A case of mistaken identity

2009 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Healy
Keyword(s):  
Women Workers ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Professional Identity ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Mistaken Identity ◽  
Professional Recognition ◽  
The Social

Social welfare professions have been highly exposed to the corrosive effects of New Public Management (NPM) on professional identity and influence. In this article, I argue that ambivalence from within the social welfare professions, and in society more generally, towards professional recognition of these occupations enables NPM to enact an agenda of de-professionalization. Further, gendered assumptions about professional identity, and particularly about the caring professions in which there is a high concentration of women workers, are pivotal to the destabilization of the professional social welfare workforce. I draw on examples from the Queensland Department of Child Safety workforce reforms to illustrate how NPM discourse intersects with, and is enabled by, well-established ambivalence towards professional recognition within and outside the social welfare professions. I suggest that a gender analysis can deepen our understanding of the substantial impact of NPM on social welfare professions and can enable these professions to develop effective responses to the substantial threats they now face.

THE SOCIAL ASSISTANCE SYSTEM IN POLAND IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CONCEPT OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-198
Author(s):  
Leszek Zelek
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
New Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Management Concepts ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Welfare Model

The aim of the article is to present the social assistance model in Poland in the light of new concepts of public management in this area. As a result of the review of the available literature on the subject, the genesis, evolution and directions of development of social assistance in Poland are shown. New directions of management in the context of social policy were discussed. The description of the social welfare model presented in the article is systematising knowledge in the scope of the discussed problem and by comparing new management concepts, assessing the possibilities of their implementation on the ground of social assistance. The first part of the article describes the genesis and evolution of social welfare in Poland and discusses its structure. In the second part, through comparative analysis, an attempt was made to characterize new management concepts, New Public Management and governance, in the light of the social welfare model in Poland

scholarly journals Brottsoffer i indikatorland – Öppna jämförelser inom socialtjänstens brottsofferstödjande arbete

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (3-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotta Agevall Gross ◽  
Verner Denvall ◽  
Cecilia Kjellgren ◽  
Mikael Skillmark
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Programme Theory ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
National Board ◽  
New Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Victim Support ◽  
Support Work

Crime victims in Indicatorland – Open comparisons in the social services’ work with victim supportSince the 90s there have been extensive changes in the public sector, such as rationalization and increasing demands for documentation and review. The changes have also affected the social services’ victim support work that has increasingly been subject to various forms of regulation, such as requirements for monitoring, evaluation and quality assurance. This article aims to examine one of the monitoring systems applied in the victim support work: the instrument of open comparisons. This article is based on an exploratory study of the local organization of crime prevention in two municipalities and analyses how the processes of open comparisons are organized at local, regional and central levels. The empirical data consists of documents such as legal sources and handbooks from e.g. the National Board of Health and Welfare and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, as well as documents obtained locally in the two municipalities. Furthermore, interviews were conducted with professionals working on different organizational levels. Analytically the study has been inspired by programme theory, which made it possible to concentrate on clarifying the operational idea in which open comparisons are based and capturing the consequences in the two cases. The study shows that open comparisons have been implemented without support from existing research. However, strong normative support for open comparisons exists within governmental agencies and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions. They are included as one of many elements of New Public Management and result in changes in the victim support work. In contrast to present visions, the performance is not affected to any significant extent. In contrast, a comprehensive administration is created, where employees of municipalities are supposed to collect data, register information and analyse the results generated by the open comparisons.

scholarly journals Outlining a theory of the social and symbolic function of evaluations of education

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. e1467
Author(s):  
Morten Nørholm
Keyword(s):  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Evaluation Research ◽  
Emile Durkheim ◽  
New Public ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Empirical Material

AbstractThe article presents the results of a research project focusing on evaluations of education as a part of a New Public Management in the area of education.The empirical material consists of:- 8 state-sanctioned evaluations of the formal training programs for the positions in a medical field- various texts on evaluations- various examples of Danish evaluation research.A field of producers of Danish evaluation research is constructed as part of a field of power: analogous to the analysed evaluations, Danish evaluation research forms a discourse legitimizing socially necessary administrative interventions. The evaluations and the evaluation research are constructed as parts of a mechanism performing and legitimizing a sorting to an existing social order. The theoretical starting point is from theories, primarily by Émile Durkheim, Pierre Bourdieu and Ulf P. Lundgren.Keywords: evaluation, evaluation of education, social reproduction, New Public Management, societies after the Modern, meritocracy

scholarly journals Privatizing subjectivities: how New Public Management (NPM) is designing a “new” professional in education

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 561
Author(s):  
Gary Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Flexible Organizations ◽  
International Policies ◽  
New Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Competitive Model ◽  
Political Management ◽  
Social Sectors

This study presents a critical analysis of how education and management have been re-articulated by neoliberal policies and practices of new political management. It analyzes these changes in the social sectors and compares them with international policies. These new flexible organizations are part of a growing model of neoliberal business to which some social theorists attribute a growing inauthenticity in organizations (Sennett, 1998), and a development of greater flexibility to respond to the markets and not to satisfy the human needs of those who work in these markets. The study concluded that the competitive model of school management is not only changing what professionals do but who they are. Competition is rebuilding their own identities, both personal and professional.

scholarly journals Learning conditions for continuous improvement in a public service organization

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 578-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agneta Halvarsson Lundkvist ◽  
Maria Gustavsson
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Continuous Improvement ◽  
Public Service ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Everyday Work ◽  
Welfare Department ◽  
Employee Learning

Purpose This study focuses on a transformation effort in a social welfare department of a Swedish municipality where continuous improvement, which is a Lean principle, was introduced in employees’ everyday work via a workplace development programme (WPDP). The aim of this paper is to explore the conditions (internal and external) that enabled or constrained employee learning during the introduction of continuous improvement into employees’ everyday work in a WPDP-supported social welfare department. Design/methodology/approach This case study is based mainly on 22 semi-structured interviews with individuals holding different positions in the department and overarching municipality. Findings The findings show that multiple and emerging conditions, both internal and external, shaped a predominantly restrictive learning environment during the introduction of continuous improvement into the social welfare department. The major conditions identified were related to the initial implementation and top management’s steering and monitoring of the “Lean investment”, activities and support provided by the WPDP, activities and support provided by the internal Lean support team and first-line managers’ abilities to facilitate employee learning. Originality/value Apart from unique empirical material depicting an effort towards change under conditions far from favourable for employee learning, the value of this study lies in the attention given to the external dynamics that drive change in line with the concept of new public management in public service organizations, including a WPDP that supported the social welfare department.

scholarly journals Theoretical Reflections on Public Governance and Tourist Governance

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-89
Author(s):  
Fausi Kalaoum ◽  
◽  
Luiz Gonzaga Godoi Trigo ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Common Elements ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
Political Aspect ◽  
New Public ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Tourism Governance

The changes due to the social and political aspect around the world, which began around the 70's, contributed to rethink a new model [or models] of public management. This structural change in the Brazilian State, which some authors define as Governance, is the starting point for this work. Thus, the objective of this work is to stimulate and contribute to a theoretical construction of Governance and its application to the touristic governance. With a qualitative approach, the bibliographic research was used as a technique in engendering this work, focusing on the readings on Public Governance, New Public Management and Tourism Governance. Among the results achieved are the identification of divergences or lack of precision of the concept of governance and the identification of common elements in the literature that may help a better understanding of this construct.

scholarly journals Socialarbejdere i et spændingsfelt mellem politik og brugernes behov

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (16) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Bømler
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Sick Leave ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Regulatory Constraints ◽  
The Social

This article discusses the obligatory job activation measures directed toward workers receiving temporary sickness benefits, a policy that took effect on 1. January 2010. The requirement that workers on sick leave be subject to activation measures so they can return to work more quickly indicates a change in attitude about how we become well again. The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze how social workers in the Danish municipality of Aalborg work with activation of workers on sick leave. It describes how they manage the professional and ethical dilemmas they experience due to the specific activation requirements directed toward workers on sick leave. The problem takes its point of departure in our lack of specific knowledge about how the municipal job counselling centres manage the activation of those receiving sick leave benefits. This article is a part of a pilot project, and therefore based on a limited amount of data. The pilot project should be seen as a preliminary phase of a larger qualitative study of the methodological challenges in the sick leave sector. The article is based on a focus group interview with five social workers in a job centre in the municipality of Aalborg. The results of the pilot study have been surprising. Even though there are professional and ethical dilemmas facing the social workers in the job centre, these are of less importance than the New Public Management based restructuring that has been taking place in the Danish public sector for nearly thirty years. Regulatory constraints, budget controls and standardization of the methods of social work are experienced by the social workers as the greatest obstacle to carry out professionally qualified social work. The requirements connected with regulations, standardized methods and budget controls have placed the social workers in a field of tension between politics and their clients’ needs. Hence, the professional social sector workers find themselves compelled to manoeuvre in an organizational context that places contradictory demand on their activities.

scholarly journals Tumbler in Tidal Wave: The Professional Stance of Social Workers under Managerialism

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Hung Sing Lai
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Professional Identity ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Values ◽  
Tidal Wave ◽  
Social Work Values ◽  
Social Welfare Services ◽  
The Social

<p>Since the concept of Managerialism has been introduced to the social welfare services in Hong Kong, the ecology of social welfare sector has changed drastically. The operation of most organizations adopts a business inclined practice to run their services under the new competitive environment. Consequently, management that is originally supposed to be an auxiliary servant to facilitate the delivery of services has eventually become the master to be served. Most social workers working under such climate find it difficult to exercise their professional functions as they are demanded to fulfill a great deal of managerial duties. Worse off, some appear to have lost their professional identity. This paper is to reveal the struggles of social workers under Managerialism and explore strategies for social workers to live with Managerialism in a way without losing their professional stance through conducting a qualitative research in Hong Kong. The result of this research identifies eight strategies: “reasserting the professional identity”, “realizing the social work values”, “discerning the first and foremost tasks”, “actualizing professional integrity”, “evoking team solidarity”, “exercising personal influence, “performing collaborative resistance”, and “practicing self-reflection”. Since the core of social work is the social work values and to sustain such values demands social workers having a solid professional stance, the suggested strategies derived from this research can be served as a reference for social workers to withstand the assault from the tidal wave of Managerialism and stand firm again on their professional stance, like a tumbler!</p>

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