Shifting alliances – a Simmelian perspective on social service work in Norway

Purpose We explore theoretical resources from the classic sociologist Georg Simmel in service analyses. Thereby, we concentrate on the theory of alliances in order to apply it to relations between management, home aid workers and clients in a Norwegian case. Design/methodology/approach Questions of possibilities of alliances between two parts against a third in the triad provide significant analytical lines. The data are derived from participant observation, individual interviews and focus group interviews, and collected shortly after the organizational change in four organizations, that is between January and June 2006, and are now re-analysed. Findings In the service triad, there are three logical possibilities of alliances that we explore: (1) worker and client against management, (2) worker and management against client and (3) management and client against worker. Further, in empirical cases over time, alliances can change, and more than one alliance can exist at the same time within the same service triad. Originality/value We apply Simmel’s underused theory in social service research to a qualitatively based study of organizational changes in home care work in Norway. Thereby new social science knowledge is generated.