Social Work Management Research Articles

EFFEKTIEWE FINANSIËLE BESTUUR VAN WELSYNSORGANISASIES IN SUID-AFRIKA: AANBEVELINGS VIR MAATSKAPLIKE-WERKBESTUURDERS

Social work managers are becoming increasingly involved in financial planning and control of welfare organisations due to the fact that successful management of a welfare organisation does not only revolve around the quality of social work services. The purpose of this article is to make recommendations to social work managers in South Africa regarding effective financial management, by exploring, both theoretically and empirically, three indicators namely the financial state, financial achievement and the income profile of a welfare organisation.

SOCIAL WORK RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS STRESS MANAGEMENT

Social work managers (the concept of manager here refers to a director of a social serviceorganisation, head of office or supervisor, or any person who has control over two or moreworkers) should create and maintain a work environment (Weinbach, 2003:5) that will beconducive to maintaining the health and wellbeing of workers and contribute to the effectivedelivery of services. Bergh (2004:440) states that “Organisational effectiveness and employeephysical and psychological wellbeing should be equally important and are interrelated”.Employees, therefore also social workers, should not leave their workplace in a worse state ofhealth than when they arrived there (Williams & Cooper, 2002:108).

Models of Volunteer Management: Professional Volunteer Program Management in Social Work

Several trends are leading to increased and broader involvement of volunteers in social work practice. As a consequence, social workers need to be able to manage volunteers in different settings, based on organizational/program factors and characteristics of the volunteers. Contemporary research on volunteer management can be divided into universalistic and contingency approaches. This article presents an overview of leading concepts in both perspectives and offers recommendations for social workers to select appropriate approaches to manage volunteers professionally across different contexts.

Involving Service Users in Social Work Management Education: What Makes it Meaningful According to the ‘Experts’?

Course leaders have adopted a relatively cautious approach to involving service users and carers in Post-Qualifying (PQ) social work management education programmes in the UK, looking for opportunities in which it ‘makes sense’ for them to be included. Whilst there is, to a certain extent, the belief that involving service users and carers in PQ social work education is ‘a good thing’, it has proved challenging to implement. This research study sought to explore, through interviews with ‘experts’ in the field, why this process had proved so challenging. A term which emerged during the research was the importance of ‘meaningful involvement’. The research explored what ‘meaningful involvement’ might mean for managers, for academics and also for service users and carers; what it looks like and how might it take forward the understanding of and the preparation for PQ social work management education.

Principled Leadership Development Model for Aspiring Social Work Managers and Administrators: Development and Application

There is an emerging trend in social work administration where many direct practice-oriented social work students get promoted after their graduation to supervisory or managerial positions, yet haven't mastered macro-level competencies during their social work education. This places these recent graduates in the untenable position of stepping into professional roles they didn't envision and might not be prepared for. This may inhibit their advancement in administrative hierarchies because they do not have the leadership/managerial qualifications that those from other professions have by virtue of their educational and practice experiences. The Principled Leadership Development Model addresses this gap by providing educators and administrators a generic template that can be used to create customized leadership development initiatives for social workers in their professional careers. The six integrated components of the model are discussed. A case example of the application of the model in creating a leadership development academy for post-graduate social workers in maternal and child health settings is presented.

An impact-oriented maturity model for IT-based case management

Case management comprises various complex activities. Consequently, case managers have to balance very diverging requirements and needs, while at the same time facing increasingly complex decisions. Case management software systems (CMS) provide capabilities such as information assessment and handling, decision and collaboration management as well as flexible process guidance to support case managers. When introducing a CMS into an organization, a maturity model of IT-based case management helps in mastering different levels of technology adoption by exploiting technological benefits and carefully addressing associated risks. In this paper, we propose the C3M maturity model for IT-based case management that links maturity levels with sets of capabilities that are typical for case management in social work, health care, and the handling of complex claims in insurance. The model focuses on the impact of technology and is linked to a map of benefits and risks across five impact areas. Each impact area is characterized by six impact factors that we consider as especially important when managing IT technology adoption within case management.

Balancing Risk and Protective Factors: How Do Social Workers and Social Work Managers Analyse Referrals that May Indicate Children Are at Risk of Significant Harm

This paper is based upon the findings of a qualitative study of how child protection social workers and social work managers analyse referrals. The study involved interviews with eighteen participants based on four vignettes of children potentially at risk of emotional, physical or sexual abuse or neglect. Three themes in particular are discussed—the balancing of risk, protective and resilience factors; the use of family history and the child's wider circumstances; and ‘known’ and ‘unknown’ unknowns (‘missing information’). These findings are considered in relation to the potential use of actuarial risk assessment tools or Structured Decisions Making tools in child protection social work. The first of two conclusions is that when given adequate space and time the participants tended to be to be reflective and analytical, but that difficulties remained in their ability to analyse the referrals, in particular with the identification of protective or resilience factors and in the balancing of risk and protective or resilience factors in relation to individual children. The second conclusion is that social workers and managers may benefit from assistance in identifying protective and resilience factors (and distinguishing between protective factors and resilience factors) in particular and this may offer a focus for the introduction of structured tools as a way to support current practice rather than to replace it

Social Work Research under Automation Control

On the basis of this article in the use of automation and control theory of factor analysis and cluster analysis to analyze the problems of university graduates reflected, to resolve these problems, focus on one of the root causes of these problems is not college students on the course of self-management science, the author use the greedy algorithm dialysis college students how scientific management of social work, and the corresponding countermeasures.

P.7.7 Health care services received by patients with Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy (DBMD): Data from the Muscular Dystrophy Surveillance, Tracking and Research Network (MD STARnet)

Anecdotal reports from families and care providers suggest a wide variation in services received by patients with DBMD. To document the type of health care services received by patients with DBMD. MD STARnet is a multistate collaboration that conducts population based surveillance for individuals with DBMD and interviews and surveys with their care givers. Telephone interviews were conducted between April 2007 and March 2012. In addition to demographic and clinical information, the interview included questions about the type of health care provider seen [primary care, neuromuscular, orthopedist, pulmonologist, cardiologist, physical therapist (PT), occupational therapist (OT), speech therapist (ST), and other] and type of services received (respiratory, dietary, mental health, social work, pastoral, pain management and case management) over the previous 12months. Frequencies among states were compared with Chi square tests. Statistical significance was set at <i>p</i><0.05. Two hundred and ninety-six care givers (66%) of those contactable, completed the interview. Care givers (%) reported seeing these providers: primary care (88%), neuromuscular (87%), cardiologist (71%), pulmonologist (54%), orthopedist (33%), PT (69%), OT (42%), ST (20%), other (20%). Services received included case management (42%), respiratory (27%), social work (25%), dietary (22%), pastoral (16%), mental health (15%) and pain management (5%). There were significant differences among states in regards to the primary care, cardiac, pulmonary, orthopedic, physical and occupational therapy providers seen and dietary and case management services received. This study supports and provides a quantitative assessment relative to the anecdotal reports of variation in health care services received by patients with DBMD. Whether these differences affect outcomes needs to be determined.

Content and Purpose of Supervision in Social Work Practice in England: Views of Newly Qualified Social Workers, Managers and Directors

Social work supervision is receiving renewed attention internationally with calls for it to be remodelled and given greater priority, this paper uses data from a longitudinal study in England, which involved: three online surveys of Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSWs); an online survey of Directors and face-to-face interviews with 23 social work managers which enabled us to investigate the receipt of supervision and its provision. Data on the frequency of supervision were analysed in relation to other job-related factors reported by NQSWs alongside information on NQSWs' views of the content of supervision. Findings suggest a tapering of supervision for social workers as they become more experienced but the overall level of supervision appears to be both limited and variable. NQSWs appreciated supervision from managers, and this affects their engagement with their work. Managers reported pressures of time in providing sufficient supervision. Directors conveyed their perception of the importance of supervision but indicated that there may be blurring of supervision as more structured support for NQSWs becomes part of the requirements for those in their first year in the profession. Greater attention should be given to investigating the effectiveness of supervision and to the support of those managers who are expected to provide it.

Reflections of a Higher Specialist PQ Student Group on the Munro Recommendations for Children’s Social Workers

The article explores the perspectives of senior social work practitioners and managers on Eileen Munro’s analysis of the state of child protection, her recommendations and the impact on their agencies of her recommendations. Generally, Munro’s analysis resonated with the participants’ own experiences. They agreed she had accurately captured the complexity and frustrations of their daily experience and whilst her recommendations were welcomed by participants, they felt they had yet to experience any tangible benefits. There was a generally pessimistic view that given the current financial constraints and austerity measures that we are likely to see, many of the Munro’s recommendations translated into practice. The article is important, as it provides an insight into the experiential perspective of senior childcare workers on how the Munro review has been received, but with the clear statement that until there are examples of ‘concrete change’ Munro potentially remains another well-meaning report.

Evaluating the impact of the IPOP (Improving Personal and Organisational Performance) programme

A host of recent UK social work publications have highlighted the critical importance of leadership and management development for social work managers. The lack of specialist leadership and management development is evidenced by the General Social Care Council’s figures on the uptake of post-qualifying leadership and management programmes. There is a limited amount of published research on the impact of this type of professional learning as most studies focus on programme delivery rather than on their impact on practice. Hence, this paper will report on an evaluation of the practice related impact of an introductory leadership and management programme, using data from pre-and post-programme questionnaires (n=75), follow up telephone interviews at 3-months (n=24) and an initial analysis of submitted assignments (n=32). Those data are drawn from consenting social work managers across 5 widespread local authorities in England. The programme, Improving Personal and Organisational Performance, is taught over 4-days in two, 2-day blocks and focuses on three areas of development: self-leadership, communication and resilience as a leader. A third-party testimony process, alongside assignment submission, ensures the involvement of, and validation from, the employer. The findings of the evaluation indicate positive, statistically significant evidence of initial programme impact on managers and longitudinal examples of actual programme impact on managers, their teams, organisations and services. The implications of these findings will be considered in relation to the new Professional Capabilities Framework.

Evaluating the impact of the IPOP (Improving Personal and Organisational Performance) programme

A host of recent UK social work publications have highlighted the critical importance of leadership and management development for social work managers. The lack of specialist leadership and management development is evidenced by the General Social Care Council’s figures on the uptake of post-qualifying leadership and management programmes. There is a limited amount of published research on the impact of this type of professional learning as most studies focus on programme delivery rather than on their impact on practice. Hence, this paper will report on an evaluation of the practice-related impact of an introductory leadership and management programme, using data from pre- and post-programme questionnaires (n=75), follow up telephone interviews at 3-months (n=24) and an initial analysis of submitted assignments (n=32). Those data are drawn from consenting social work managers across 5 widespread local authorities in England. The programme, Improving Personal and Organisational Performance, is taught over 4-days in two, 2-day blocks and focuses on three areas of development: self-leadership, communication and resilience as a leader. A third-party testimony process, alongside assignment submission, ensures the involvement of, and validation from, the employer. The findings of the evaluation indicate positive, statistically significant evidence of initial programme impact on managers and longitudinal examples of actual programme impact on managers, their teams, organisations and services. The implications of these findings will be considered in relation to the new Professional Capabilities Framework.

Актуальность научного анализа специфики управления социальной работой в условиях малого города (The Actuality of the Scientific Analysis of the Social Work Management's Specificity in a Small Town Conditions)

In the article “The actuality of the scientific analysis of the social work management’s specificity in a small town conditions”, the author exposes the specific features of social work management in a small town level. The article contains the generalized analysis of data, based on the author’s survey.

Perceived Difficulties in e-Learning During the First Term at University

Purpose—the focus of this article is to explore difficulties that are encountered by students during the first term at university. It is well known that students can have various problems in learning English and make mistakes in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. The native language of a learner affects learning and using English. Speaking and e-listening are the skills that are more common on an everyday basis than reading and writing. Moreover, these skills are more difficult to master. English vocabulary presents another problem for language learners. Albeit, at the university level students study English for Specific Purposes (ESP), in other words, the foreign language for their future profession, and they might face particular difficulties in their studies of ESP. Design/methodology/approach—the research paper adopts the qualitative research approach. The questionnaire on learner perceptions of difficulties in e-learning was administered to students of three different specializations. Students’ self-assessments of achievements or failures were analysed. Findings. The results indicated that perceptions of difficulties to adapting to university studies depended on their chosen specialization. The findings show that undergraduates of all three investigated specializations encounter the same difficulties, but to a different degree. In other words, there are no significantly specific difficulties due to the complexity of the professional vocabulary that students must learn. The ratings of Psychology, Social Work and Public Policy and Management students reveal higher mean values and wider range of Standard Deviations than reported by other researchers (Berman, Cheng, 2001). The results obtained imply that Lithuanian learners are more positive than their foreign counterparts. Computations of Pearson’s correlations coefficients demonstrate that there are some good correlational relationships within each specialization. Research limitations. A limited number of respondents might raise a question of the reliability of the findings and require a further study into the issue. The respondents in this research were students of three different specializations, namely, Psychology (68), Social Work (26) and Public Policy and Management (52), who study ESP at the Faculty of Social Policy at Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius, Lithuania. Practical implications. The respondents were asked to indicate the degree of difficulty they had with the ESP language skills on the Likert’s scale ranging from “very difficult” (1) to “very easy” (5). The analysis of the responses by a means of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software suggests that despite the limited number of the respondents, the results may be extended beyond the studied samples. Originality/Value. The value of this study encompasses the statistical processing of the responses, which should prove whether the findings are reliable or not. Research type: research paper.

Social Work, Strengths Perspective, and Disaster Management: Roles of Social Workers and Models for Intervention

In recent times, there have been more reports of earthquakes and other calamities such as hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, tsunamis, heat waves, and bushfires, as well as wars and other man-made dis...

Nikolas Rose

Nikolas Rose

Transformational Learning: Teaching Strategies that Promote Advocacy in Social Justice and Not-for-Profit Leadership

Social work education's field work, or signature pedagogy, provides an opportunity for students to take abstract knowledge and learned practice skills and integrate them in a real world setting. This field education has been criticized for neglecting several key components of the learning process. These components include social work management competencies, field experience in gaining such competencies, and developing leadership in not-for-profit agencies. In response, one program developed an in-house practicum in which the student intern serves as executive director in a social welfare club designed to mimic the organizational structure of a not-for-profit agency. This study examines, through a phenomenological focus, the transformational experiences of students serving their field placements in such a position, and examines the social welfare club's potential as a tool in social work education.

Social work management in Ireland

This article discusses exploratory quantitative and qualitative research into the training and education needs of social work managers in Ireland from four sectors of service, the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Probation Service, hospital social work and non-governmental (NGO) social work sectors. 176 questionnaires were distributed. (56 were returned; a response rate of 32%), 3 focus groups were held with 15 participants and 3 individual interviews were conducted with social work managers. They were asked to identify their postgraduate training, their span of responsibilities, the level of management training they had participated in, and the gaps in their management training. While 82% of this sample of social work managers had post qualifying training and education, which enhanced their social work skills rather than their management skills, none had received social work management training. Three out of 56 had completed a Masters degree in Health Service Management. The probation service, laudably, was the only sector that provided management training. However this training was problematic to the managers as it was perceived as not geared for the social work field. The research participants experienced grave misgivings at their lack of management training and prioritised their training needs as including strategic management, cost benefit analysis, organisational management and financial management. This research clearly identified the need for social work management training and supports the immediate establishment of programmes that address this need in order to enhance existing service delivery.

Editorial Leadership and management in social work

Editorial Leadership and management in social work