On ‘Activation Workers’ Perceptions’: A Reply to Dunn (2)

Wright, Steve

doi:10.1017/s0047279413000494

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Welfare clients often experienced bureaucracy as an affront to their dignity, describing their experience as being treated very impersonally, like 'a product' or 'a number'. The recollections our interviewees had of their interaction with an activation worker reflect findings of earlier studies that bureaucracy obstructs a personalised approach (Hauss, 2014;Wright 2013), but also point to what such an approach might look like.…”

Section: Stage 1: Restoring a Violated Life Storysupporting

confidence: 70%

“…Many scholars agree that bureaucratic rules and regulationsin place to control efficiency and equityobstruct such a personalised approach (Van Berkel & Van der Aa, 2012;Hauss, 2014;Wright 2013). This is largely due to the fact that the profession of activation work is 'still in its infancy' (Van Berkel & Van der Aa, 2012, p. 498).…”

Section: A Personalised Approach In Activationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Activation workers are expected to use time more efficiently and approach clients briefly at the right moment, for example reminding them of a job interview, rather than establishing a deep bond over time. On the other hand, it also has characteristics of the social service orientation of social work (Hauss, 2014;Kjørstad, 2005;Wright, 2013). Activation workers are expected to have 'a keen sense of the issues involved', to be 'close the life-world' of their clients, and to act as a role model (Hauss, 2014, p. 666).…”

Section: A Personalised Approach In Activationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both these contradictions have inspired research into the instruments of activation and the interplay between discipline and empowerment (Provencher & Richard, 2010). Because of these contradictions, some see no possibilities for a more personalised approach; they argue that the monitoring side and the social service side of activation are too contradictory to be compatible (Handler & Hasenfeld, 2006;Wright, 2013).…”

Section: A Personalised Approach In Activationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A personalised approach in activation. Workfare volunteers’ experiences with activation practitioners

Kampen¹,

Tonkens

2018

European Journal of Social Work

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In activation worksupporting jobless people to perform activities that are supposed to lead them back to paid worka personalised approach is deemed crucial. What a personalised approach entails, however, remains unclear. In this article, we try to further develop the notion of a personalised approach in activation work, by analysing Dutch workfare volunteers' experiences with activation. Our interviews show that a personalised approach appears as a process with three stages. In the first stage, personalised means paying attention to welfare clients' personal histories, particularly their 'violated life story'. In the second stage, personalised means being sensitive to the new reality of them being volunteers. In the third stage, personalised means paying attention to the future, especially to the prospect of paid work. Our findings contribute to the theorisation of a personalised approach in activation work to which time turns out to be a crucial dimension. SAMENVATTING Bij activeringswerkhet ondersteunen van werklozen om activiteiten uit te voeren die hen zouden moeten leiden naar betaald werkwordt een gepersonaliseerde benadering cruciaal geacht. Wat een gepersonaliseerde aanpak inhoudt, blijft echter onduidelijk. In dit artikel proberen we de notie van een gepersonaliseerde benadering in activeringswerk verder te ontwikkelen door de ervaringen van Nederlandse geleide vrijwilligers met activering te analyseren. Onze interviews laten zien dat een gepersonaliseerde benadering te begrijpen is als een proces met drie fasen. Gepersonaliseerd betekent dat in de eerste fase aandacht wordt geschonken aan de persoonlijke geschiedenis van bijstandscliënten, met name aan hun 'geschonden levensverhaal'. In de tweede fase betekent gepersonaliseerd dat activeringswerkers gevoelig zijn voor de nieuwe realiteit van vrijwilliger-zijn. In de derde fase betekent gepersonaliseerd aandacht schenken aan de toekomst, vooral met het oog op betaald werk. Onze bevindingen dragen bij aan theorie over een gepersonaliseerde benadering in activeringswerk, waarin tijd een cruciale dimensie blijkt te zijn.

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Section: Stage 1: Restoring a Violated Life Storysupporting

confidence: 70%

Section: A Personalised Approach In Activationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Personalised Approach In Activationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Personalised Approach In Activationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

A personalised approach in activation. Workfare volunteers’ experiences with activation practitioners

Kampen¹,

Tonkens

2018

European Journal of Social Work

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“…Further, in the Journal of Social Policy there is a debate on the attitudes of caseworkers in activation policies. Dunn () uses interviews to show the existence of a welfare dependency culture in the United Kingdom, while Wright () reinterprets his results, stating that popular ideas on poverty also influence social caseworkers. In other words, she too points to the construction of deservingness of clients.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meeting (or not) at the street level? A literature review on street‐level research in public management, social policy and social work

Nothdurfter

Hermans

2018

Int J Soc Welfare

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Nothdurfter U., Hermans K. Meeting (or not) at the street level? A literature review on street-level research in public management, social policy and social work This literature review analyses the adoption and development of a street-level perspective in public management, social policy and social work. The last years have seen a prominent revival of a perspective based on Michael Lipsky's streetlevel bureaucracy approach in the debates conducted within all three disciplinary fields. Based on 71 key publications in public management, social policy and social work, the review analyses the adoption of the street-level bureaucracy approach during the period 2005-2015, pointing out the main themes of the debate within, as well as overlaps and differences between, the three disciplines. The findings show the potential of better integrating the different perspectives and taking stock of the articulated debate. Lastly, the review discerns a common viewpoint for further street-level research, emphasising its importance for the critical analysis and understanding of street-level work as a vital dimension of responsive and accountable institutions and as a decisive moment to shape positive policy outcomes on the ground. Key Practitioner Message: • The use of discretion by frontline practitioners and their role as policy actors on the ground has become an important focus of research; • This literature review shows that the debate has gone far beyond discussing discretion as an all-or-nothing issue, pointing out both positive and negative aspects of discretion and developing comprehensive frameworks to explain the use of discretion at the street-level; • However, street-level research has traditionally rather neglected the notion of professionalism. The social work literature brings in the perspective of professionalism; more research efforts are needed to better explore and explain how professionalism matters in relation to challenges and dilemmas of different policy and practice fields.Although public management, social policy and social work are closely interrelated, their debates have been characterised by different perspectives as well as different theoretical and methodological approaches. Especially in relation to social policy and social work, it has been pointed out that, despite their mutual dependence, their relations are an underexposed matter and their perspectives and debates barely ever converge However, the prominent revival of Michael Lipsky's (1980/2010) street-level bureaucracy approach during the last 15 years has done much to identify a common feature of the debates in public management, social policy and social work. Lipsky's approach addresses the dilemmas faced by the individuals at the frontline of public services. An important contribution of Lipsky's approach is that he has highlighted how the use of discretion by street-level bureaucrats, the routines they establish, the devices Int J Soc Welfare 2018: 27: 294-304

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From Problems to Barriers: A Bottom-Up Perspective on the Institutional Framing of a Labour Activation Programme

Hansen¹

2019

Social Policy and Society

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Human resource development (HRD) approaches aim to increase service users’ labour market prospects through training and upskilling. However, research on activation policy implementation suggests that individualised, tailored measures may be difficult to implement because of organisational structures, standardised procedures, contradictory professional interests, and broad framework laws. This qualitative study explored the institutional framing of the Norwegian Qualification Programme and how that framing created barriers in service users’ trajectories towards labour market inclusion. The study applied a bottom-up perspective to analyse how these barriers are entangled in a multidimensional web of interrelated and sometimes contradictory relations. Highlighting the service users’ perspective, the study aimed to examine how institutional framing may interfere with the activation policy goal of qualifying service users for the labour market. The results point to how institutional framing governs local practice and creates barriers that ultimately may impede activation policy goals.

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On ‘Activation Workers’ Perceptions’: A Reply to Dunn (2)

Cited by 13 publications

References 36 publications

A personalised approach in activation. Workfare volunteers’ experiences with activation practitioners

A personalised approach in activation. Workfare volunteers’ experiences with activation practitioners

Meeting (or not) at the street level? A literature review on street‐level research in public management, social policy and social work

From Problems to Barriers: A Bottom-Up Perspective on the Institutional Framing of a Labour Activation Programme

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