I will discuss the relevant managerial and organisational theoretical concepts that I observed whilst working on placement at the Knowsley Leaving Care Team.
Organisations
For this assignment I will discuss the relevant managerial and organisational theoretical concepts that I observed whilst working on placement at the Knowsley Leaving Care Team. Within this assignment I will show an understanding of: organisational structure, organisational goals and the culture of the organisation. I will also look at the level of service user involvement within the organisation. For the last part of the assignment I will address, through reflection, whether the organisation helped or hindered my attempts to apply social work knowledge, skills and values.
The term organisation can be described as "structuring activities into operational groups each of which contain employees who are allocated roles and duties and given varying degrees of authority and responsibility" (Bets 1993 p25).
The Leaving Care Team is located within the Children and Families Division of Knowsley Borough Council's Social Services Department. The agency's structure (Appendix B) clearly shows that the Children and Families Division is structured into operational groups or divisions. Max Weber (1864 - 1920), a German sociologist, defined this structure as a hierarchy of offices or posts. Weber describes the hierarchical structure as a pyramid with the head of the organisation at the top, middle managers in between and the frontline workers and their assistants at the base. This can be related to the Children and Families Division, as the Assistant Director is at the top, the Service Managers are the middle managers, the Social Workers are the frontline workers and the administration staff are their assistants.
The levels of authority are well defined in the hierarchal structure. The higher up the pyramid you are the more power and influence you have on your subordinates.
For example the Assistant Director of the Children and Families Division holds the most control over the movement of employees within that division. Directly below sits the Service Managers who plan operations and below them sits the Team Manager who is responsible for overlooking the day to day work of all team members.
The Leaving Care Team had only one team manager whom the team reported to and used as a mediator to higher management. This could be seen as Fayol's unity-of-command principle. Hatch (1997) describes this principle by stating that "managers believed that every member of the organisation should report to only one person so that each member had one clear path through the hierarchy stretching from themselves to their boss, to their bosses boss, all the way to the top of the organisation" (p165).
The management positions within the Children and Families Division where occupied by ex-social workers who had been in the organisation for several years. The managers that had the most experience occupied positions further up the structure. Coulshed and Mullender cite Weber (1947) by stating "each office carries specific responsibilities for which the person occupying it should have the relevant skills" (2001 p29).
Although the Children and Families Division of Social Services has a bureaucratic hierarchal structure it could be argued that the Leaving Care Team has a community approach. Rose and Lawton state "a community approach may require that the organisation be structured on matrix lines where programme teams rather than departments deliver services which cut across departmental or geographical boundaries" (1999 p104). This could be related to the Leaving Care Team as it is a multi-disciplinary team that is made up of Leaving Care Social Workers, Looked after Children Social Workers, Support Workers and Employability Officers.
The multi-disciplinary team has several organisational goals. Mullins (1996) describes a goal as a future expectation: something that organisations strive to accomplish. Mullins also states that "the goals of an organisation can be obtained via its underlying ideologies, based on values, beliefs and attitudes. In return this may determine the organisations culture, providing a set of policies and principles to govern its operation. Policies and principles may be recognized and implemented informally as accepted conventions of the organisation or they may be stated formally in writing" (1996 p298).
This can relate to the Children and Families Division ...
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The multi-disciplinary team has several organisational goals. Mullins (1996) describes a goal as a future expectation: something that organisations strive to accomplish. Mullins also states that "the goals of an organisation can be obtained via its underlying ideologies, based on values, beliefs and attitudes. In return this may determine the organisations culture, providing a set of policies and principles to govern its operation. Policies and principles may be recognized and implemented informally as accepted conventions of the organisation or they may be stated formally in writing" (1996 p298).
This can relate to the Children and Families Division as it's 2005/6 Business Plan states:
"Together all agencies who work with children and young people will enable them to be healthy, safe and valued, and will encourage them to make the most of learning opportunities, appreciate their environment and make a positive contribution to their communities".
As the Leaving Care Team is a statutory agency it can be also argued that the implementation of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 is its primary function. Therefore its main goal is to carry out its duty to:
* assess and meet the care and support needs of eligible and relevant children and young people; and
* assist former relevant children, in particular in respect of their employment, education and training.
It could be suggested that the goals mapped out in the business plan and in legislation are the organisations 'official goals'. Hatch describes these by stating "official goals serve as a framework for developing operational goals and thus influence the activities of the organisation" (1997 p121).
For example, as a student social worker within the Leaving Care Team my daily goal was to contact a young person' to see how their transition from care to independent living was progressing. This, 'operational goal' was therefore directed by the official goal set out in government and organisational policy.
This assignment will now move on to look at the culture of organisations. A definition of organisational culture can be described as:
"The collection of relatively uniform and enduring values, beliefs, customs, traditions and practices that are shared by an organisation's members, learned by new recruits, and transmitted from one generation of employees to the next" (Buchanan & Huczynski 2004, p643).
This in effect influences how the individual works, acknowledging the underlying assumptions of what is and is not acceptable within the team. According to Charles Handy organisational culture can be classified into four main types. These are power, role, task and person. Rose & Lawton (1999) draw upon Charles Handy's seminal work, Understanding Organisations (1978) by stating these similar models:
"Leadership or Power Culture
A leadership or power culture can be thought of as a spider's web, with power located in the leadership at the centre. The leadership's power permeates the organisation through both formal and informal lines of authority. Ways of thinking which are inconsistent with those of the leadership would lead to incongruence and/or conflict. The leadership's power may be based on respect or fear, or indeed both simultaneously. Features of such cultures include charismatic leadership and the centrality of being in or out of favour with the leadership.
Hierarchy Culture
The second model can be thought as a hierarchy culture; it is sometimes portrayed as a pillared temple, in which its pillar represents distinct functions, or sections or departments, of the organisation. Power is less leader-centred than in leadership cultures, and the organisation has a timeless sense of continuity, whoever is in charge. It is characterised by rules and order and is such seen as essentially bureaucratic and mechanistic.
Task Culture
The third model is a task culture, where power and behaviour are determined by the task in hand. Features are entrepreneurialism, innovation, risk and loose boundaries. People are organized as to meet challenges of specific projects, with a culture that is more flexibly task oriented. Teams will use knowledge, talents and resources of different parts of the organisation. Networks matter more than official vertical lines of managerial authority.
Clan Culture
The fourth model is the clan culture, also known as a 'support culture'. Based on familial notions of mutual care and support, it focuses on employee commitment and morale. Productivity arises because of the cohesiveness and sense of belonging of employees. A conservative culture, is likely to be more internally focused than a leadership culture, although it may still be led by a strong paternalistic manager" (p282).
It could be suggested that the culture within the Leaving Care Team is linked to the forth model, clan culture. The reasons for this being the Leaving Care Team had been working together for over twenty years and as a result where very supportive of each other. The team manager was also very supportive of her staff as she had previously been a social worker within the team.
This could relate to research studies carried out by Peters and Waterman (1982). They discovered that within good organisations, autonomy and entrepreneurship encouraged workers to move up the scale and become leaders. Therefore organisations valued their staff and top management were in touch with what was going on with the company, whilst retaining the same values as the work force.
I therefore believe that the team manager's previous role as a social worker within the Leaving Care Team influenced her leadership style. There are three broad classifications of leadership styles: Authoritarian, where the focus of power is with the manager. Democratic, where the focus of power is more with the group as a whole and laissez-faire where the manager observes that the members of the group are working well on their own. It could be suggested that the Leaving Care Team manager's leadership style was a democratic style. This style is more suited to team work as it includes the team members in decision making.
Dr Meredith Belbin explains a team manager's leadership style further. Mullins (1996) cites Belbin by stating "the team leader declines to rule as if absolutely, and deliberately limits his or her role. The leader creates a sense of mission, expresses greater respect for and trust in subordinates, recognizes the skills and strengths of others, and is more inclined to delegate" (p291).
Through my observations I believe that the team manager's democratic leadership style ensured that the authoritarian structure of the formal organisation interacted positively with the team culture of the informal organisation.
This assignment will now move on to address the level of service user involvement within the organisation. Knowsley Social Services Department is a statutory organisation and its primary function is to provide supporting services for people within the community. These services can either be requested upon or imposed upon individuals, particularly when working with the Leaving Care Team. Therefore, Knowsley Council has taken steps to reduce the oppressive nature of imposing services upon individuals. Knowsley Council's 'Quality Protects Management Action Plan' aims to; Increase and improve the role which young people play in the planning of services (2004 p3).
The Knowsley Council's 'Information and Guidance for Social Work Practitioners' booklet also states:
* "The Social Services Department will ensure that a representative group of young people, both in and leaving care is involved in any significant updating or changing of the Leaving Care policy and operational guidance. Young people will be kept fully informed by the department of any new arrangements for young people leaving care.
* This policy will be fully integrated into Knowsley's Children's Services Plan. Every attempt will be made to enable young people to participate in the development of the care leaver's part of the Children's Services Plan.
* Young peoples' carers will discuss important documents with them and encourage them to feedback their views" (2004 p20).
It is clear to see that from the policies above Knowsley Council believe it is an important part of good practice to incorporate service user's perspectives when planning services.
Harris (2006) also highlights the importance of service user involvement by stating "young people leaving care, like all young people leaving home, value most is the chance to be involved in the key decisions about why and when and where to receive support, so far as possible, for their expressed choices to be heard" (p1).
Whilst I was on my placement the team held a forum which involved a number of care leavers, social workers, support workers and employability officers. During this forum the team informed the care leavers of any changes to policy. This was then followed by a question and answer session where the young people could give their opinions and suggest ideas that could improve the service.
On reflection gaining a position with a Local Authority Social Services Department such as the Leaving Care Team has been a valuable experience. It has shown me that working in statutory agency can both help and hinder my social work practice.
A positive aspect of a hierarchal organisation, such as the Leaving Care Team, is that it gives clear guidelines to the roles and responsibilities of everybody that is employed in the organisation. This enables everyone to concentrate fully on the job they where employed to do. For example, whilst I was on placement two of the administration staff went off on sick leave. Therefore, the social workers offered to type up their own paperwork. The manager would not accept this as it would mean spending less time with the service users. She mentioned that it was not the social workers job to administrate and she would ask the Service Manager to send for replacements.
A negative aspect of the hierarchal structure was that all financial decisions had to be approved by the manager. This caused conflict on many occasions during my placement. For example, If a young person's accommodation placement had broken down, it was my role to find them alternative accommodation.
The quickest solution in finding them accommodation was to book them into a bed and breakfast. This involved the manager approving the rental fee. She would often refuse and this infuriated me as I knew the only option left would be a hostel (mostly located out of the borough). In most cases the young care leavers refused to stay in hostels. This made me feel like a referee (see poster) stuck in between the service user's wishes and the financial constraints of the organisation.
I believe that in some cases the manager had made the right decision as she had a budget to adhere but I felt the whole hierarchical process undermined my professional decision making. Hatch states "An organisation will not get full value from its professional employees if it insists that they do only what they are told" (1997 p172).
I found that apart from the disputes surrounding financial decisions the manager had a good relationship with all her subordinates. Her democratic leadership style made her well respected throughout the team. She was also very supportive and had a very caring nature for her staff members. This enabled staff members to feel confident when asking for support. I believe that this was due to the team manager being a basic social worker within the team before being promoted. I found the good relationship with the manager made reflecting on my practice easier.
When reflecting on my practice I felt I could tell the manager anything without her judging me on my actions. I thought this was important as honest supervision is vital for me and for the organisation. Kearny (1999) states "individual supervision allows for the development of professional and personal practice" and Coulshed and Mullender (2001) state "through supervision the team manager is able to give feedback to the individual worker about the performance, ensuring that all manual and data base recordings are up to date and organisational targets are being met".
One of my main dilemmas with the Leaving Care Team was with service user involvement. I observed that, on paper, Knowsley had a very good policy regarding the inclusion of service users in decision making but in reality it did not happen. I also observed that at the forums were service users could express their ideas to improve services no senior managers were present. This made me think that the service user policy was only a 'lip service'. When I queried other members of staff on this matter I was told that "the management makes the decisions". I found this total contradictory to my social work principles, ethics and personal and professional values. It was then that I realized that being a subordinate in a hierarchical statutory agency you walk a fine line between acting oppressively and anti-oppressively.
In conclusion I have discussed the relevant managerial and organisational theoretical concepts that I observed whilst working on placement at the Knowsley Leaving Care Team. I have shown an understanding of: organisational structure, organisational goals and the culture of the organisation. I have also looked at the level of service user involvement within the organisation. In the last part of the assignment I have addressed, through reflection, whether the organisation helped or hindered my attempts to apply social work knowledge, skills and values.
Bibliography
References
Betts, P. W. (1993) Supervisory Management. London, Pitman.
Buchanan, D. & Huczynski, A. (2004) Organisational Behaviour, An Introductory Text. 5th Ed, Essex, Pearson.
Coulshed, V & Mullender, A. (2001) Management in Social Work. 2nd Ed, Hampshire, Palgrave.
Harris, J. (2003) The Social Work Business. Oxon, Routledge.
Hatch, M. J. (1997) Organization Theory. New York, Oxford University Press.
Mullins, L. J. (1996) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 4th Ed, London, Pitman.
Rose, A & Lawton, A. (1999) Public Service Management. Essex, Pearson.
Statham, D. (2004) Managing Front Line Practice in Social Care. London, Jessica Kingsley.
Web Pages
Harris, J. (2006) Display Single Profile.
www.scie-socialcareonline.org.uk
Additional Information
Business Plan (2005-2006) Knowsley Council, Children and Families Division.
Information and Guidance for Social Work Practitioners (2001) Knowsley Council, Children and Families Division.
Quality Protects Management Action Plan (2005) Knowsley Council, Children and Families Division.