Working within Discretionary Boundaries: Allocative Rules, Exceptions, and the Micro-Foundations of Inequ(al)ity. Issue 9 (September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Radoynovska, Nevena M
• Other Names: Lawrence Thomas B. guest-editor.; Amis John M. guest-editor.; Munir Kamal A. guest-editor.; Hirsch Paul guest-editor.; McGahan Anita guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Organization studies. Volume 39:Issue 9(2018)
• Page Start: 1277
• Page End: 1298
• Publication Date: 2018-09
• Subjects: boundary work -- discretion -- equity -- inequality -- institutional theory; Organizational sociology -- Periodicals; Organizational behavior -- Periodicals; Organization -- Periodicals; 302.35
• DOI: 10.1177/0170840617717544
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0170-8406

Abstract

Organizations tasked with allocating limited resources face obvious distributive dilemmas. Allocative rules – when applied universally – seek to limit the discretion of organizational members and mitigate disparate treatment. Yet, particularistic needs often warrant exceptions to such rules and accept unequal treatment in the interest of equity. I argue that organizational members engage in a form of boundary work, which I call discretion work, to manage discretionary boundaries around the application of allocative rules versus exceptions. Discretion work functions through semi-institutionalized 'rules of exceptionalism, ' which involve continual boundary-testing. Relying on ethnographic fieldwork at a French social service organization, enriched by interviews with service providers, I identify three types of discretion work – procedural, symbolic, and evaluative – which govern how, for whom, and for what purpose allocative decisions are made. The article contributes to institutional perspectives on inequality by a) articulating the micro-practices that (re)produce inequitable resource allocation at the bottom of the social ladder, and b) theorizing the often overlooked distinction between principles of equity and equality.