UNICEF: Caught in a Hypocrisy Loop: The Institutionalization of Organized Hypocrisy at the United Nations Children's Fund

Cover -- Zusammenfassung -- Introduction -- Theme of the Book -- The Relevance of Research on International Organizations -- The Explanatory Power of the Sociology of Knowledge -- The Case of Institutionalized Organized Hypocrisy at UNICEF -- Methodological Approach -- I. A Theory of the Institutionalization of Organized Hypocrisy -- 1. The Study of Organized Hypocrisy -- 1.1 The Concept of Organized Hypocrisy -- 1.2 Promise and Limits of Sociological Institutionalism -- 1.3 Organized Hypocrisy in International Organizations -- 1.3.1 Research Findings -- 1.3.2 The Puzzle of Persistent Organized Hypocrisy -- 1.4 Conclusion -- 2. The Institutionalization Process and Its Dynamics -- 2.1 The Achilles' Heel of the Concept of Organized Hypocrisy -- 2.2 The Dialectic Interplay of Structure and Agent -- 2.3 The Institutionalization Process -- 2.3.1 Routinization -- 2.3.2 Objectivation and Internalization -- 2.3.3 Sedimentation -- 2.4 The Dynamics during the Institutionalization Process -- 2.4.1 The Struggle for Reality Construction -- 2.4.2 The Loop Effect -- 2.5 A Circular Model of the Institutionalization Process -- 2.6 Conclusion -- II. The Institutionalization of Organized Hypocrisy at UNICEF -- 1. Organized Hypocrisy as a Solution -- 1.1 The Environment's Competing Demands -- 1.1.1 Fulfilling Basic Needs with Shrinking Resources -- 1.1.2 Emergence of a New Norm -- 1.2 Clashes with and within UNICEF's World -- 1.2.1 A Massive Campaign for Child Survival -- 1.2.2 The Trouble with Rights -- 1.3 Inconsistencies in Talk and Action -- 1.4 Diffusion of the Rights Norm -- 1.5 Conclusion -- 2. Organized Hypocrisy Triggered by Internal Fragmentation -- 2.1 The Struggle to Redefine Organizational Reality -- 2.2 The Quest for Unity: An Approach Rife with Tensions -- 2.3 Implementing the Rights Approach in the Field

On the basis of an in-depth study of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), this book sheds light on the phenomenon of unintended yet undesirable institutionalisation processes in organisations. The separation of rhetoric and action, known as organised hypocrisy, is both a valuable and dangerous tool for organisations. While it serves to ensure organisational survival, it also causes fragmentation, ultimately leading to a hypocrisy loop that an organisation cannot escape. The consequences are highly detrimental to its internal workings and its external performance. Thus, the study disproves the assumption that organised hypocrisy is per se functional to an organisation. By revealing the dynamics that occur if rhetoric and action are separated for many years, the model the book develops also bridges a gap in the literature on sociological institutionalism, which lacks a plausible theory on institutionalisation processes in organisations. Moreover, the book also provides unique insights into the work UNICEF does.