Blending service and financial security: A study in the organizational adaptation of a fraternal benefit society

Abstract

A little known organizational model rooted in earliest social welfare history, the fraternal benefit society, is presented as a case study in organizational adaptation to changing internal and environmental pressures. The fraternal benefit society combines elements associated with commerce, human services, and self-help groups. Rooted in early Greek and Roman mutual aid societies, the fraternal benefit movement paralleled the development of social services since the mid-19th century, and in many ways serves as a prototype for newly emerging organizations which seek to combine elements of economic development with social welfare service provision. Fraternals present structural issues also seen in organizations in which employee shareholders benefit from the commercial success of the company in which they work. The writer uses Lawrence and Lorsch's Contingency Theory to analyze how one fraternal has adapted to become a major financial and voluntary service institution. Gordon and Babchuk's Typology of Instrumental and Affinitive Organizations is used to discuss the dynamic tension inherent within the fraternal structure.