic support" to voluntary associations.Projects support is support given to specific earmarked purposes, such as specific work-integration schemes, whereas basic grants provides the organisation with the opportunity to develop areas and purposes that are considered important to its constituency [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]