During the course of just one day manager’s will be given many different kinds of information. whether that information is in oral, written, computer data, analytical or statistical he or she needs to decide what to do with it, a task which can be difficult and time consuming. Part of the task would be to decide if they actually need the information to do their job or whether it can be passed on to somebody else. The course reader identifies that there are three key roles that a manager needs to undertake when dealing with information (Mintzburg, (2003) p.291):
- Monitor
- Disseminator
- Spokesperson
The monitoring role involves scanning the environment for info, liasing with others “..a manager without liason contacts lacks external information” (Mintzburg, (2003), p. 294) and networking with others.
The disseminator role is where the manager shares this information and passes it from one person to another, when and where necessary.
The spokesperson role involves the manager in passing information onto others who are outside of his or her unit.
Any information regarding service users is obviously of the utmost importance but managers will also need to deal with statistical data such as performance indicators, legal data such as developments in law or recommendations for good practice and financial data such as that relating to budget management, among many others.
A manager must understand the limitations of numerical statistics as “numbers alone give only a partial picture of the service; other sources of information such as local networks and service user groups remain essential” (Ousley, Rowlands, Seden (2003), p.203). So in real terms, when working with people, a statistical presentation of information would be much more informative to a manager if it were to be accompanied by a more realistic, analytical, written review. Again, in the CD Rom (K303 CD Rom) Jim Logan expresses, in an e mail to Julie, his concerns that social services quality figures need to be questioned. Julie and Kate acknowledge that the figures may have come from inadequate information and Kate designs a new form to try to combat this happening again.
With regard to producing such information themselves managers must appreciate that “computerised records can help with the tasks of recording and monitoring services but using computer systems is not always straight forward”. (Ousley, Rowlands, Seden (2003), p.203). Issues around training for people to use computer systems almost always arise in the workplace as, in my experience, training in computer use is very rarely offered within the social care environment. Indeed, this is my 14th year of social care work and I have never been offered such training. This issue can bring wide ranging problems to the workplace and this is demonstrated at WH. Each link worker at WH has a responsibility to produce a monthly summary of their link child’s development, this will then be sent to others involved in that child’s care. Recently they were told that the admin worker at WH no longer has the time to type up these important reports so the link workers themselves need to do it. No training was offered to anyone in order for them to complete this task, resulting in people ‘putting off’ the task and summaries being produced up to a month late in some cases. In cases such as this it has to be acknowledged that “Staff may need to set aside time to learn new skills, such as how to record what is needed in a new format …“ (Ousley, Rowlands, Seden (2003), p.200). At WH the manager herself also has very limited IT skills and often needs to seek assistance from her staff team in order to deal with information in this way. However, the course text states “Manager’s have a responsibility for giving a lead and promoting a learning approach to information among their staff” (Ousley, Rowlands, Seden (2003), p.201). This is clearly not happening at WH.
“Managers can be mediators for the data coming into the organisation” (Resources , ‘Creating an Informative Environment’, p. 56) , he or she has the power to decide to keep that information which means information can be abused and/ or witheld from others in order for a manager to feel that they have the ‘upper hand’, “There is power in holding, witholding or deciding to share information” (Ousley, Rowlands, Seden (2003), p.194). However, good practice encourages the sharing of information when and where possible “Sharing information inhibits power games and encourages effective participation” (Resources , ‘Creating an Informative Environment’, p. 56). Ethics also come into play here and a good manager should have very good ethics “Perhaps the art of managing information well is gathering it and using it ethically for service objectives” (Ousley, Rowlands, Seden (2003), p.194).
The Data Protection Act 1998 goes a long way towards guiding us, as professionals, on how to deal with information, especially that information that is sensitive. Problems still exist however, especially as the electronic passage of and compiling of information becomes more wide spread. The development of databases was indeed a move forward for storage of information it does encourage problems surrounding the fact that “Generally, a person cannot see what is written about someone else without that person’s consent” (Ousley, Rowlands, Seden (2003), p.214). These problems have meant that service users can often be identified as ’numbers’ rather than people, causing issues around autonomy.
However, it must be acknowledged that the introduction of computer databases has had a positive influence within the management of information within health and social care. “Once stored in a central database, the potential for extracting useful information quickly and cheaply is increased” (Ousley, Rowlands, Seden (2003), p.209). At Wellbridge (K303 CD Rom) Julie thinks about introducing a ‘client management system’ as Kate thinks this will be ‘working smarter not harder’, the team acknowledge there will be problems and that informal chats with carers still need to happen but in the long run the system will ‘lighten the load’.
Many may see the Data Protection Act 1998 as being quite restrictive regarding the flow of information from one person or agency to another however, “The Data Protection Act 1998 is not a barrier to transmitting data for legitimate social care goals, but it does impose a discipline in the matter of individual privacy and dignity”. At WH we often experience difficulties associated with data protection and confidentiality as one young person’s behaviour often involves another young person, we have needed to develop workable strategies to overcome these. In order to complete incident reports for each young person we use just initials for the other, this is also done in all other recording and reporting tasks. “The Data Protection Act 1998 recognises that occasions may arise when it is ‘reasonable in all the circumstances’ to reveal information about a third person, particularly if they are a source of recorded information about the subject of the record”. (Ousley, Rowlands, Seden (2003), p. 214-215) and we often have to do this in liason with social workers, where the young person’s welfare is of concern.
Good reporting, recording and keeping of data can enhance the working environment and those that come into contact with it . It also needs to involve everyone “To achieve keeping data relevant will require the manager to develop good relationships with the team administrator ,in particular, but with people in general in the locality” (Resources , ‘Creating an Informative Environment’, p. 56) . It can also be empowering, “With information, a team can make a convincing case that the action they wish to take meets the needs they defined earlier”.
Conclusion
It is clear from working on this assignment and within health and social care that a great deal of a manager’s time is taken up with dealing with information. In the course reader (Mintzburg, (2003), p.291) Mintzburg identifies, during a study on this subject, that a chief executive could spend 40% of their time on duties associated with the transmission of information, I feel that this percentage could actually be higher for frontline managers.
It is also clear that soft, informal information can be just as important as hard, more formal information and that both are needed to do the job of managing successfully. However, all information can become muddled, can be mismanaged and can be abused. A great deal of power comes with the holding of information and a manager needs to have good ethics in order to deal with information in the correct way. All health and social care workers, at every level also need these good ethics as information can be abused by anyone, not just managers.
Health and social care still needs to move forward with regard to information technology and the use of databases but still needs to be mindful of the fact that we work with people rather than machines. We also need to be more forthcoming with regards to training in these areas.
Word Count : 1935
References
Seden, J. Reynolds, J. (2003) Managing Care In Practice, London, Routledge.
Ousley, M. Rowlands, J. Seden, J. (2003) ‘Managing Information and Using New Technologies’ in Seden, J. Reynolds, J. (2003) Managing Care In Practice, London, Routledge.
Reynolds, J., Henderson, J., Seden, J., Charlesworth, J., Bullman, A. (2003) The Managing Care Reader, London, Routledge.
Mintzburg, H. (2003) ‘The Manager’s Job: Folklore and Fact’ in Reynolds, J., Henderson, J., Seden, J., Charlesworth, J., Bullman, A. (2003) The Managing Care Reader, London, Routledge.
K303 CD Rom “Managing Care at Wellbridge” (2003).
K 303 Course Materials, Resources , ‘29 Creating an Informative Environment’
