Accountability to Welfare Service Users: Challenges and Responses of Service Providers

Influenced by the consumerist sentiment in New Public Management,the last decades have witnessed a revival of the call for accountabilityto service users in the public service sector. As an act ofaccountability, social care and health care professionals areincreasingly obliged to involve their service users in the serviceplanning and monitoring process. Despite the popularity of thisaccountability and user involvement rhetoric, critics have,however, been skeptical of the prevailing user involvement initiativesas an effective measure of accountability to service users (Barnes and Wistow, 1994a,1994b; Bowl, 1996; Peck et al., 2002; Rea, 2004). Based on astudy of user involvement in the welfare sector of Hong Kong,this paper argues that the discourse of accountability to theservice users can be a source of unrest for welfare professionals,in the manifestation of accountability as a power relationship.Their ensuing response is to accommodate the ensuing challengearising from the demand for accountability to service usersby manoeuvring the accountability discourse. It is the contentionof this paper that the institutional inclusion of welfare serviceusers into a discursive space is a necessary but not sufficientcondition for the realization of a mandate of accountabilityto welfare service users.     

An EM Algorithm for Smoothing the Self-consistent Estimator of Survival Functions with Interval-censored Data

Interval-censored data arise in a wide variety of application and research areas such as, for example, AIDS studies (Kim et al ., 1993) and cancer research (Finkelstein, 1986; Becker & Melbye, 1991). Peto (1973) proposed a Newton–Raphson algorithm for obtaining a generalized maximum likelihood estimate (GMLE) of the survival function with interval-cen sored observations. Turnbull (1976) proposed a self-consistent algorithm for interval-censored data and obtained the same GMLE. Groeneboom & Wellner (1992) used the convex minorant algorithm for constructing an estimator of the survival function with "case 2" interval-censored data. However, as is known, the GMLE is not uniquely defined on the interval [0, ∞]. In addition, Turnbull's algorithm leads to a self-consistent equation which is not in the form of an integral equation. Large sample properties of the GMLE have not been previously examined because of, we believe, among other things, the lack of such an integral equation. In this paper, we present an EM algorithm for constructing a GMLE on [0, ∞]. The GMLE is expressed as a solution of an integral equation. More recently, with the help of this integral equation, Yu et al . (1997a, b) have shown that the GMLE is consistent and asymptotically normally distributed. An application of the proposed GMLE is presented     

The role of the gerontological social worker in assisted living

This qualitative study reports on thirteen assisted living (AL) administrators' perspectives of the role and the importance of the AL social worker in addressing the unmet needs of older adults as they move and transition into AL. Participant interviews were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Administrators described 5 AL social work roles: (a) decision-making and adjustment coordinator; (b) resident advocate; (c) mental health assessor and counselor; (d) family social worker; and (e) care planner. Implications include directly examining AL social workers' views, analyzing costs and benefits of employing AL social workers, and developing social work practicum sites within AL.     

Warehouses or Welfare?: Legislative Dispositions for Alcoholics

Skid row alcoholic offenders and the various legislative responses to this social problem are examined. Recent United States case law is discussed in the context of sociological explanations of societal intervention against this group. The validity of the medical model of alcoholism as a basis for planning social policy in respect of alcoholic offenders is questioned. Traditional justifications for civil commitment programmes are rejected as an infringement of civil liberty and human dignity. The effectiveness of criminal sanction on a cost benefit basis is analysed. Finally,. alternative policies are discussed and recommendations are made as to possible long-term solutions.     

Palliative sedation: an essential place for clinical excellence

The complexities that converge around palliative sedation invite clinicians to work together to differentiate the issues and come to recommendations and decisions that are humane, ethical, legal, and clinically sound. Whether a crisis or long-term situation exists, the work is essentially the same. It must include critical thinking, clinical expertise, multidimensional assessment, and an array of interventions to assist patients and families in situations where symptoms and suffering are sufficiently intense to warrant exploration of sedation. The many issues inherent in the discussion of sedation at end of life require not that we have the answers but rather that we work with our colleagues to raise relevant questions and integrate both expertise and compassion into end-of-life decisions and care.     

The role,power and influence of company chairs

This paper develops an analytical framework to depict the heterogeneity that characterises the role of board chair and demonstrate the potential variability in how chairs operate boards and exercise power and influence on strategy, control and resource related tasks at board level. Theories of power and influence, as applied to top management teams and boards of directors, are explicated within the context of contemporary governance practices that are establishing the role of the board chair as distinct to that of the chief executive officer. Specifically, the paper maps sources of power and varying contemporary chair practices, including chair nomenclature (i.e. executive vs. non-executive chairs), chair origin (insider vs. outsider) and chair time (full-time vs. part-time). A number of theoretical chair-power models emerge from this analysis and are subject to empirical analysis using data collected from 160 chairs of 500 FTSE-listed companies. Theoretically and empirically, the paper complements structural approaches to studying boards with attention to behaviour on boards. By linking board structure, board process and the exercise of influence, the study reveals both differences amongst chairs in how they run the board, but also that chairs’ differ in the influence they exert on board-related tasks. Full-time executive chairs exert their greatest influence in strategy and resource dependence tasks whereas part-time, non-executive chairs seem to exert more influence over monitoring and control tasks.     

International Federation of Social Workers: International Policy on Refugees

The initiators and the advocates of the Australian Assistance Plan claim they are creating a new framework—a framework which is more sensitive to and aware of the needs of the individual and the community. As Knight and Wallace point out in the March issue of Australian Social Work, the key concept is participation.¹ The Social Welfare Commission, who initiated the A.A.P., describe it as:     

Consequences of work force reduction: Some employer and union evidence

Despite the popularity of workforce cutbacks in the 1990s, largescale empirical stud-ies at the bargaining unit level are rare. I explore some of the consequences of per-manent work force reduction using data from both employer and union respondents. About 56 percent of employer participants and 57 percent of local union officials reported a permanent reduction of bargaining unit employees. In comparing bargain-ing units that experienced a permanent reduction of union members, results obtained from both employers and union officials indicated a significant negative impact on over-all employee satisfaction and labor climate. Additional analyses with union respon-dents revealed that the reduction of bargaining unit employees was also associated with a higher rate of grievances and absenteeism and poorer relations between union members and their supervisors.     

The breakdown of class politics

This paper reviews debate in the 1990s over whether, why, and how much class is declining in its impact on politics. One position is the “null hypothesis” of many at Berkeley and Oxford: the impact of class has not changed. The other position is that “post-industrial society” is transforming politics and redefining class. To focus, the paper does not seek to inventory themes in abstract, but stresses core points made by actual proponents in the exchange. Over the decade many issues were resolved; others were not. Social inequality persists, and inequality of income has risen; but the motor of politics is less clearly jobs. Consumption and other post-industrial concerns have entered and transformed politics in many countries worldwide. How political parties have changed their appeals away from “class” is a key issue, as is the drop by about half in the size of the traditional working class in most Western countries since 1945. From this exchange lessons emerge for conceptualizing and measuring these dynamics in the future. He has taught at Columbia, Harvard, Yale, the Sorbonne, UCLA, and the University of Florence.