Professional discretion and length of work experience: what findings from focus groups with care managers in elder care suggest

ABSTRACT

Research has explored how care managers in elder care – who often function as ‘street-level bureaucrats’ – regard professional discretion. The way in which length of work experience affects care managers’ use of professional discretion remains, however, unexplored. This article present findings from 12 focus groups with 60 care managers. By bringing attention to how care managers experience the needs assessment process, this article sheds light on how these ‘street-level bureaucrats’ struggle when they try to balance their clients’ needs against institutional frameworks and local guidelines. Length of work experience seems to play a role in how care managers claim to use professional discretion. Experienced care managers describe how they deviate from the guidelines at times in order to create an increased scope of action in their decision-making process. Those with less time in the profession describe greater difficulties in this respect. Findings suggest that research should explore if length of work experience plays a role in the actual way in which care managers assess needs and make decisions. As such, they contribute to our understanding of how needs assessment processes are navigated by professionals while also pointing towards the nature of professional discretion in gerontological social work.     

Complexities of discretion in social services in the third sector

Policy analysts have devoted considerable time to examining the problem of the policy implementation gap, with one important strand in the literature following Michael Lipsky's work on street-level bureaucracy and discretion. In this paper, we aim to contribute to the literature concerning shifts in government/third sector organisation contractual arrangements and whether they constitute a significant (post-neoliberal) development in policy implementation. Using a case study of contracted government services in Australia, we revisit the conception of discretion to reflect on the impact of these changes and document their implications for the use of discretion in management and front-line worker practices.     

The street-level delivery of activation policies: constraints and possibilities for a practice of citizenship

The debate on activation policies and challenges to social citizenship has to go beyond the level of formal policy and take into account also its operational and street-level dimension, which shapes what eventually arrives as policy on the ground. In this context, frontline practice plays a crucial role since it constitutes the very moment when activation policies encounter their target groups and real-world solutions have to be found. This article outlines a conceptual framework to approach frontline work within the context of activation and presents the main findings of a research project aimed at exploring the challenges, interpretations and reactions of frontline practitioners in Public Employment Services in the cities of Vienna (Austria) and Milan (Italy). The findings contribute to the debate on the constraints and possibilities for a practice of citizenship in a practice field whose challenges are often neglected both by social policy and social work research although it has become a central arena for welfare state intervention in which social citizenship, eventually, becomes manifest. Particular attention is paid to different framings of practice and to the questions whether and to what extent professionalising ‘activation work’ could counteract the precarious and highly individualised role of frontline practitioners in this ambiguous public domain.     

Social accountability in frontline service delivery: Citizen engagement and provider response in four Indonesian districts

Social accountability (SA) tools engage citizens in improving frontline service delivery. Contextual factors are increasingly recognized as key to the effectiveness and sustainability of SA. This article identifies micro‐level factors associated with attitudes and continued commitment to SA, drawing on 60 interviews with providers, clients and local officials at 15 primary health centres in four Indonesian districts. We found that healthcare providers and local governments demonstrated responsiveness to citizens not only in conducive contexts, but also in less favourable ones. State actors’ perceptions of the appropriate role of citizens varied. We conclude that long‐term sustainability of citizen engagement in accountability relationships will depend upon alignment of providers’ and citizens’ expectations, along with supportive institutional incentives.     

Selecting social work students: lessons from research in Scotland

The issue of selection of students to social work programmes is one that remains highly contested. While it is clear that there is no single way of choosing the next generation of social work students, nevertheless, there are a number of strongly held beliefs about what ‘best practice’ means in this fraught field. These can be difficult to challenge, and even harder to shift, in spite of contrary evidence. This paper presents research conducted in Scotland in 2016 as part of the Scottish Government-sponsored Review of Social Work Education. The research set out to consider what selection processes were being used in Scotland and why; more fundamentally, it sought to explore the views of those involved in social work education alongside evidence about the outcomes of the selection processes (that is, data on student retention and success). The article concludes that while there is little evidence that one method of selection to social work programmes is intrinsically better than another, issues of fairness and transparency in selection, as well as diversity, remain pressing.     

Service users and carers’ involvement in social work education: lessons from an English case study

Within the larger context of the search to improve social work practice in Europe, this article presents a case study of a UK innovation in social work education with the potential to radically change social work practice. Following governmental requirements, Anglia Ruskin University has introduced systematic involvement of service users and carers in the training of a new undergraduate degree since September 2003. The conceptual and value base, the structure, staffing, and main activities are outlined; the main achievements and obstacles are highlighted. Mindful of the danger of slipping into tokenistic involvement, the project has included an action research evaluation component exploring the views of all the project's stakeholders thus establishing the project as an evidence-based educational innovation. The findings highlight the value of service users and carers’ involvement on the qualifying social work degree, of the action research design of the evaluation, and the steps needed for the cultural change required for such an involvement to become more comprehensive and embedded in the degree.     

Past work experience and organizational assimilation in nonprofit organizations

This study compares seven dimensions of organizational assimilation (OA)—familiarity with coworkers, familiarity with supervisors, recognition, acculturation, involvement, job competency, and role negotiation—into nonprofit, for‐profit, and governmental organizations incorporating the role of similarity of past work experience (magnitude of transition [MoT]). An online survey of 294 employee newcomers (tenures of 3 months or less) revealed differences in OA between those entering nonprofits and those entering for‐profit, and governmental organizations. Compared to newcomers entering for‐profit and governmental organizations, nonprofit newcomers reported higher levels of job competency, involvement, acculturation, and role negotiation. Interactions between organization type and MoT from past work to current roles were examined for effects on OA. When MoT was low, nonprofit newcomers were higher on acculturation and involvement than for‐profit newcomers; governmental newcomers with high MoT were significantly higher on role negotiation than for‐profit newcomers. Theoretical and practical implications for nonprofit organizational management, trainers, and nonprofit newcomers are discussed.     

Evidence-based practice in social work: perceptions and attitudes among Norwegian social workers

Although the concept of evidence-based practice (EBP) eludes precise definition, it is used as a trademark label to ensure that practice is based on science and thereby effective and of high quality. Proponents of EBP have proposed that both education and practice in social work should be transformed according to the principle of EBP. They attribute critical opposition to EBP to a lack of knowledge of what EBP is. In this article, we endeavour to clarify the concept and present results from a survey among social workers (N?=?2060) from Norway. The survey results show that although many have heard of the concept, few have precise knowledge about it. However, the more educated social workers are (master’s level), the clearer their opinions, both critical and non-critical. The results are discussed in relation to neo-liberal governance and development of social work.     

Understanding Professional Projects in Welfare Service Work: Revival of Old Professionalism?

The professional terms for occupations that provide welfare services are changing, and here the introduction of new public management in the Nordic countries since the 1990s is indicative of wider developments. The article explores professional projects in welfare service work from both conceptual and empirical perspectives. The aim is to produce a gender‐sensitive analysis of the professional projects at the lower levels of the occupational hierarchies in health care. The first part reviews the literature conceptualizing the societal and institutional embeddedness of professional projects. The institutional matrix of welfare states emerges as a key context in shaping the welfare service work performed by women‐dominated professional groups. The second part examines the case of Finland and suggests that recent reforms have created new inequalities in the system of professions, in which occupational groups in welfare service work are becoming marginalized. This signals a move away from ‘democratic professionalism’ towards a revival of ‘old professionalism’.     

Beyond bureaucracy and entrepreneurialism: Examining the multiple discursive codes informing the work,careers and subjectivities of management graduates

This paper examines how discursive codes and demands associated with ‘bureaucratic and entrepreneurial regimes’ of work and career organization shape the work, careers and subjectivities of management graduates. The study is based on an analysis of 30 narratives of management professionals who graduated from an Austrian business school in the early 1970s or 2000s. Its insights suggest that variegated discursive codes manifest in the graduates’ articulated professional practices and subjectivities, thereby challenging established assumptions regarding the organization of work and careers. While the practices and subjectivities of the 1970s graduates are often informed by codes and demands ascribed to ‘entrepreneurialism’, those of the 2000s graduates are infused with several codes commonly portrayed as ‘bureaucratic’.     

Voluntary work in the Norwegian long-term care sector: complementing or substituting formal services?

ABSTRACT

Across Europe, governments call for increased involvement of volunteers to shoulder some of the welfare burden. Nevertheless, there is little research into what kind of work and how much volunteers currently contribute in the long-term care services and whether this has the potential to substitute formal services. Drawing on findings from a survey of employees in Norwegian nursing homes and home care districts, we examine the nature and volume of voluntary, unpaid work in the long-term care services in Norway. Our data suggest that volunteers to a very limited degree carry out work that has traditionally been considered the formal system’s domain: personal care and practical help. Nearly all the voluntary, unpaid contributions in our data takes place within cultural, social and other activities aimed at promoting mental stimulation and well-being, indicating a classic specialisation of tasks between volunteers and professionals. However, there has been an expansion of the formal care system to include activities aimed at promoting well-being in recent decades. This may indicate that there is a certain level of task sharing between voluntary and formal care. Thus, social workers need to consider voluntary service provision when assessing the needs of clients.     

Labour is not a commodity: The content and meaning of work in the twenty‐first century

In his valedictory lecture before the Collège de France, Alain Supiot reviews his work on the transformation of labour in the twenty‐first century, highlighting the role of law and institutions in addressing the consequences of the digital revolution and environmental crisis. In his view, the moral, social and environmental bankruptcy of neoliberalism calls for us to reconsider the legal fiction of labour as a commodity and to re‐establish the truly “humane labour regime” envisaged by the preamble to the ILO Constitution, recognizing both the meaning and content of work. He uses the case of scientific research to illustrate his argument.     

Labour geographies of the platform economy: Understanding collective organizing strategies in the context of digitally mediated work

The article examines the geographies of collective labour struggle in the platform economy. It distinguishes between the unique spatial features associated with place-based work and crowdwork to examine the divergent collective organizing strategies developed therein. Taking works councils, collective bargaining and multi-enterprise agreements as three examples of social dialogue, the article considers why different types of platform workers gravitate towards particular strategies, analyses the regulatory frameworks within which these workers' collective struggles are bound, and assesses the propensity for these expressions of solidarity to improve the terms and conditions of platform work.     

Service user involvement in social work education: experiences from Germany and implications for a European perspective

ABSTRACT

Service user involvement (SUI) in social work education has gained widespread attention in Europe and other continents. Nevertheless, experiences on including service users in social work education have not been reported from Germany or other German-speaking countries to date. This paper reports preliminary experiences with implementing SUI in a bachelor’s programme of social work in a German University of Applied Sciences. The main goals of the current paper are (1) to provide a background for implementing service user approaches in Germany by introducing the structure of social work education in Germany; (2) to report experiences from a weekend seminar where service users worked together with students of social work in the framework of a curriculum of a German University of Applied Sciences and (3) to formulate some implications of these experiences for SUI across Europe. The main results were that introducing service user involvement into a German curriculum of social work is possible but needs careful reflection and planning. Experiences gathered in the weekend seminar with service users were encouraging for service users, students and teachers. We conclude that systematically implementing SUI into German curricula of social work is important.     

An application of the nonprofit virtual accountability index: Accountability in sport for development and peace

In this research note, we examine web-based accountability practices of human service nonprofits. Data were collected directly from the organizational websites of an international sample of 532 organizations involved in operating sport for social change programs, more commonly known as the field of sport for development and peace. Websites were coded using the nonprofit virtual accountability index—a theoretically grounded and robust tool—to measure information and interactivity available for stakeholders across five dimensions of accountability. Analyses of variance and independent t-tests were used to test potential group differences based on geographical region, the thematic types of social change efforts, and the type of sport used to deliver programming. The results of this analysis highlight the critical importance of geographical location and other organizational variables for web-based accountability practices. Furthermore, the results allow nonprofit leaders to identify common areas in need of improvement for smaller and emerging nonprofits.     

Governing through accountability: Gendered moral selves and the (im)possibilities of resistance in the neoliberal university

Drawing on Judith Butler's early work on gender as performance and her later work on the ethically accountable subject, this study examines the production of gendered moral subjects under neoliberal governance in contemporary academia. The analysis of 40 semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with postdoc researchers and assistant, associate and full professors in a Belgian university reveals how in academics’ narratives of their ethical relations of (non‐)accountability towards multiple stakeholders, gendered subjects are performed along the heterosexual matrix reproducing the gender binary. The conjunction of gendered and ethical demands imposed through relations of accountability further opens up distinctively gendered possibilities of consent and resistance under neoliberal governance. We advance the extant literature on gender in academia which largely focuses on women's symbolic struggle to (dis)identify with a masculine professional norm. By locating power in the gendered relations of accountability towards multiple others, it re‐conceptualizes gender as an ontological struggle in the constitution of the self as moral along gendered norms. The study rejoins recent scholarship that calls for the recognition and elaboration of a relational ethics by showing how such ethics enables the emergence of open and responsive subjectivities in relations of accountability.     

Social work guanxi: a reflexive account of the social work relationship in the Chinese context

ABSTRACT

In a guanxi-driven acquaintanceship, the worker, the client, and the community are tied together more closely than they are in mutually agreed-upon service contracts. This paper re-examines the contemporary boundaries in the social work relationship, especially in Asian nations such as China, where ‘relationships’ are generally translated and perceived as ‘guanxi’. The indigenisation of social work must be managed with care when translating from West to East. Drawing from the experiences of community development projects in rural Hong Kong, this paper discusses how guanxi among social workers, clients and other stakeholders in Chinese communities might challenge the professionalism of social work and breach the boundaries of social work relationships.     

The role of age in the relationship between work social characteristics and job attitudes

Despite the amount of research on the link between work social characteristics and job attitudes, there is a lack of work on moderators of this relationship. In the present study, we examine the role of age as a moderating effect of this relationship using life-span development theory. The aim of this paper is to study the moderator effect of age in the relationship between two work social characteristics (interaction outside the organization and interdependence) and job attitudes (i.e., general job satisfaction and work engagement). Participants were 258 workers from private organizations. Data were collected at two time points (2 to 4 weeks between T₁ and T₂). Results showed that the relationship between interdependence and work engagement was stronger for older workers than for younger workers. In addition, the relationship between interaction outside the organization and general job satisfaction was stronger for younger than for older workers. Because increased engagement and satisfaction in an age-diverse workforce is important, organizations may benefit by challenging older workers with interdependent tasks, and younger workers with interaction with stakeholders outside the organization.     

Service user research in social work and disability studies in the United Kingdom

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the involvement of service users in research as well as in research studies that are led by service users. Although this interest in service users’ roles in research has been evident in both social work and disability studies, the two research disciplines have remained remarkably separate in the United Kingdom. This paper examines the epistemological underpinnings of social work research and disability studies research and explores the tensions, possibilities and power dynamics of collaboration between the two research disciplines in the United Kingdom. It concludes by outlining possibilities for social model approaches to social work research.