Management and leadership in social care

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Management and leadership in social care

• Trish Hafford-Letchfield

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Key roles for social work

• Key role 3 Enable individuals, families and
  communities to be involved in decision-making
  forums.
• Present evidence to, and help individuals,
  families, carers, groups and communities to
  understand the procedures in and the
  outcomes from decision-making forums.
• Key role 5 Developing and maintaining effective
  working
• relationships contributes to identifying and
  agreeing the goals, objectives and lifespan of
  the team, network or system.

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GSCC codes of practice

• Code 3.4 Bringing to the attention of your
  employer or
• the appropriate authority resource the
• operational difficulties that might get in the
  
• way of the delivery of safe care.
• Code 6.3 Informing your employer or the
  appropriate
• authority about any personal difficulties that
  
• might affect your ability to do your job
• competently and safely.
• Code 6.7 Recognising and respecting the roles
  and
• expertise of workers from other agencies and
• working in partnership with them.

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What is management?

• A practical activity which involves complex
  social and political interaction and adapting to
  changing pressures and opportunities
• Mediators of standards and quality of social work
  practice (Kearney, 2004)
• Incorporates common roles including
  interpersonal, informational and decisional
  (Mintzberg, 1989).

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Management in social care ..

• Inspires staff
• Promotes and meets service aims, objectives and
  goals
• Develops purposeful joint working/partnerships
• Ensures equality for staff and service users
• Challenges discrimination and harassment in
  employment practice and service delivery
• Empowers staff and service users to develop
  services people want
• Values people, recognises and actively develops
  potential
• Develops and maintains awareness and keeps in
  touch with service users and staff
• Provides an environment for reflective practice
  and enhances professional skills and judgements
• Takes responsibility for CPD and develops the
  workforce.
• (www.skillsforcare.org.uk)

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Leadership

• All managers can be leaders
• Anyone can provide leadership
• Transformational leadership and emotional
  intelligence are two key ingredients for managing
  change
• There is an overlap between management and
  leadership
• Strategic leadership provides overall vision and
  co-ordination to drive the organisation forward.

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Reflective and ethical management provides..

• Consistency and fairness
• Empathy and understanding
• Acceptance and respect
• Integrity and honesty
• Reliability and trustworthiness.
• (Audit Commission, 2000)
• These are different to managerialist practices
  fundamentally at odds with social work values.

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Source of power in organisations

• Reward power
• Coercive power
• Referent power
• Legitimate power
• Information power
• Affiliation power.
• (French and Raven, 1951)

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Management authority

• The right to make decisions
• Is sanctioned from below (Obholzer, 1994)
• Can be delegated, undermined or sabotaged
• Is crucially affected by the attitude of those
  exercising authority.

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Management power

• Power is a central concept in both management
  theory and practice
• Arises from what an individual controls, and the
  sanctions they can impose on others
• Derived from social and political connections,
  externally
• Comes from an individuals knowledge, experience
  and sense of self, internally
• Awareness and use of power are closely related to
  personal and professional values and ethics.

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Summary

• The meanings and parameters of management are
  constantly changing
• There is less distinction between management
  tasks and the work of other staff groups meaning
  that social workers will become involved in these
  functions
• Understanding and taking on leadership roles help
  you develop your effectiveness in organisations
• Knowledge of sources and uses of power are key to
  identifying and working with ethical dilemmas and
  equality issues in social care.

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References

• Audit Commission and Social Services Inspectorate
  (2000) People need people releasing the
  potential of people working in social services.
  Audit Commission Publications, October 2000.
• French, J.R.P, Raven, B.H, (1958) The bases of
  social power, in D. Cartwright (ed) Studies in
  social power, Institute for Social Research.
  University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor, MI.
• Kearney, P (2004) First line managers, the
  mediators of standards and the quality of
  practice, in Statham, D (ed), 2004, Managing
  front line practice in social care. Research
  Highlights in Social Work 40, Jessica Kingsley
  Publishers.
• Minzberg, H (1989) The structuring of
  organisations. Prentice Hall.
• Obholzer, A, Zagier Roberts, V (1994) The
  unconscious at work, individual and
  organizational stress in the human services.
  Routledge.
• Skills for Care (2004) What leaders managers in
  social care do a statement for a leadership and
  management development strategy for social care.
  statement no 1, published by Skills for Care,
  available from www.topssengland.co.uk