Accountability in the Salvation Army in France and in Sweden

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White Paper on Soup, Soap, Salvation: Accountability in the Salvation Army in France and in Sweden:- In ethics and governance, accountability is answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving.[1] As an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the public sector, nonprofit and private (corporate) worlds. In leadership roles

White Paper on Soup, Soap, Salvation: Accountability in the Salvation Army in France and in Sweden
Abstract This paper contributes to the emerging body of literature on accounting in churches. Basing on grounded theory it aims to construct the régime of accountability in different two contexts: the French and the Swedish territories. Whilst most works of that emerging research interest take for granted the sacred/secular divide, this paper will not. The comparison of two régimes of accountability in France and in Sweden pruports do discuss cultural issues at the territorial level. From the cultural point of view, whether nationality nor national belonging are central in the construction of the environment. Kewords: Salvation Army, Accountability, Culture, Grounded theory

INTRODUCTION « Soup, soap, salvation »: the motto of the Salvation Army synthesises her action and her accountability worldwide. The order of the three parts of the motto is so that the temporal aid comes first. Her procurement is an immediate utility: soup. The Salvation Army offers to marginalised people some food for them not to starve. Ricœur (1991) in his reading of Luke's Gospel recalls that a Christian denomination is based on the love of one's next. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus exhorts those who believe in him to be charitable to the poor. He orders them to love their next and to do for them what they want to be done for themselves. Following Ricœur's hermeneutic of the Scriptures, it then appears that soup comprehends all other means of survival, such as clothing and lodging. People must not suffer from the cold and they must have a home, though it is just temporary. Soup has to be distributed as long as beneficial and not once. Admittedly the help is temporal and temporary but not necessarily episodic. As Ricœur states, the lov e for the next has to be translated in regular 1

actions. He notes that love is a process. When once loves somebody, it is supposed to last. Demonstrations of love are not unique but they constitute a process. According to Ricœur, love has to be demonstrated as long as it is felt as a need. Once the beloved no longer needs these demonstrations, they can be interrupted. The role played by soup in the Salvation Army is a hermeneutic translation of that kind of love. Soup is given for free as long as the fed is in that physical need. It is not supposed to be interrupted prior to that. The second element of the motto is Soap. In the everyday life, soap will be utilised to wash oneself in order to become sane. The soap eliminates the dirtiness and insanities. In Luke's Gospel, Jesus recalls that the Hebraic law obliges that hands are washed before eating. In washing them, the Jew purifies himself and gets ready to sit at the table and to eat. Elementarily, the soap provided by the Salvation Army helps homeless to recover their dignity. Once they have showered, they look back like anybody else. No difference can be seen between a washed excluded an an included. In offering soap, the Salvation Army demonstrates her love for the homeless to the extent that she lets them have the opportunity to recover their dignity as human beings. Following Ricœur's hermeneutic of the Scriptures, it appears that soap comprehends a further meaning. Once dignity has been recovered, the individual can be considered again as a possible member of the social community. Thus, soap is the first mean of re-inclusion of excluded people. The outcomes of the soap are subject to lasting: the recovery of dignity is a process which is subject to lasting and not to evaporating. People are then accompanied to dignity and to inclusion in the society. As a process, it is launched by the will to be integrated. Then, soap has delineations, such as social support for the full integration. The motto of the Salvation Army, probably for communicative reasons, was simply formulated. Her interpretation in the territories converges to accompany and reconstruct1 people. The third element of the motto is Salvation. The final project of the Salvation Army is the salvation of souls, it is to gain souls to the Lord. The active members of the Salvation Army have been saved in that they found their position within the society at which they are successful. They have been followed the plan drawn by the Lord for themselves and they have been part of the society. Salvation has then two hermeneutic meanings. First, the Salvation Army attempts to save excluded people willing to be saved. Secondly, the whole project of the Salvation Army ought to be performed by included people, i.e. by saved people. To that extent, their actions are not simply material support and temporal charity. They are accountable for that they have been saved. Because they have been saved, they have to testify of what the Lord did for them. More than a single action, charity is a set of moral duties for the Salvationists. In aiding, they show that Salvation is possible. As Apostle Paul in all his epistles exhorts Christians to witness, he expects them to give hope and to bring the Gospel to those who need to receive it. When excluded see that salvation exists, they keep hoping. That hope ought to encourage them to first seek for their dignity. It is the accountability of the Salvation Army that charity consists in soup, soap and salvation. These three terms represent the three pillars of her action. They are justified by the methodist theology of the organisation. Her charity is based on the interpretation of divine grace proposed by Weber (1921). According to him, success in any undertaking means that the subject received divine grace. In such an interpretation of the Scriptures, mercy is freely accessible and given without any counterpart. Subjects just have to understand it ant do accept it. Once they accepted it, they can be successful and they can find their role in the society. Protestant charity is based on three pillars (Weber, 1922): spiritual advice, direct assistance and social work. People need spiritual assistance to find out the way drawn by the Lord for themselves. It has to be achieved by vocational ministers. For them to survive, churches have to provide them direct temporal assistance. That activity can be done by anybody (volunteers) and it needs no professional competencies. Once people found the way the Lord drew for them, they need to be guided in its completion: social
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Help, Accompany, Rebuild is the French interpretation of th motto. It is here formulated in non symbolic terms, which can be displayed as a hermeneutic mirror of the historical motto.

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integration done by vocational social workers (Durkheim, 1896, Weber, 1922). According to Durkheim, the success of the division of labour in the society is conditioned by the cooperation of all units, which he calls social or professional solidarities all along his book. These concepts were drawn by the founders of sociology and have then been taken over by scholars in other fields. In management accounting, the were renamed differentiation and integration (Lawrence & Lorsch, 1967). Renamed and according to the proper theology, accountability in the Salvation Army ought to be based upon the full integration of formally differentiated activities and people. The recourse to these two concepts is the starting point of the present document, without being the theoretical framework utilised. Rather than utilising the concepts of the sociological field (division of labour and solidarities), those of management accounting will be preferred. The use of such terms is to be deemed in a metaphoric and heuristic meaning and not literally. Literature review Roberts & Scapens (1985) define accountability as "the giving and demanding of reasons for conduct" (p.447), in relation to which accounting may be mobilised. Ahrens (1996) summarises accountability
as a heuristic device to explicate some of the ways in which quite wide and apparently unspecific notions of "good management", to which organisational members hold themselves and each other accountable, can be implicated in the shaping of very different roles for management accountants and their practice. (p.140).

Accountability may thus appear a way of appreciating the positioning of individuals within the organisation. In Ahrens' thought, accountability is the programme that helps observe whether people act in coherence with the organisational goals, be they financial or non financial. To say that people are accountable for their actions and decisions is similar to saying that they have to report and justify their realisations. Accountability is a set of devices. This whole allows to "find" a solution or an intercept in the way people meet the objectives and requirements of the organisation. Whilst Ahrens (1996) considers that these meetings are not only economically based (p.139), Quattrone (2004) considers on the contrary that accountability is a heuristic device to appreciate the capability of people to meet these targets. Quattrone sees the non economic basis of accountability as an imposture (p.648). Referring to Jacobs & Walker (2000) and to Parker (2002), he recalls that the economics of a religious denomination consists in saving souls to the Lord and to account for sins (p.654, 659). As Quattrone recalls, until the Society of Jesus was founded, the Roman Catholic Church had developed a double-entry accounting of sins (p.671). To a sin corresponded an indulgence. Although he does not mention it, such a double-entry accounting of sins ment that these latter could be evaluated in monetary terms. Differently expressed, he deems that being accountable for one's sins is similar to being accountable for the income of the church. For that single reason, he states that accountability, at least in churches, is not to be disconnected from economic matters. Scholars who are dealing with accounting in religious organisations always rely accounting or budgetary practices to accountability (see Laughlin, 1988; Booth, 1993; Jacobs & Walker, 2000; Walker & Llewellyn, 2000; Parker, 2002; Gallhofer & Haslam, 2004; McPhail, Gorringe & Gray, 2004; McKernan & McLullich, 2004; Goddard, 2004; Irvine, 2005; Irvine & Gaffikin, 2006, Moerman, 2006). All these works highlight the economic issues of accounting and accountability in religious communities. As these works have scrutinised different communities (the Iona community, the Salvation Army in Australia, the Victorian Synod Church, the Society of Jesus, an Islamic 3

parish), those invariants may lead one to consider that indeed accountability is economically based, even in religious denominations. As Quattrone notices, most work of that emerging body of literature address the sacred-secular divide (p.648). Discovered by Laughlin (1988) and Booth (1993), that dichotomy has been taken for granted by most works. Irvine (2005), Quattrone (2004) and Irvine & Gaffikin (2006) have not based their research on such a framework. So that Hardy &Ballis (2004) followed by McPhail, Gorringe & Gray (2005) explicitly critique that analytical framework of accounting and accountability in churches. This paper follows that second movement and aims to contribute to that emerging critical body of literature. Accountability will therefore here be understood as a combination of Ahrens' and Qattrone's conceptions, namely as a heuristic device to explain the positioning, the actions and the decisions of people within the Salvation Army in respect to her economic concerns. In the specific case of the Salvation Army, accountability is delineated in terms of division of labour and of professional solidarities (Durkheim, 1896). The division of labour consists in identifying vocations and performing a professional work, namely differentiation of activities. On the other hand, professional solidarities can be seen as an integration of those activities. It is granted that both differentiation and integration are the cornerstone of accountability in the Salvation Army. The requirements of the International Salvation Army, based upon the methodist theology of the Salvation Army, are that the whole action is performed by vocational workers. Ministers must have responded an appeal and must have been commissioned as such. To that extent they represent a caste (in the meaning of Weber, 1922) that is distinct from the others. Reintegration of people in society must be performed by vocational social workers, for qualitative reasons. At last, the temporal pillar of the action must be performed by parish-goers, as they are deacons. The basic model of accountability consists of performing a professional action with vocational workers and volunteers. Individuals are accountable for their professionalism to the Salvation Army itself. Reciprocally, the Salvation Army in the territories is accountable for its design to the International Salvation Army. This paper investigates the latter term of the regime of accountability in both territories. The question that will be addressed is the understanding of how the Salvation Army in territories is accountable for her design to the international requirements. As a territorial comparison, the study will attempt to construct the cultural traits of those régimes of accountability. Inspired by the prior work of Ahrens (1996), it will be attempting to discover two styles of accountability. Throughout the subsequent pages, only the territorial accountability for the design will be focused on. The accountability of the members of the Salvation Army will remain left out of the study. The paper is organised into four parts. In the first section, is draws both the theoretical framework and the methodology of research and claims that data will be positioned to contribute to theory (a tribute to Ahrens & Chapman, 2006). Section 2 outlines the French vision and section 3 the Swedish vision. Lastly, section 4 is the discussion. 1. POSITIONING DATA TO CONTRIBUTE TO THEORY 1.1. Grounded theory as a theoretical framework This research is based upon a grounded theory approach. As churches are have not been much studied by scholars in management accounting, I deliberately adopted grounded theory, in regard to Strauss' & Corbin's (1998) prescriptions. This means that I will adopt no a priori theoretical framework. Rather, as this paper aims to study the accountability system of an organisation, I will refer to concepts borrowed from that research field. As Strauss & Corbin (1998) state, developing grounded theory from the research field makes necessary that concepts are used 4

and that references are made in a metaphoric sense to prior theories. Strauss & Corbin deem the grounded theory to be a methodology of research. According to them, the description is a full part of the process of theorising, as long as it is supplemented with concepts. According to them, the story telling is already a way of positioning data to theory. When one describes a phenomenon, her sensitivity influences the words and concepts chosen. As Strauss & Corbin argue, one's subjectivity emerges from the way stories are told. The most important issue is that the data analysis and the conclusions drawn remain plausible. According to the authors, developing grounded theory consists in an attempt to understand a phenomenon and to propose a novel vision of it. For them, a grounded theory approach is based upon ethnographic research methods and interviews, as they feature the field. Using pure grounded theory and being a pure constructivist will imply the research be transdisciplinary. As Quattrone (2000) writes, in a constructivist perspective, the researcher has to remain open to all research areas that could help understand the field observed. He considers that a research in management accounting produces a meta-knowledge that has to be supplemented by other features of meta-knowledge borrowed from other social sciences. The mélange of these perspectives and origins makes an explanatory device that can create knowledge on the research field. According to him, the researcher should not be deprived from these perspectives and concepts and social phenomena. He sees no hierarchy in these sciences, management accounting being one as the others are. This research will therefore mobilise notions from the fields of sociology, history, geography and political science when they have an explanatory power. Featuring two cultural contexts, i.e. the French and the Swedish territories, the paper will address the specificity of each of them. As no one may have any prejudice of what is explanatory for each case, it is argued that a comparison of the fields will not occur in the discussion. As Strauss & Corbin (1998) note, the sole analysis and the report of different processes can be considered as a comparison. From the construction of the environment itself will comparison stem. The main interest of that research is that it will provide a look on the specificities of an environment and its delineation in terms of accountability. The global approach and the sectioning of the paper attempts to be similar to those of Ahrens (1996, 1997). Addressing the question of accountability for charity in two territories, after the problem has been set in introduction, the vision of each territory is then presented. And as a third step, there will be a discussion. As Ahrens & Chapman (2006) state, in a constructivist research, methodological choices, data and theories are not to be separated. The discussion will therefore be held on both results and theorising. Doing a constructivist research, it will not be desirable that pre-determined items be used, as Bhimani (1999) states. Referring to him, Eifferin & Hopper (2007) evoke the dilemma of the cultural researcher. Whether he will adopt pre-determined items, as those identified by Hofstede (1980) or Merchant (1981). In doing so, he will chose an etic methodology. As Bhimani (1999) argues, making that choice leads to a positivist research. In verifying that a research field matches with a previous theory, one adopts a different epistemological position. He then encounters the risk that the is a tension between his constructivist claims and his positivist approach. As Eifferin & Hopper (2007) declare, etic must not be totally rejected. It can be compatible with the recourse to grounded theory, to the extent that it helps think and formulate concepts and theorise. If the researcher does not choose an etic mode of theorising, he is able to choose rather the emic(see Bhimani, 1999). This latter consists in letting th field construct on its own the categories (if applicable) that will lead to theorising. If no items can be identified, an emic approach allow to conclude on the impossibility to categorise and on the very specificities of the cultures studied. Consistent with grounded theory and with the constructivist approach, this paper will only be based upon emic concerns. It will be attempted to understand the specificities of the cultures 5

studied and noway to sort them by pre-determined items. Despite all, post-determined items are not a priori rejected, if the fields make some applicable. In cultural studies, the most common biais is that one considers nationality as the main characteristic of a culture (see Bhimani, 1999; Baskerville, 2003). According to Eifferin & Hopper (2007), nationality is not relevant, as countries are generally multi-cultural and composed with numerous ethnies which are as many single cultures. In order to avoid that biais, this paper will not consider France and Sweden as countries but as territories, namely places where an action or an event take place. This is similar to studying how in a given place things are going. To that extent, nationality will not be considered as such. Rather, the socio-political and socio-economic features of the territory will be scrutinised. Considering the location instead of the nation or the country is not a novel practice, as Miller &O'Leary (1994) or Quattrone & Hopper (2005) have already done it. Their matter was to understand what the characteristics of the location were. 1.2. Ethnography as a methodology of research This case study is based upon multiple methods. Data first came from internal documents of the Salvation Army. A second source for data was ethnography. Aware of my membership in the Salvation Army, Trevor Hopper encouraged me to lead ethnographic methods, considering that the research field is infinite. As a member of the Salvation Army, access to people in the chosen territories was facilitated. I was able to meet ministers, volunteers, social workers and territorial leaders as well. I spent a few months in France as a part-time member of the Salvation Army between July 2005 and until now. I spent some days in four parishes, in Paris and in Nice, taking part in services and some social projects with youth, with homeless and with alphabetisation. I participated in financial committees and in fund-raising operations. During those operations, I could discuss with donors and catch why they give money to the Salvation Army. I redacted for two months the programme of a parish, I proposed a sponsorship project with public companies (informatics and furniture constructors). The territorial commanders in France and Pr. Trevor Hopper, helped me with contacts in Sweden. They introduced me there, which allowed me to plan a first visit. I spent for the first time one week therein in early October 2006. I was accommodated by the Secretary for Information and Communication who organised the whole agenda. I stayed at the Training College of the Salvation Army at Ågesta in the suburb of Stockholm. Forthcoming ministers of the Salvation Army in Sweden graduate there in theology. Like them I had an individual apartment and I shared their kitchen and lunchroom. Unfortunately they were training outdoors all the week. But I had the opportunity to meet the instructors of the students. Every morning I had a talk with the Principal during breakfast. Ethnography consisted in living like Swedish Salvationists. For participant observation, I could visit a home for a half day and take part in a session of alphabetisation for overseas women. They were having a class of Swedish. Classes were ranked by level. I visited three of the four classes held that day. I followed the lesson but I was not capable to teach in Swedish. I could talk in French and in English with some women and with the directors of the home and with the permanent four volunteers intervening there. I visited the largest parish of Stockholm (Templet Kår), which is said to be representative of the rest of the Salvation Army parishes. I could have a conversation of three hours with the minister there. I met members of the cabinet, ministers, volunteers and parish-goers and social workers in the four countries. With each of them, I could have informal and formal conversations. Informal meetings were free conversations. We talked about what I had observed and understood, I could 6

discuss my research project. I could be given some clues to better understand the Salvation Army, be they proved or not. I was therefore able to catch people's feelings about the Salvation Army. Precisely because I expected the feeling, I did not foresee any end for the interview. They could thus last up to three hours. I did not record nor wrote what my spokespersons were telling me. I was afraid that they did not feel totally free to talk. For that reason, I preferred reassembling in the aftermath what I heard and wrote on a sheet of paper what I could perceive, doing in accordance with Glaser & Strauss' (1967) recommendations. Formal interviews were syntheses of the previous informal interviews and of the observations that I could make before. Formal interviews' unique purpose was that they are recorded. They were prepared in the extent that I took into account everything I had seen until then in general and especially what the interviewee had already told me. They were thus semi-structured and adapted to the interviewee. If one happened to have had other ministries in one overseas or at the International Headquarters of the Salvation Army, I adjusted my questions in order to benefit from these precious informations. Not every one of them was asked exactly the same questions. I confronted people to the sayings of their counterparts in the other territories. Each recorded interview took place in the office of the interviewee and lasted about one hour. Coherent with developing grounded theory, the analysis of data consisted in a double coding. First, an open coding was developed and then an axial coding (see Strauss & Corbin, 1998). In the open coding, the most significant words and expressions were isolated and scrutinised. For each of them, a set of significations was extracted. Afterwards, the most plausible significations were retained and constituted categories for conceptualisation. A triangulation of those distinct significations led to a whole and satisfying understanding of the observed phenomenon. The paper does not present the whole process of coding, only the conclusions. 2. THE FRENCH VISION 2.1. Laïc catholicism and differentiation Until 2002, the Salvation Army was a benevolence association whose known activity was the charitable actions. In 2002, impulsed by the governmental inspection department for social services and by the commanders of the Salvation Army and with the help of a British lawyer, its activities were differentiated. From now on, a foundation2 can be charged with social matters linked to insertion, whilst a denomination was born and deals with the spiritual accompaniment and other religious matters. The third pillar, the temporal pillar, is utilised as a support activity for the main two others. Volunteers can therefore be allocated to missions exerted indifferently by the foundation or by the denomination.3. Since the Salvation Army receives public funds for its social actions, it was necessary that social work and spiritual matters are differentiated. State funds represent over 80% of its income4. In order to be able to further collect them, the Salvation Army was constrained to differentiate those activities. It was aimed to perennialize the funding of social action. On the other hand, the denomination has to raise other funds. Its headquarters is partly funded by the International Salvation Army and by private giving and legations. Parish goers highly contribute to the the
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In the French law, associations are not recognised as having civil service missions, whereas foundations are. Foundations may publicly raise funds, which associations are not allowed to do. See Projet de la Congragation, 2002. It is an institutional document presenting the guidelines of the Salvation Army for the upcoming years.
Se annual reports for 2002, 2003, 2004.

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financing of their parish. That origin for funds is the most significant one for the churches.5 If the activities had not been differentiated, the Salvation Army would have appeared as a single religious association and would have not been allowed to collect state and public funds. It would have lost the greatest part of its ressource and would not have been able to pursue the social insertion of marginals. It would have been constrained to limit its charitable action to temporal emergency aid. However, this would have not been congruent with its protestant values. The recognition as a foundation of public utility implies that the Salvation Army can also count on private legacies. Parishes are funded by their parish goers. As members of the church they give money in every service. I could often see in collection baskets bank notes of five or ten euro6. They are also invited to pay a voluntary contribution. For that purpose, there are at the entrance envelopes under their disposal. They can set a cheque or a bank note and give it to the treasurer of the parish on Sunday. The denomination also organises special internal fund-raising campaigns for a specific event. The whole month in June 2006, the ministers at the parish of Paris Nation, before the church moved to another place, expected salvationists to subsidise the removal. Each Sunday, the pastor recalled that money is expected.
I recall you that the Corps needs your financial support for the removal. As indicated, consider that it is like a list for a wedding. You have to get engaged on an object. For instance, we will need a wash machine for the kitchen.7 Just contact myself after the worship.

Parishes sometimes organise village fairs or charity sales. Two events annually take place: one in autumn for the harvests and one in spring for the branches. The whole building is open to the public and hundreds of people are expected. They can purchase used clothes, crockery, and other curios. If they prefer halting in the tea-room, they can buy a piece of cake cooked by salvationists. Every sold object comes from a gift and has not been paid by the Salvation Army. There are no visible costs. Sales equal the final result. In average, the result of these sales lays by 2 500 euro. The fixed costs of the parishes are funded by the foundation: electricity, gas, water. Some services are sold by the foundation to the congregation, like the rent of the occupied buildings. I had a conversation with the director of the Palais de la femme where the parish of Paris Nation was lodged until November 2006. She told me
I am renting the meeting room to the Corps for 1500€. There are 1000 square meters. Of course, they are satisfied! They would never find such a low rent in the centre of Paris!8

The regulatory differentiation of activities due to the French laïcité led the parishes to develop a real economic management accounting. At a moment when I was not expecting it, Carmine told me that he is the management accountant of the denomination. This should mean that the latter keeps management accounts. Intrigued, I wanted to know more about that. As if it were natural, he explained
Yes, the foundation subsidies the denomination. The social work of the denomination is funded by the foundation, whilst evangelisation is funded on our equity. In their accounts, corps have to make appear if a cost is dedicated to social work or to evangelisation. Bookkeepers in corps have to differentiate both. [...] The foundation has money for social programmes. Unfortunately in the denomination they prefer ignoring it.9
5 6 7 8 9

At the moment, I have not been able to access to the accounts of the denomination. It is forthcoming. Sunday services in the parish of Paris Nation, special purpose services at the headquarters.
Major Williams, Service on Sunday June 18 2006. Informal conversation, Sunday May 1st 2005. Interview not recorded, January 18 2007.

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The differentiation of activities led the denomination to implement an activity based costing. In the accounts, each expense is allocated to social or evangelical. As the foundation can partly fund parishes, this can be considered as an incentive to diaconale involvement. Developing diaconale programmes leads to more resources. As Carmine states, these can be monetary but also human or material. When a parish daily accommodates children during the holidays, equipment will be needed: for culture and sport, like boos or balls or tennis rackets or informatics equipment. On their own, corps would not be able to purchase them, Carmine explains.
These expenses with which the foundation is charged could have never been made by corps. It represents an amount of money that they do not have.

The Salvation Army, in respect to the Protestant theology encourages labour. Accounting by activity in the frame of the differentiation leads parishes to implement diaconale actions. If salvationists agree to involve in the social work of their church, this latter will get more money and will offer a higher comfort and offert services of better quality. Goers will be more at their ease at church than they would be without such programmes. To that extent, the differentiation creates an environment in which success is economic and comes from labour. Weber (1921) considers that the protestant ethics promotes labour as a key factor to success. For him, success is necessarily a capitalist success: a high return on investment. For an entrepreneur it is a high return on invested capital. For a worker it is a high compensation. If his proposition is delineated to the case of the Salvation Army, it stems that social work is awarded with higher funds and a diversification of their origins. Three parishes10 do not have any diaconale programmes. For that reason they are poorly funded. Symmetrically, parishes with a very high social involvement are richer11. Ex post, the leaders of the Salvation Army claim the principle of laïcité. The president of the foundation who is in the same time the Chief Secretary of the denomination explains:
France is a laïc country. The Salvation Army is the denomination whose secular arm is the foundation. There are two distinct legal bodies but both are under the responsibility of the Superior of the denomination. [...] In the name of the so-called laïcité, we are able to justify both vocationalisation and quality in leaving God in His place. It had been high time for officers to understand that faith is not sufficient and that competencies are required.12

When I was about to leave, he saw the book I was reading Economy and Society, band one by Weber, and showed a deep enthusiasm:
You are alright because the Salvation Army is weberian. And it is reinforced by the laïcité.

At the moment, the idea that the laïcité could be a chance for a Protestant organisation left me perplexed. Only when I understood that the regulatory differentiation increases the total amount of resources of the parishes under the contraint that they involve their goers in proximity social work, I could seize to what extent laïcité supports the denomination instead of weakening it. The differentiation has been hardly accepted by the members of the denomination. They felt spoiled as if they were losing one important part of their missions. Lazare demonstrated their fears in these words:
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Belfort, Toulouse and Bordeaux. In Dieppe, in Dunkerque and in Nice, for instance diaconate represents over 80% of the total activities. 80% of their ressources thus stem from the foundation.

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Lieutenant-Colonel Duchêne, President of the foundation and chief-secretary of the denomination, first interview, February 26 2006.

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Is it normal that the daughter [foundation] replaces and orders the mother [denomination]? 13

From that moment on a rumor started to rise. The salvationists protested and accused the foundation of willing to get separated from the denomination. Other people found abnormal that non Christians may enter the Salvation Army in the name of a professionalisation meaning secularisation and identity loss. Alain and his spouse Odile harangued:
As long and as much it is done by faith it is right! God be the glory!14

The assembly replies in a choir:
Amen!

When the superior began speaking on quality in the Salvation Army, Paul15 told me discretely:
We are not seeking for quality, we are doing charity. [...] How to impose the obligation of quality to good-will people?

Faith is not sufficient any more to accomplish miracles. But the members of the denomination strongly believe that good will and generosity or altruism may not be controlled. An explicit management control system is seen as inappropriate. Even, people can not imagine that it would be possible, being incompatible with a charity. Neither do they think that they can be controlled ex ante by the recognition of specific qualifications. Lieutenant-colonel Duchêne said to me:
If faith is sufficient, it gives ipso facto the competencies required for an efficient social work. [...] The misunderstanding from the members of the denomination is to be bound to the Roman Catholic tradition of France. French salvationists are fundamentally Catholic. [...] The differentiation in two bodies made possible the creation of the denomination. At last officers have had an existence and their status as ministers has been recognised16.

2.2. Unsuccessful attempts to integrate activities Like it differentiates roles, the Salvation Army integrate both bodies and people for a greater coherence of the action. The project of the foundation17, published in 2005, stipulates stronger links between the foundation and the denomination. It is expected competencies to be complemented for the final action to be really based on the three pillars. The overall actions have to converge to the common goal of the organisation: the salvation of souls through social insertion. Lieutenant-colonel Duchêne recognises that:
the members of the corps [parishes] do not want to work for their church when they are competent fr that purpose. We thus have to look outside.18

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Lazare is a soldier of the Paris Nation parish. He expressed his point of view when the superior of the denomination presented the guidelines of the organisation. Service on Sunday November 20 2005. Alain and Odile have been enrolled in the Salvation Army since 1995. He is the housekeeper in a home of the Salvation Army. She is an assistant in teaching programmes. Every night, they both take part in soup distributions. On every Sunday, they go to the parish for the service. They have there some sacerdotal responsibilities. I will not detail them here, since they have been changing. Paul is the eldest son of a coupe of officers. He has been actively engaged in the Salvation Army since November 2006. When he speaks there, he is not an official member of the Salvation Army and he is a real critic of the organisation.
Second interview, March 7 2006 Il s'agit d'un document institutionnel. Third interview, March 14 2006.

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During the annual congress19 for youth, the Secretary for communication and publications presented to the young salvationists the jobs and careers in the Salvation Army. The objective was to provoke an interest that would lead them to work for the foundation. In the aftermath of the event, Irene20 admitted
our commander is attempting to encourage young people to studying in order to be able to work for the Salvation Army. I even understood that the Salvation Army would fund the scholar programme in that case.21

Young people are not encouraged to work necessarily as social workers. Due to Protestant theology, claiming that everyone contributes to the welfare of the community, all competencies are welcomed. It is important that managing positions and social worker positions are occupied by salvationists. Those who are willing to be appointed in such jobs are invited to signal themselves to their pastor. Then, the Secretary for Communication will give them an interview. Together they will discuss the individual professional project and the opportunity of working in the Salvation Army. After a series of interviews with the candidate and with his pastors, he will be funded or not. In early 2007 it is still too early to know what will outcome from the project. No candidates have been identified yet. About the importance of having salaried salvationists or Christians, Andreas from Basel22 told me about his own experience.
When I recruit a social worker, I a careful that he is Christian. But for a housekeeper it does not matter. She will never meet the gentlemen of the home. Indeed, all my housekeepers are Turkish or Moslem. [...] I encourage young people in my corps when they want to train. I am glad to offer them training periods in the men home.23

Andreas stresses here that it is important that jobs oriented to the public are occupied by salvationists or people adhering to the Christian values of the Salvation Army. All other supporting tasks can be done by others. Parker (2001) notes that in a religious community common beliefs lead to a standardisation of behaviours. Sharing a common comprehensive understanding of the world and having the same notions of what should be done, they will tend to act in similar and foreseeable ways. I can derive from Parker's writings that in the case of the Salvation Army the integration of Salvationists in the three pillars of the action ought to lead to a greater coherence and convergence and congruence of the action. If only salvationists act for the Salvation Army, individual actions ought to be congruent to the organisational objectives. Their meeting would be accepted as a moral duty responding the diaconale engagement made by the individual for God. Subsequently, if these central tasks are done by non Salvationists, there is no certainty that their actions will be congruent or coherent with those of the rest of the organisation. As Parker (2001) notes, the social pressure of a religious engagement binds you to your community. A secular engagement made with another religious organisation does not have the same value. For that reason, the presence of other Christians in the Salvation Army can not appear as a guarantee that the holistic project will be completed in a congruent way. As a proof, contrarily to Roman Catholicism, Protestantism is characterised by a plurality of chapels and beliefs. The common basis is the conception of divine grace. Otherwise, the visions of the world are multiple: there are liberal protestants and conservative protestants for instance. They do not share exactly the same values and will not exactly act in the same way in the same situation. In recruiting other Christians, the Salvation Army is attempting to ensure a minimal congruence and convergence of
19 20

October 30 November 1st 2006

Irene is a Scottish officer commissioned in France where she has served since 1990. She is the pastor at the parish Paris Nation
Sunday November 5 2006.

21 22 23

Andreas is a soldier at the parish Basel I and he is the director of a home for men in Basel. Informal conversation, August 31st 2006. He was driving me to a meeting on Management by Objectives at the Headquarters in Bern. In the car we had that conversation.

11

goals. Each parish is lodged in a home belonging to the foundation. There are 25 parishes and 43 homes on the territory. There is thus not a religious community in every home. Nonetheless, at least a representative of the denomination is present, e.g. a chaplain. He is present and he is known by the users as such. Symmetrically, parishes are encouraged to develop diaconale projects. Their members do not spontaneously set such programmes. In Paris, Bram24 deplores
Here, at Paris Nation, in the corps, we have no project.25

Bernard26 in the Parisian suburb makes a similar remark:
When you look at the composition of our corps, you will be able to understand that we can not have a diaconale project. Our parish goers ought to be beneficiaries of the social work of the Salvation Army. They can not stand giving what they receive.27

Joel28 remembers
In Dieppe, Karen and I tried to involve parish goers to develop a project. Most of them were beneficiaries and were not able to do anything. Here in Nice we do not have enough people in our corps. We both do all the work.29

Carmine adds
Before Marc Foucault attended another church in Montreuil, he was the sole salvationist who helped me in homes. Twice a week he accompanied me and did a remarkable work with those people. Unfortunately now I am alone and no members of corps seem to be willing to help. [...] Yes, next year I will make an announcement in the first services.

Noticing the difficulty to integrate salvationists in the diaconale project of their church, the chiefs mandated two officers and expected them to develop a diaconale concept. In September 2005, Major Ponsztler and Major Brigou were appointed to develop a programme entitled Actions espoirs. Kelly explained the members of the parish Paris-Nation
the project consists in identifying the need in your environment and in surveying how you could satisfy it. You are able to be the presence of the Salvation Army in your borough or in your building in responding to the needs of the population. This can take different forms according to where you are.30

After the meeting, a semi-directive questionnaire was distributed to people. We were invited to interrogate ourselves on what we could see in our environment that deserve improvements. We were encouraged to wonder what is right or wrong and how to improve it. As a third step in the questionnaire, we were invited to wonder what competencies and how much time would be necessary to achieve it. With a cup of tea, Kelly Ponsztler 31 could give me more details on the issues of Actions Espoirs. I have to confess that until that day the concept had a certain amount of vagueness for me. It became then clearer. In doing so, salvationists were encouraged to do market
24 25 26

Bram Williams ists a Major. He and his wife are the ministers of the parish Paris Nation.
Interview, October 1 2005

Bernard and his wife are Majors of the Salvation Army. In September 2005 they were appointed in BoulogneBillancourt by Paris. Before, they served in Toulon and in Marseille.
27 28 29 30 31

Interview, May 9 2006

Joel is a Captain in the pastrish of Nice. he was appointed in Nice after an eight year service in Dieppe.
Telephone interview, March 21 2006 Presentation of the project Actions espoirs, Sunday January 16 2006 March 8 2006 in my place

12

surveys for the Salvation Army to adapt its environment. Indeed, they were then incited to inform Major Brigou with their observations. She, in accordance with with parishes, would have deployed all necessary means, be they material, human or financial in the boroughs. The territorial commander shared with me his vision for the Salvation Army in France.
I am proud of the outcomes of the foundation. They do a remarkable work. But this is not the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army has to be present in the quarters and to adapt realities as much as possible. It has to be animated by salvationists themselves. That is the reason why I asked Kelly to work on Actions Espoirs.32

With 1600 employees and 100 active officers and 100 retired officers and 3000 volunteers including 800 salvationist, the Salvation Army suffers from a disequilibrium of competencies. The differentiation of activities allowed to stress that social work is the stronger pillar in the organisation. Reciprocally, the spiritual pillar is the weaker. This accentuated by the low amount of salvationists in the population of volunteers. The differentiation accentuates the weaknesses in the integration of all components of the diaconale action. Whether the Salvation Army should have remained smaller than it is, or more salvationists should have been involved in sacerdotal positions or social work. The superior of the denomination regrets two things:
There are not enough officiers and there are not enough candidates to become officers. [...] My project for the Salvation Army consists in stopping the development of the foundation. I will of course continue launched programmes but I will not start new ones. I prefer people in the denomination to be involved in local projects. They are the Salvation Army, not the foundation.33

To remedy that, he thought of doing in France what he did in Denmark where he was the territorial commander until November 2004. There, he reinforced the spiritual pillar in proposing term-contracts for ministers. This ought to suppose that the main obstacle to officership is the life engagement. In Denmark, a term-contract allowed candidates to consider their minister as a job and not any more as a life vocation. It worked there. Anders34, whose daughter married a Danish and is working as a term officer in Copenhagen, confirms.
Since Dick has been the TC35 in Denmark, there have been many candidates to officership. There are many lieutenants36. It is a real success.

He expected many French salvationists to respond to the call for applications. At the moment, nobody applied. The solution found for Denmark seemed to be inappropriate in France. Likely the main obstacle to vocations is not the life engagement. No cause for that situation has been identified yet and no other solution has been proposed too. The differentiation of the three pillars allowed to notice an insufficient integration of them. It made possible the identification of a disequilibrium and the necessity of remedies. At the moment, none has been found. Lieutenantcolonel Duchêne admits:
We have tried everything. Now, we are abandoning the former apostolic management and we are replacing it with a managerial management. Salvationists are now to understand that praying is not enough. It is high time to act. [...] I recruited a scholar, inspired by Ricœur. he is Catholic, but he really understands our matters. He is charged with the proposition of new remedies to the insufficient integration of salvationists in the action of their church.37

32 33 34 35 36 37

Interview, June 20 2006 Sunday September 11 2005. The superior of the congregation presents his project for the upcoming years. Anders is the Secretary for Communication and Information in Salvation Army in Sweden. Informal conversation, October 1st 2006. Dick Krommenthoek was the Terrotorial Commander in Denmark until November 2004 and then in France until November 2006. A lieutenant is a term officer. Interview, December 12 2006.

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3. THE SWEDISH VISION 3.1. Fiscal differentiation and optimal funding The Salvation Army in Sweden is structured in differentiated two bodies. In fact, people are the same. On the one hand, there is a religious denomination charged with all spiritual aspects of charity. On the other hand, a foundation sets the divine plan for the integration of the individual. The supporting pillar for temporal emergency aid is done by volunteers. The differentiation in two bodies is here motivated by the fiscal status of churches in the country. Indeed, Subjects pay every year a religious tax. Every person choses to what church they will pay their tax. Churches are partly funded by tax. Kjell38 notes
In the Salvation Army we are partly funded by the religious tax. Collecting it is not part of my tasks. It is done by the Secretary for evangelisation. Do not ask me why, I do not know. It is right that it would be more logical that I raise these funds.39[...] Symmetrically, social work is subject in no tax exemption, contrarily to other countries.

Elisabeth, his assistant, adds
Tax exemptions provoke an eviction of money which could have been allocated to something else. The tax exemption in Sweden is always perceived as an opportunity cost in Sweden.40

Nonetheless, public administrations fund social work. The socalled Kommun mostly fund social actions. To each activity corresponds a specific fund. For that reason it was necessary that both activities are differentiated. Like in France, the differentiation ought to maximise the funding of the organisation. The Salvation Army can be funded with subsidies from local governments for its social action, with the religious tax for the spiritual work and with donations and legations for both. Kjell remarks that
Donors generally prefer giving for social projects rather than for the development of the church.

Before the distinction in 1994, the Salvation Army was just a foundation with a spiritual activity and could collect only subsidies for its social action. As Anders declares,
People were generally reluctant to give without knowing if their money will be utilised for spiritual or for social matters.41

Before the differentiation, the Salvation Army only collected subsidies or donations to finance its social work, whilst the spiritual action had no legal and financial existence. It was fully integrated to the social action. When I arrived at the Arlanda Airport42 and before I couldstart my investigations, Anders briefly informed me about the confessional status of the Salvation Army in that context.
The Salvation Army is part of the so-called free churches. They are churches distinct from the Lutheran Church. Since the Salvation Army has reached the group in 2002, it has been able to raise the religious tax. Before the tax reform the tax could be paid only to the official church.

Since then, the Salvation Army in Sweden can count on a supplementary funding. Anders admits that people in Sweden remain reluctant to giving to another church. Even among
38 39 40 41 42

Kjell is the Secretary for fund raising. Interview recorded on October 5 2006. Elisabeth was present with Kjell during the interview. She was helping him with English and happened to intervene in the conversation. Interview recorded October 5 2006. Arlanda Airport, October 1st 2006.

14

salvationists only few people have decided to pay the tax to their church and not to the official church.
They are about 500 who choose to pay their religious tax to the Salvation Army. The others still pay it to the Lutheran Church. I hope that things will change although I think that it will be long until then. [...] At the moment, it represents a small part of the total amount of money collected by the Salvation Army.

3.2. Successful Integration of the three pillars There are 150 parishes and 75 homes. 5000 soldiers are actively involved in its actions. They are led by 200 ministers. 1000 vocational social workers are employed. Most of them are recruited outside the Salvation Army. Eva43 explains that
the labour law in Sweden allows that a religious organisation expects for the purpose of the position that candidates are affiliated to a church. I can specify in my announcements that the positions necessitates a religious affiliation. It will not seen as a discrimination. It is clause of the contract.44

As far as she knows, the recruitment of employees does not make necessary that they present their religious tax payment sheet. Anders estimates
there are likely 200 salvationists employed by the foundation. Some of them are social workers. But we scrutinise that they have direction duties.45

Most directors are salvationists. At the headquarters, all Secretaries are salvationists. In France, department directors in the foundation are rarely members of the denomination. Salvationists are integrated in leading the organisation, which is not the case in France. Their recruitment is centralised in Stockholm and done by the Secretary for evangelisation. Indeed, like in France they are not all members of the Salvation Army. Despite that, the integration to a team of volunteers is conditioned by the belonging to a Christian church. The religious affiliation is controlled ex ante thank to their tax payment sheet46. It first stipulates if the person pays a religious tax. The sheet secondly lets know to what church the religious contribution is paid, when applicable. It thus becomes easy to distinguish believers and non-believers. The quality of the church visited by believers can be controlled. The tax payment sheet works as a signaling device sent by the candidate to the Secretary for evangelisation. When they are recruited out of the Salvation Army, volunteers' adhesion to the Christian values of the Salvation Army are controlled ex ante. If one does not pay the religious tax, he will be suspected of not sharing the values. Reversely, someone who pays to a known protestant church sends a positive signal of his quality. Whilst in France the Salvation Army has no formal means to control the adhesion to values, in Sweden there is a formal control device. The outcome ought to be similar. In France, the relations between the Secretary for evangelisation and the candidates is based on trust and honesty. In Sweden too, but a control can really be exerted. The issues are very similar in France and in Sweden concerning the convergence, the congruence and the coherence of the goals of people.
43

44 45 46

Eva is an engaged salvationist. She was recruited as the Secretary for Personal in June 2006. When I interviewed her, she had just started in her new position. Interview recorded on October 2nd 2006. Informal interview, not recorded, October 3rd 2006. I willingly will not develop the topic in that paragraph, as I will do later, where it is likely better explanative.

15

Most volunteers are salvationists. There are 5000 active members in parishes and occasional volunteers are recruited for their specific skills. Major Blömberg47 confirms
We do not need many volunteers. We have all competencies in our corps. My ministry consists in letting them know what is possible in the Salvation Army. I meet them and I inform them. I rarely have to recruit external people.48

Officers in Sweden are satisfied of the integration of salvationists in the social field and in the diaconale involvement of their church. Mia-Lisa49 explains
I am glad that people in my corps are totally integrated in the civil society. They are part in many events where they represent the Salvation Army. [...] Young people let know much more on the Salvation Army when they are with their friends than any public demonstration does. In testifying, they are in diaconate.50

Parishes are invited to develop diaconale programmes in their closest environment. Officers recognise that it is hard for them to involve people. Mia-Lisa recognises
I would like to develop such programmes. But the old generation seems not to be willing to help. The young generation, develops new diaconale ways and means. Whereas the old generation provided services in the church, the young generation is closer to people and their needs.

The implication of the salvationists is diffuse but deeply anchored in the society. Mia-Lisa told me about that concern
I am glad to see that the young generation involves itself in closer action, even if it is not visible from here.

In social homes of the foundation, vocational social workers intervene. Commissionner Kjellgren51 estimates that
I am proud of the work o our professional social workers. I am sure they do that job by love to their next. If it is so, the message of the Gospel is being transmitted. To have professionals is an asset for the Salvation Army which is now capable to provide services of good quality.52

If applicable, those external professional social workers are led by salvationists with managerial or social skills. Albeit, Commissionner Kjellgren deplores that
there is a serious shortage of officers.

In order to improve the situation, he appointed Major Blömberg to promote such tasks to youth.
I visit every corps in Sweden and I meet young people. I tell them about careers in the Salvation Army. I present them the jobs in accordance with their skills and studies.53

In doing this, the Headquarters is attempting to encourage young people to get more involved in the action of the Salvation Army. The recourse to external professionals, even though they share common values with the organisation, does not appear as sufficient to ensure that actions
47 48 49

50 51 52 53

Major Blömberg is the Secretary for Social Work. Interview recorded on October 4 2006. Mia-Lisa is a major in the Temple Corps, the largest parish of Sweden, located in Stockholm by the Headquarters of the Salvation Army. She is Finnish and has previously worked in Finland. Interview not recorded, October 5 2006. It lasted for three hours. Commissioner Kjellgren was the Territorial Commander in Sweden from November 2004 until November 2006. Interview recorded, October 2nd 2006. Interview recorded, October 4 2006.

16

are congruent and coherent. On the contrary, employing salvationists would ensure a narrower coherence. The Salvation Army's leaders are expecting a deeper integration of individuals in the life of their church. Although the degree of integration is encouraging, it is found insufficient at the moment. The leaders of the Salvation Army hope that they could reach an ideal functioning in which all salvationists would be involved in dicaonate. Directors in homes are encouraged to have relations with parishes, do they not belong to the Salvation Army. According to Anders,
it is capital that there is a Christian presence. The Salvation Army or anybody else. People have to be able to meet ministers and to hear of the Gospel.54

I visited a home in Akalla55 in the northern suburbs of Stockholm. In that district many refugees just arriving are lodged. None of them can speak Swedish. In that centre, led by two officers, women have Swedish classes. These classes are taking place in the secondary rooms of the Lutheran church of the borough. The administration of the centre is in a building on the opposite pavement. Although visitors are not all Christians, they are regularly in touch with ministers. The evangelical mission is made possible. I could chat with some of the women. They confessed me that they did not know the Salvation Army before they arrived. I explained them the reason of my presence there. They started ask many questions about the spiritual issues of the Salvation Army. The officers there answered with pleasure and explained about the organisation. It astonish one that the Gospel is not presented first. Anders recalls
Evangelisation does not mean proselytism. The old ways of evangelising, such as demonstrations in the streets and sales of newspapers in pubs are not working any more. Nowadays, to testify is to evangelise. That is what they do in the centre.

When the religious presence is not as clearly marked as in Akalla, a chaplain is member of the personnel. He is present as such. He proposes activities without them being necessarily bound to the Gospel. He can hold a coffee room and have a talk with people. He can project films and organise debates on them. He can also hold the library of the home. Every occasion to meet people without the meeting to be formal is dedicated to chaplains in the Salvation Army. Captain Lynett Edge56 explained me
As the chaplain, I show the women that being Christian is not incompatible with a modern life. On the contrary. I chose to become Christian because I understood that I would be freer. When I drink a cup of coffee with the women in a pub, when I go to the cinema with them, I am testifying without saying about God. Of course, I reply them if they have any questions about the subject.

When chaplain proposes social educative activities in complement of the action of social workers in a home, it is diaconale. In the home, he ought to be perceived by users as a minister. He is perceived as the representative of the congregation by social workers and directors. In that extent he is a spokesperson for them and not only for the public. As the direct and closest spokesperson from the denomination in the home, he is able to inform workers on the world conceptions shared within the Salvation Army. He is able to look whether the actions undertaken are coherent, convergent and congruent with the goals of the Salvation Army. 4. DISCUSSION: ACCOUNTABILITY IN BOTH TERRITORIES

54

55 56

Interview not recorded. October 4 2006. When he drove me to the social centre of Akalla, he explained me about the linkages between homes and parishes. October 4 2006. Lynett is an Australian minister. At the time of the interveiw she was the champlain in a home of the Salation Army in Paris.

17

4.1. Differentiation, optimal funding and environment In France and in Sweden, diaconate is truncated in two distinct bodies: a foundation for social matters and a denomination for worshipper matters. In both cases, the differentiation is orientated to the optimisation of fund raising. In creating two bodies, the Salvation Army can in both cases ensure the financing of its social work by public subsidies, which represent the largest part of their household. In both contexts, it also made possible that religious aspects of the action can exist. With its relative autonomy, the denomination can raise its own funds. Steinberg (1987) found that not-for-profit organisations are structured in order to raise the highest amount of money, be they to be dependent on donors. According to him, the first mission of such organisations is to find funds for the action. Before differentiation, the Salvation Army in Sweden could only perceive funds for its social work which was subsided by the kommunar. Its spiritual work was not funded. Since the differentiation is set, the historical funds dedicated to social work have remained the same. But she is nowadays able to raise further funds. As Anthony & Herzlinger (1975) write, the perenniality of a not-for-profit organisation depends on the diversification of the origins of collected funds. If the sole funder stops funding the organisation, the existence of this latter is compromised. If there are several sources for funds, one can be lacking without obstructing the action. Anthony & Herzlinger propose such a diversification in order to reduce the dependence towards funders. Brockner and al. (1984) found that these organisations are strongly dependent on their donors. In a normative perspective, they suggest that such organisations should secure their financial structure in diversifying the donors. None of these authors argued that the structure of the organisation can be influenced by financial constraints. There are many other works demonstrating the effect of structure on resources and budgets, launched by Bruns & Waterhouse (1975). According that set of authors, the structure of the Salvation Army could not be explained. Steinberg (1987) argues that the structure of not-forprofit organisations is determined by the seeking for the optimal financial structure. They are seeking to maximise the total amount of their ressources and do not hesitate to renounce their liberty in managing or allocating funds, for they are strongly dependent on their donors. According to Steinberg, the degree of dependence can impact the structure and the form of a not-for-profit organisation. In adapting its laïc environment, the Salvation Army opted for a security of its financial resources. The socalled laïcité in France does not allow that religious denominations be state funded. His proposal seems to have a satisfying explanatory power for the Salvation Army in both territories. Unfortunately, Steinberg, too influenced by Niskanen (1971) and the Public Choice, did not focus on the relationship between the organisation and the environment. From that restrictive perspective, one can think that a charity or a not-for-profit organisation is first of all a trustee whose main job consists in raising funds. These authors do not mention how colected funds are utilised. Rather, they deem that fund raising is the finality of the organisation. Hopwood (1983) considers that any management accounting system or any management control system is part of a context. As such, accounting and accountability are not only influenced by economic matters, but also by the political or the historical context. Hopwood only takes politics and history into account. In both territories, the political-cultural environment seems to influence differentiation and integration of activities. In France and in Sweden, although the organisation is similar. The Salvation Army differentiated its main two activities in two bodies. In Both territories, a foundation and a congregation coexist. In both places the differentiation took place in two stages. First, in 1994 ministers were recognised as such and in 2000 the charity was transformed in a 18

foundation and in a denomination. Each body is animated by vocational workers: social workers recruited out of the organisation and ministers. When one addresses the question why the Salvation Army in both territories engaged in vocational social work, the protestant conception of grace and of charity helps understand the phenomenon. Everybody can be touched by divine grace, whose effects are demonstrated in a successful insertion in society. That insertion is performed by the self aided by ministers and by social workers. Since the spiritual and social project of protestantism aims to integrate marginals in the society, there is a moral duty for the organisation that they perform as well as possible. In both territories, there seems not to have been any sacred-secular arbitrage that could explain the differentiation of activities. Rather, both territories have appropriated the theology of the Salvation Army and delineated it. The political and social environment in both territories motivated the form of the Salvation Army therein. From a territorial point of view, the main element of the environment influencing the structure of the Salvation Army is not the same everywhere. In the French territory, the environment can be understood in respect to the political-historical background of the country. The Salvation Army in France evolves in a militant secular environment, the so-called laïcité which was conceptualised in 1905 in reaction to the Roman Catholic Church convinced of plotting the Republic. As only catholic denominations were allowed to hold schools and colleges, children were educated to support monarchy. And the state subsided them. In 1905, when the radicals led the government, they decided to stop subsiding regime opponents and decided to separate religion and political matters. Republic has since then been assimilated with a clear differentiation of the State and religious matters. Political leaders in France do not even imagine the regime without the separation. Political leaders never dare to challenge or to contest the principle and the subsequent statement. Historians of the Third Republic (1870-1940), such as Rémond (1999) state that the political history of France has been characterised by the struggle with worshipper affairs. Sweden would look like a regular territory. Indeed, the most important element of the environment, impacting on the Salvation Army, is social. It seems to be that every body of the society may find their position and role. Everything is then facilitated for this to be performed. Historians of Sweden, like Roberts (1967) or scholars focusing on politics in Sweden, like Tilton (1974) observe that there is « an habitus for consensus » in the country (p.565). They found that democracy emerged with the generalisation of primary schooling in 1840 and with the constitutional reform in 1908 creating a second chamber. In the same time, the king recognised new denominations that were qualified free churches. In an ethnological writing, Stromberg (1981) recalls that these free churches are responsible for the spiritual vitality in the country and that the regime encourages and supports their development and implementation (p.545). He considers that the free churches as such are an element of the Swedish democracy and welfare state. With their recognition, the Swedish aristocracy was not obliged any more to be member of the official Lutheran Church and could exert influence on other churches. Their revolutionary claims were pacified with free churches. Roberts, Tilton and Stromberg admit that the culture of consens in Sweden was born with the emergence of those free churches. The history of the relations between the crown, aristocracy and peasantry helps understand to what extent the context is favourable to the Salvation Army. Both territories thus seem to be very resemblant with each other. Albeit, environments are diametrically opposed. In France, differentiation was completed in order to maintain public subsidies for the social work. In a first step, differentiation was experienced as a constraint imposed 19

by the political secular environment. In differentiating, the French territory could keep receiving public subsidies. In not differentiating, it would have lost them, due to the prohibition for government to fund religious organisations. But in a second step, it was seen as the possibility for the denomination and its parishes to raise their own funds and to get funds from the foundation for their social work. From now on, the social action of the parishes can be funded, as the foundation subsidies it. In order to perceive more money for their social work, parishes have to keep an activity based accounting in which they differentiate their expenses by category: social work or evangelisation. Before the differentiation was imposed, parishes had to fund on their own their diaconale action. The French laïc environment led to the real recognition of the denomination and facilitated its action. Funds from now on collected by the parishes are utilised only for their spiritual programmes which are by a revenue effect more funded. In Sweden, differentiation was not imposed but proposed to the organisation by the government. Contrarily to France, where denominations may not be funded by public subsidies, in Sweden the contrary happened. Since churches are funded by the religious tax, the Salvation Army was encouraged to benefit from that new resource. As its social work was funded by local governments (kommunar), it would not have been judicious to transform to a single denomination and to renounce governmental social subsidies. In differentiating, it could keep perceiving the former local subsidies for its social work and be funded by tax. From now on, the Salvation Army can keep its former funds and gets a supplementary ressources from tax collecting. The fiscal funding of the Salvation Army sounds there as its official recognition by the government as a church with a diaconale action. The environment encourages churches to be active on the social stage and to be identified as such. In the environment of the Swedish Salvation Army, recognition of churches and their support by government motivated the differentiation. Differently from France, the denomination is not to prove that is leads a social action to get subsidies. It is therefore not necessary that ministers keep accounts presenting social or worshipper matters. Differentiation of activites in both territories takes a similar form. And in both cases the way it is achieved does not perfectly suit the requirements of the international Headquarters of the Salvation Army. The in-depth observation of these fields shed light on the fact that the nature of the environment has impacted the organisational design. Be it hostile or favourable, the project is performed by two bodies. Interestingly, the Public choice could help understand one series of motvations but was insufficient to be really convincing.

4.2. Styles of integrative accountability Leaders made several attempts to integrate both the social and the spiritual pillars in the four territories. They consider the action of the Salvation Army as a whole. Diaconate is the charity performed by the church. Faith has to be translated into actions. Reciprocally, actions must be motivated by the beliefs and noway independently from them. Convergence, coherence and congruence are not spontaneously met and it is an objective to ensure it. In addition, that objective appears as a supplementary objective in respect of the two of the international Salvation Army. In addition to supporting the suffering humanity and to working for the salvation of souls, the Salvation Army presents a secondary objective: basing actions upon faith and delineating faith into actions. In the French territory, many attempts have been done to achieve integration. The territorial 20

leaders of the Salvation Army seemed to think that the physical proximity of parishes and homes would help the cooperation of both pillars. Although there are representatives of the denomination such as chaplains in every home, this is not reciprocal. Integration is physically possible, as parishes and homes have reciprocal relations. As they do not take them over, they act separately with the risk that these actions are not coherent and congruent with each other. As leaders notice, there is a shortage of Salvationists in parishes interested in the continuity of the beliefs. To one extent, the social work remains done by secular professionals and the spiritual by religious people. Whereas the temporary temporal work ought to be performed by parish-goers, most volunteers are coming from outside. Some of them are secular people, and others belong to other churches. From the incentives to work for the Salvation Army as term-ministers or as general employees as well nothing came out. Obviously, French Salvationists seem no to be interested in the integration of the three pillars. They deem the Salvation Army as their church and ignore what she does as a charity. They come on Sunday services and then go back to civil life57. Whatever attempts are to integrate, it looks as if Salvationists in France were preferring differentiating their beliefs from action. Integration for coherence, convergence and congruence has been the object of many unsuccessful trials, so that differentiation predominates there. In the French territory, the shortage of Salvationists makes the integration of the holistic project difficult: absence of volunteers and employees from parishes. It has been facing a dilemma: perennialty or congruence. The arbitrage led to prefer ensuring the perennialty of the organisation in the territory, at the expense of the congruence and the coherence of the action. In the French territory, secular matters overwhelmed religious expectations. In the Swedish territory, the integration of the three pillars of diaconate has been successful. Salvationists help perform the diaconale action. Although homes sometimes have to recruit volunteers outdoors, most of them are members of parishes. Nearly all parish-goers are volunteering for their church. The outcome is remarkable to the extent that, according to Anheier & Solomon (1994) and Mauro (1994) note that volunteering is not a cultural trait of Swedish culture as it is in the United Kingdom. The personal involvement of Salvationists in the charity performed by their church demonstrates that they appropriated diaconale issues and devices, although it initially responded to an overseas model. Contrarily to the French or the Swiss territories, the three pillars are equally taken over by members of the Salvation Army. As Swedish historians state (see Rundblom, 1994 for instance), relayed by the leaders of the Salvation Army in the territory, since the Viking expeditions throughout Europe (mid ninth century), Swedes have always been used to integrate features of overseas cultures. The Swedish culture is characterised by the fact that it is an assemblage of many cultures. This could help understand that volunteering has been generally well accepted and performed by Salvationists in Sweden. Thereby, the whole action of the Salvation Army can look coherent and convergent and congruent. This can be the case even when it is partly performed by non Salvationists, as there are a priori control devices such as the taxation sheet. The fiscal environment of the Salvation Army makes possible that candidates to volunteering of to a job are controlled before they enter the organisation. Whoever is willing to work or volunteer for the Salvation Army must demonstrate her Christian affiliation. Since most volunteers and employees of the Salvation Army are Salvationists themselves, the congruence, the convergence and the coherence of their beliefs and actions is ensured. In the Swedish territory, contrarily to the French and the Swiss territories, there seems to be no arbitrage between secular needs and religious matters. Both articulate with great ease, but not perfectly, as there are nevertheless some volunteers and employees stemming from outdoors. In not facing the secular/religious divide, the Salvation Army in the Swedish territory does ignore the problem posed by incongruence, divergence and incoherence.
57

I deliberately use that term that I borrowed from the Salvation Army vocabulary. The Salvation Army distinguishes salvationist and civil activities or life.

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As McKernan & McLullich (2004) prescribe, there is no tension between sacred and secular when actions are motivated by faith. In the Swedish territory, the whole programme of the Salvation Army is performed on the basis of faith, as the Salvation Army is therein able to recruit Salvationist or Christian employees and volunteers. In the French territory, members of the denomination mistrust the employees of the foundation, for these latter are non Christians. Reciprocally, employees often demonstrate a reject of the denomination, which is seen as impotent. Likely the difference in both territories holds on that faith is not the motivation of all actions to the same extent. It a sacred-secular divide must be identified, it is due to the structure of the Salvation Army itself in the French territory. Irvine (2006), working on the Salvation Army in the Western territory of Australia, could observe that the great divide does not exist, whcih confirms McKernan's & McLulloch's prescriptions. They contradict Booth (1993) who considers that there can be tensions due to the intrusion of profane individuals in sacred missions. In such a situation, members of the church denounce the exitence of professionals who are not part of her. That attitude could help understand the relationship between the foundation and the denomination in the French teritory. However, it appears that the great divide appears as being The integration of activities for a greater coherence and congruence and convergence of goals is imperfect, even unsuccessful. The Salvation Army is mostly composed of people who ought to be beneficiaries from the Salvation Army, whereas in Switzerland they belong to the upper classes. Colonel Duchêne58 expressed this simply:
Look at the sociological composition of the corps of Paris Nation or Boulogne. And you will understand. Most of them are in a very precarious situation and ought to be users of the Salvation Army. I think that some of them can not stand volunteering when they receive in the same time. For others, I suppose that they are not skilled enough to work with us. [...] In Switzerland, the Salvation Army is a church for the upper classes. [...] Yes, Daniel Bates'59 father in law is the president of the Hall of Justice in the canton Zurich.60

The non-participation of Salvationists in France can be understood by the fact that they are probably impotent and that they could not distinguish their own experience as excluded people from the one of their beneficiaries. I could notice that some of them are homeless or refugees, whereas others can not read or write. Those who can work have low jobs, such as taxi drivers 61. As the Salvation Army in the French territory suffers from a shortage of skilled-people the integration of activities is compromised. In Sweden, one can observe a full integration of activities and persons. Albeit, motivations have not been the same in both territories. Anheier & Salamon (1994) observe that volunteering has not been a trait of Swedish culture but has been successfully case by case incorporated. The Swedish society is pretty receptive to overseas cultures and practices, namely that of volunteering. Volunteering or being a deacon? I assume that diaconate has been easily appropriated by people and that its form consists in volunteering. Parish-goers in Sweden would thus volunteer, as long as it is related to the social project of the church.

58

59 60 61

Colonel Duchêne knows the French and the Swiss territories as well, as he is a national of both countries and as he served on both sides of the Alps. Daniel Bates is the chief of the brass band in the parish Zürich Zentral. Interview not recorded, June 6 2006. Just in the parish Paris Cœur de Vey there are six of them.

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The acculturation in the Swedish territory has admittedly been made possible by the openness of the Swedish society, as noted by Haldenius (1991) or Rundblom (1994) or Anheier &Salamon (1994). But in the case of the Salvation Army it has likely been biblically motivated. In the fourth chapter of Acts the meaning of diaconate is recalled: aiding widows and orphans. In the third chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians, Apostle Paul recalls that the sole faith is not enough to be justified. It has to be related to acts which delineate her. McKernan & McLulloch (2004) provide a ricoeurian interpretation of such a relation: not the acts justify, but the fact that they are the temporal translation of beliefs. Temporal is a translation of the sacred. To the extent that Sweden is a religious country, where churches are publicly recognised and delineate features of the social policy of governments, it is likely that the interpretation of the Scriptures led to a full integration of activities. Regarding the integration and the personal involvement of the members in diaconate, the French and the Swedish territories demonstrate opposite two styles of accountability. In the French territory, despite atttempts to integrate, there are not enough volunteers and Salvationist vocational workers. The accountability in that territtory endangers the coherence and the congruence and the convergence of the whole project of the Salvation Army, as seen in the sensions between the foundation and the denomination. Contrarily, in the Swedish territory accountability consists in a full integration of the three pillars of the action, which secures the coherence of the whole. As Anthony & Herzlinger (1975) state, the real issue in a not-for-profit organisation is the amount of resources and in particular of human ressources that they identify as having « the right person at the right place » (p.10). The Swedish territory, due to its composition, does not face the shortage of skilled people, contrarily to the French counterpart. The Swedish territory is thus able to delineate faith into action in accordance with the international standards defined in the theology. The French territory can not count on sufficient internal resources. To be accountable to the Scriptures and to the theology of the Salvation Army, it is obliged to have recourse to external ressources and to select people outside. In sum, the Swedish territory, due to the full integration of the activities and of the individuals, is formally and substantially accountable for its project. To a lesser extent, the accountability in the French territory is partial and substantial, however not formal. Accountability in the Swedish territory is more respectful of the requirements of the International Salvation Army whereas the French territory seems to be expected to attempt to fill them.

CONCLUDING REMARKS Foucault (1972) notes that churches have a real know-how in dealing with social homes. Basing on the Acts of the Apostles, he demonstrates that churches have always been charged with social work and insertion. The society considers that social exclusion is like a disease. It is a social disease. Those ill people could contaminate the sane ones. That is why they were isolated. Since they are not necessarily responsible for their statement, they were not prisoned. They were only taken outside the society. Until the nineteenth century, only churches were good enough at hygiene to be capable to accommodate them. Only denominations had specialised homes. Foucault deals with hospitals, homes for confused people and for homeless. He notes that clerks were capable to socialise people, as it was one of their biblical duty. For that reason it important that religious denominations be accountable for their social specific skills. From the analysis above it stems that the French and the Swedish territories unsurprisingly 23

demonstrate two styles of accountability. Such an observation has already been made by Mauro (1994) or Anheier & Salamon (1994) namely. Reassuringly, the observations here are consistent with theirs. The main interest of that study was that the research field itself. Behind strong formal similarities have hidden deep differences and even oppositions. This is consistent with the body of literature that considers accounting as socially situated (Hopwood, 1983). The environment needed thus to be constructed and understood. The second contribution of that document is that it brings new knowledge in a poorly studied field, i.e. churches and other denominations. To that extent, it follows the prescription made by Booth (1993) in comparing and the observations made by (Duncan, Flesher & Stocks, 1999). Afterwards studying accountability at the organisational level, as Booth (1993) suggests, a further avenue for research could be accountability at the individua level. This would respond the question of how the are accountable for a vocational work at their individual positions. A second axis could consist in deepening the accountability for the design to God with other territories. In progress is a comparative study of régimes of accountability in the Swiss and in the British territories. Consistent with Booth's (1993) suggestions could be made a comparison of the Salvation Army with other religious organisations in order to enhance the scholar knowledge on that emerging research field.

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