Instrumental, Interpersonal or Holistic: Social Work Managers’ Conceptions of Safety in the Psychosocial Work Environment

Abstract

Social work managers are accountable for risks and safety in the psychosocial work environment. This article aims to understand how social work managers deal with safety in the psychosocial work environment in social service organizations with potentially conflicting logics of regulation and security, by answering the questions: How do social work managers conceptualize safety in the psychosocial work environment?; What are the implications of different conceptions of safety in the psychosocial work environment for social work management? Through a qualitative phenomenographic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 27 managers in the Swedish social services, three conceptions were found: an instrumental, interpersonal and holistic conception. As each conception encompasses the former and thus increases the level of comprehensiveness, tensions between the logics of regulation and security increases. Managers with a comprehensive conception must therefore reflect on the way regulations for safety may conflict with social relationships. Implications for social work management are the need to discuss how safety management relates to social work professionalism, and the self-regulation due to the integration of safety thinking in social work professionalization. Future research could investigate how the conceptions relate to managerial and professional practice and how different parts of the social services conceptualize safety. KEYWORDS social work management; safety management; psychosocial work environment; phenomenography

International guidelines to inform policy development to address client violence in South Africa: An ATA-document analysis

“…Safety policies and procedures can be developed in consultation with frontline workers and then disseminated to all employees or even members of the general public for review [31]. Following the completion of a safety policy, the employers and employees' oral and written commitments can support effective implementation [15,22], whereafter a data-management system can be developed.…”

“…The majority of the literature emphasises that after a client violence incident, employers ought to be vigilant with respect to their social workers' stress levels. The long-term effects of client violence can be mitigated by revising routines and addressing the caseload distribution of the affected social worker [15,22].…”

“…A sense of safety in the o ce According to Nordesjö [22], safe working conditions are insu cient if social workers refuse to accept responsibility for implementing the measures that have been offered. Social workers should be aware of the locations of all safety aids and systems and be trained on accessing and implementing them [18].…”

“…Security cameras or metal detector screenings are examples of other secure entry and access possibilities [15]. The majority of the research, however, advocates for alarm systems [15,22,35]. or panic buttons that can notify others to a safety threat [15, 20, 21, 31; 32].…”

“…The safety of social workers is a complicated but important issue [22]. According to the Department of Health and Human Services in the United States [34],…”