Many organizations must manage institutional complexity – the presence of competing “logics,” or patterned sets of beliefs, rules, and actions. Some of this management occurs within organizations, such as when managers recruit workers who align with a preferred logic. Often, however, institutional management occurs at the boundaries between organizations that work together despite adhering to competing logics. Boundary-spanners – actors belonging to one organization but interfacing with others – must know how to speak the language of their organizational partners in order to secure resources and accomplish their host organization’s goals. Existing literature on boundary-spanners’ institutional management strategies focuses on organizational elites like executives, top managers, and technical experts. As organizations, particularly social service organizations, become increasingly decentralized, however, boundary-spanning occurs at lower-levels of organizational hierarchies. Drawing on 30 months of participant observation and 20 in-depth interviews in a rape crisis center, I show how low-level organization members like volunteers, who frequently interact with organizational partners including law enforcement and medical professionals, learn to navigate institutional complexity. This advances neoinstitutional theory by showing how in decentralized, diffuse organizations, both organizational elites and members at low-levels of the organizational hierarchy must competently manage their institutional environments.

中文翻译：

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“当你在这里时，你不是一个好战的女权主义者”：强奸危机中心的志愿者职业化

许多组织必须管理制度的复杂性——存在相互竞争的“逻辑”，或一套模式化的信念、规则和行动。其中一些管理发生在组织内部，例如当经理招聘符合首选逻辑的员工时。然而，制度管理通常发生在尽管遵守竞争逻辑但协同工作的组织之间的边界。边界跨越者——属于一个组织但与其他组织交互的参与者——必须知道如何使用组织合作伙伴的语言，以确保资源并实现所在组织的目标。现有关于跨界者机构管理战略的文献侧重于组织精英，如高管、高层管理人员和技术专家。作为组织，尤其是社会服务组织，变得越来越分散，然而，跨界发生在较低级别的组织等级。通过在强奸危机中心进行的 30 个月的参与者观察和 20 次深度访谈，我展示了像志愿者这样经常与组织合作伙伴（包括执法和医疗专业人员）互动的低级别组织成员如何学会驾驭机构的复杂性。这通过展示在分散的、分散的组织中，组织精英和组织等级低层的成员必须如何胜任地管理他们的制度环境，从而推进了新制度理论。通过在强奸危机中心进行的 30 个月的参与者观察和 20 次深度访谈，我展示了像志愿者这样经常与组织合作伙伴（包括执法和医疗专业人员）互动的低级别组织成员如何学会驾驭机构的复杂性。这通过展示在分散的、分散的组织中，组织精英和组织等级低层的成员必须如何胜任地管理他们的制度环境，从而推进了新制度理论。通过在强奸危机中心进行的 30 个月的参与者观察和 20 次深度访谈，我展示了像志愿者这样经常与组织合作伙伴（包括执法和医疗专业人员）互动的低级别组织成员如何学会驾驭机构的复杂性。这通过展示在分散的、分散的组织中，组织精英和组织等级低层的成员必须如何胜任地管理他们的制度环境，从而推进了新制度理论。