This paper tries to contribute to the clarification of the problems concerning professional justifications from an ideal-typical point of view, which inevitably implies that it doesn’t deal with real problems and their solutions. The starting point is Freidsons (2001) idealtypical distinction between professionalism, market and bureaucracy. Abbotts (1988) analysis of professionalism will be used to convert Freidsons distinction of power into a distinction of expertise. By making use of Savornin Lohman & Raaff (2001) the distinction is extended by two more logics, the public and the private one. It will be shown that all five logics rest on different action values and that these differing values can cause serious misunderstandings concerning professional justifications.
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Background: Parents of children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) have extensive care duties. This study describes the phenomenon “parenting a child with PIMD.” Method: We conducted in-depth interviews with 25 Dutch parents. A reflective lifeworld research. Findings: The essential meaning of the phenomenon was understood as “continuously struggling to create and maintain new equilibriums that protect the child and the family from hardship; changing in context through time.” The following eight constituents were identified: (1) medical complexity; (2) multidimensional weariness; (3) care for siblings; (4) social connectedness; (5) uncertainty about the future; (6) wrecking bureaucracy; (7) dependency on healthcare delivery; and (8) financial concerns. Conclusions: Healthcare services should provide families with easy access to assistive technology and services needed to manage family life. Responsiveness to parents’ challenges offers them the possibility to participate in society. Healthcare professionals should address the parents’ perspectives related to the child’s quality of life.
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This study explores legal consciousness of social workers within the framework of the 2015 Social Support Act (SSA) in the Netherlands. The aim of this law is to provide social support and care to citizens with impairments or chronic psychological or psychosocial problems, with the goal of enabling people to live independently and actively participate in society. The SSA grants entitlement to a needs assessment to applicants, essential for accessing personalized provisions. This assessment is a pivotal legal evaluation for persons with disabilities to ultimately exercise their rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), ratified by the Netherlands in 2016. With the use of the concept of legal consciousness, this study aims to contribute to understanding social workers’ experiences, understandings, and actions in relation to law in the context of legal decision-making on behalf of the council.
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In dynamic business environments, the ability to adapt is highly important for organizations in order to best their competition. This is necessary because throughout the years of doing business, organizations have experienced but one constant factor: change. The concept of enterprise agility is designed to counter this phenomenon. In this regard, IT is perceived to play a vital role in enterprise agility, most often viewed as an enabler. However, IT can be an inhibitor of enterprise agility as well because of its potentially restricting nature, structural thinking, bureaucracy, rigor, etc. This especially becomes apparent in information systems (IS) that have been operational in organizations for several years. This research aims at discovering processes of IT management that empower or obstruct enterprise agility. We identify processes on the one hand and aspects of enterprise agility on the other and relate them to each other using propositions. We conclude with the identified contribution of IT management to enterprise agility, propose directions for optimization as well as offer suggestions for additional research.
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Can city administrations benefit from the entrepreneurial spirit of startups, and create better urban solutions with their help? In this paper, we critically assess the interplay between startups and city administrations for city-driven innovative public procurement or “challenge-based procurement” policy, taking Amsterdam’s Startup in Residence (SiR) programme as a case study. We describe and analyse this programme from two perspectives: i) the economic development perspective, i.e. does it promote startups and does it bring them new business opportunities, and ii) a governance perspective, i.e. does it bridge the gap between startups and the city bureaucracy; does it lead to a more innovative culture within city government.
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Dit artikel biedt een tussenstand van een lopend onderzoek naar het functioneren van de wijkteams die vorm gaven aan de eerste fase van het Haagse krachtwijkenbeleid. De focus ligt op het professionele handelen van ambtenaren met ‘één been in het stadhuis en één been in de wijk’. Als conceptueel kader maak ik gebruik van het concept tussenfuncties, gedefinieerd als functies binnen de organisatie van de bureaucratie die niet passen bij de logica van diezelfde bureaucratie. In de zoektocht naar wat dit bewegen tussen verschillende schurende logica’s vraagt van de vakbekwaamheid van deze ambtenaren, biedt het concept praktische wijsheid goede handvatten. Waar competenties al snel ‘ontaarden’ in mechanische, gestandaardiseerde lijstjes, verlegt praktische wijsheid de focus naar persoonlijke capaciteiten die succesvol handelen in een specifieke werkpraktijk mogelijk maken en die in die praktijk verder ontwikkeld kunnen worden. Abstract This article provides an intermediate report on an ongoing research into the functioning of teams of community civil servants who implemented the first phase of the krachtwijken (power neighbourhoods) policy in the city of The Hague in which the focus is on the professional skills of civil servants who work with ‘one foot in city hall and one foot in the community’. As a conceptual framework, I used the concept of a tussenfunctie, (in-between position) defined as position within the organisation of a bureaucracy that does not fit the logic of that bureaucracy. In the search for what this moving back and forth between different logics requires from these civil servants in terms of professional expertise, the concept of practical wisdom is useful. Whereas the use of competencies easily degenerates into mechanical one-size-fits-all lists, practical wisdom shifts the focus to personal capabilities that enable one to deal successfully with specific situations and that can be developed by acquiring hands-on experience.
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The quest of organization haunts us. If anarchists were once said to defy authority, nowadays we defy organization. Structures are perceived to hold us back and pin us down with the iron cage of identity. The solidified social limits our freedom with its demand of never-ending “engagement.” How desperate is it to live your life as an insulated rebel without a cause? Instead, we should ask, what is pure organization? Is there a new core that we could define and design? What’s commitment outside of today’s technosocial conventions? Are there bonds that create ties, unhinged from procedure, unfettered by bureaucracy? Is there a form of conspiracy that operates without all the tiresome preparations? Mutual aid and local self-organization come to mind, but what if we’re forced to pursue organization of the unorganizables? Does a self-evident General Will exist that does not need to be discussed and exhaustively questioned? Having arrived at this point, we can clearly see the romantic undertone of the Critique of Organization. What’s a lean revolution, an effortless regime change? Can we presuppose a hive mind that performs like an automaton? Humans, coming together, create the Event, simply because of an inner urge to experience relations without guarantees.
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Net als elders in Europa wordt het sociaal werk in Nederland geconfronteerd met indringende bestuurlijke veranderingen. In dit artikel analyseren wij met welke bestuurlijke veranderingen instellingen in het lokaal sociaal werk te maken hebben en hoe representanten van deze instellingen op deze veranderingen reageren. Het artikel bestaat uit drie delen. In het eerste deel beschrijven we vier in het oog springende bestuurlijke veranderingen waarmee organisaties in dit veld geconfronteerd worden. In het tweede deel analyseren we op basis van verschillende onderzoeken in het lokaal sociaal werk hoe representanten van deze organisaties – sociaal werkers en managers – deze veranderingen ervaren en hoe zij hiermee omgaan. We onderscheiden vier clusters reacties: de verwarde reactie, de introverte reactie, de extraverte reactie en de verbindende reactie. In het derde deel zoomen we in op de ons inziens meest vruchtbare reactiewijze: de verbindende reactie. We betogen dat deze turbulente tijd vraagt om organisaties die erin slagen om zowel sterke interne als krachtige externe coalities te creëren, nodig om de kwaliteit van de dienstverlening te waarborgen en betekenisvol te innoveren.
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Samenvatting van de kwantitatieve resultaten van het proefschrift Certificering, accreditatie en de professional
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Contemporary social work is subjected to ongoing questions in terms of its effectiveness and accountability. It appears to be problematic for social workers to defend themselves in a proper manner. When they do so, they often seem to rely primarily on a rhetoric of good intentions and are thus unable to constructively asses the underlying principles of their work. These considerations have prompted the research outline that is presented in this paper.
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