Public governance-constraints and challenges for social work practice
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v10i2.127Keywords:
public governance, social work practice, professional autonomy, performance management, constraintsAbstract
In the wake of public sector reforms, the work environment of professionals is changing; there is more description of results and outputs and tighter requirements of front-line work. The changes taking place address a shift towards managerial forms of control and organizational regulations in a range of Western countries. However, the new managerial regimes have different consequences for professionals as objects and subjects of governance. This paper investigates the extent of managerial and administrative regulations in the Norwegian social services, questioning the asserted negative impacts on professional autonomy in social work practice. The empirical data derive from a survey conducted among practitioners and managers in 125 local agencies, and compared to bureaucratic rules and agency procedures that set constraints, the new management model allows both autonomy and flexibility in choosing means and measures in various fields. Most of all, collegial support plays a significant role in providing professional standards for decision-making. The increase of management techniques and standard procedures in public administration concurrently challenges social work values, translating the social services into a field of more regulatory practices.
References
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Svensson, L. G. (2010). Professions, organizations,collegiality and accountibility. In J. Evetts, & L. G. Svensson (Eds.), Sociology of Professions (123-145). Gøteborg: Daidalos.
Thorén, K. (2008). Activation Policy in Action: A Street-level Study of Social Assistance in the Swedish Welfare State. Växjö: Växjö University Press.
Van Berkel, R., & van der Aa, P. (2012). Activation work: Policy programme administration or professional service provision?. Journal of Social Policy 41(3), 493–510.
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White, V. (2009). Quiet challenges? Professional practice in modernised social work. In J. Harris, & V. White (Eds.), Modernising Social Work: Critical Considerations, (129-144). Bristol: Policy Press.
Banks, S. (2004). Ethics, Accountability and the Social Professions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Banks, S. (2013). Negotiating personal engagement and professsonal accountability: Professional wisdom and ethics work, European Journal of Social Work, 16(5), 587-604.
Brodkin, E. Z. (2007). Bureaucracy redux: Management reformism and the welfare state. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 17(1), 1-17.
Brodkin, E. (2011). Policy work: street-level organizations under new managerialism. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 17(1), 1-17.
Byrkjeflot, H., Lægreid, P., & Christensen, T. (2011). Changing accountability relations in a welfare state: an assessment based on a study of welfare reforms. Bergen: Uni Rokkan Centre.
Christensen, T., & Lægreid, P. (Eds.). (2001). New Public Management: The Transformation of Ideas and Practice. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Christensen, T., & Lægreid, P. (2011). Democracy and administrative policy: Contrasting elements of New Public Management (NPM) and post-NPM. European Political Science Review, 3(1), 125-146.
Clarke, J., & Newman, J. E. (1997). The Managerial State. London: Sage.
Clark, C. (2005). The Deprofessionalisation Thesis, Accountability and Professional Character. Social Work & Society, 3(2), 182-190.
Considine, M., & Lewis, J. M. (2010). Front-Line Work in Employment Services After Ten Years of New Public Management Reform. European Journal of Social Security, 12(4), 357-370.
Davis, K. C. (1969). Discretionary Justice: A Preliminary Inquiry. Baton Rouge, LA: Lousiana State University Press.
De Bruijn, H. (2011). Managing Professionals. London: Routledge
Evans, T. (2010). Professional Discretion in Welfare Services: Beyond Street-level Bureaucracy. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Evans, T. (2011). Professionals, managers and discretion: critiquing street-level bureaucracy- British Journal of Social Work, 41(2), 368–86.
Evans, T., & Harris, J. (2004). Street level bureaucracy, social work and the (exaggerated) death of discretion, British Journal of Social Work 34(6), 871–95.
Evetts, J. (2010). Reconnecting Professional Occupations with Professional Organisations: Risks and opportunities. In J. Evetts, & L. G. Svensson (Eds.), Sociology of Professions (123-145). Gøteborg: Daidalos.
Freidson, E. (1986). Profesional Powers: A study of the Iinstitutionalization of Formal Knowledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Freidson, E. (2001). Professionalism: The third logic. Polity Press, Cambridge.
Grimen, H. (2008). Profesjon og kunnskap [Profession and Knowledge]. In A. Molander, & L. I. Terum (Eds.), Profesjonsstudier (71-86). Oslo: Universitetsforlaget,.
Harris, J., & White, V. (2009). Modernising Social Work: Critical Considerations. Bristol: The Policy Press.
Healy, K., & Meagher, G. (2004). The reprofessionalization of social work: Collaborative approaches for achieving professional recognition. British Journal of Social Work 34,. 243-260.
Hill, M., & Hupe, P. (2008). Implementing public policy: An introduction to the study of operational governance, 2nd edn.. London: Sage.
Hupe, P., & Hill, M. (2007). Street-level bureaucracy and public accountability. Public Administration 85(2), 279–99.
Hood, C. C. (1991). A public management for all seasons?. Public Administration 69
Hjörne, E., Juhila, K., & van Nijnatten, C. (2010). Negotiating dilemmas in the practices of street-level welfare work. International Journal of Social Welfare 19(3), 303-309.
Jessen, J. T., & Tufte, P.A. (2014). Discretionary Decisison-making in a Changing Context of Activation Policies and Welfare Reforms. Journal of Social Policy 43(2), 269-288.
Jewell, C. J. (2007). Agents of the Welfare State: How Caseworkers Respond to Need in the United States, Germany, and Sweden, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Johnsen, L., & Yanca, S. (2001). Social work practice: A Generalist Approach, 7th edn. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Kuhlman, E. (2006). Traces of doubt and sources of Trust: Health professions in an uncertain society. Current Sociology 54(4), 607-620.
Lipsky, M. (1980). Street-level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Lenz, V. (2008). Welfare and Work Sanctions: Examining Discretion on the Front Lines. Social Service Review 82(2), 197-222.
Lipsky, M. (1991). The paradox of managing discretionary workers in social welfare policy. In M. Adler, C. Bell, J. Clasen, & A. Sinfield (Eds.), The Sociology of Social Security (212-28). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Lorentz, W. (2001). Social work responses to “new labour” in Continental Europien countries. British Journal of Social Work 31(4), 595-609.
Lægreid, P., Roness, P. G., & Rubecksen, K. (2006). Performance Management in Practice: The Norwegian Way. Financial Accountability and Management 22(3), 251-269.
Lyngstad, R. (2013). Social work in municipalities: contested changes with implications for the profession?. Journal of Comparative Social Work 8(1).
Lynn, L. E., Heinrich, C. J., & Hill, C. J. (2001). Improving governance: A new logic for empirical research. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
May, P. C., & Winter, S. C. (2009). Politicians, Managers and Street-level Bureaucrats: Influences on Policy Implementation. Journal of Public Administration and Research Theory 19(3), 453-476.
Molander, A., & Grimen, H. (2010). Understanding professional discretion. In L. G.Svensson, & J. Evetts (Eds.), Sociology of Professions: Continental and Anglo-Saxon Traditions. Gothenburg: Daidalos.
NOU 2004:13. (2004). En ny arbeids- og velferdsforvaltning [A New Employment and Welfare Administration]. Oslo: Statens forvaltningstjeneste, Informasjonsforvaltning
Pollitt, C., & Bouckaert, G. (2004). Public management reforms. A Comparative Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sandfort, J. R. (2000). Moving beyond discretion and outcomes: Examining public management from the front lines of the welfare system. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 10(4), 729-756.
Scott, W. R. (2008). Lords of the Dance: Professionals as Institutional Agents, Organisational Studies. London: Sage.
Prop. 46 (2004-2005). (2005). Ny arbeids- og velferdsforvaltning [New Employment and Welfare Administration]: Tilråding fra Arbeids- og sosialdepartementet av 11. mars 2005, godkjent i statsråd samme dag. (Regjeringen Bondevik II). [Oslo]: Arbeids- og sosialdepartementet.
Styhre, A. (2013). Professionals Making Judgments: The Professional Skill of Valuing and Assessing. Palgrave: Macmillan.
Sosialtjenesteloven. (2007). Lov om sosiale tjenester [Social Services Act].
Sosialtjenesteloven. (2009) Lov om sosiale tjenester i arbeids- og velferdsforvaltningen [Social Services Act in the employment and welfare administration].
Svensson, L. G. (2010). Professions, organizations,collegiality and accountibility. In J. Evetts, & L. G. Svensson (Eds.), Sociology of Professions (123-145). Gøteborg: Daidalos.
Thorén, K. (2008). Activation Policy in Action: A Street-level Study of Social Assistance in the Swedish Welfare State. Växjö: Växjö University Press.
Van Berkel, R., & van der Aa, P. (2012). Activation work: Policy programme administration or professional service provision?. Journal of Social Policy 41(3), 493–510.
Vinzant, J. C., & Crothers, L. (1998). Street-Level Leadership: Discretion and Legitimacy in Frontline Public Service. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
White, V. (2009). Quiet challenges? Professional practice in modernised social work. In J. Harris, & V. White (Eds.), Modernising Social Work: Critical Considerations, (129-144). Bristol: Policy Press.
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2015-12-18
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Jessen, J. T. (2015). Public governance-constraints and challenges for social work practice. Journal of Comparative Social Work, 10(2), 84–106. https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v10i2.127
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