Becoming agile in local authority children's safeguarding social work services: examining organisational and individual change in public sector work

自2010年以来，英国地方当局和NHS越来越热情地实施敏捷方法。“敏捷”是指旨在实现更简单、更灵活的组织系统和工作实践的方法，这些方法更直接地响应使用服务的人们的需求。变化包括将服务转移到网上，为员工提供笔记本电脑或智能手机，使他们可以更远程和灵活地工作。敏捷方法被视为帮助服务更具适应性，员工在面对复杂多变的需求时更具弹性。另一个关键驱动因素是，在公共部门持续紧缩的背景下，它们可以更便宜地提供服务。在儿童保护社会工作中，灵活的方法带来了新的工作实践，如办公桌轮用、在家工作以及通过数字信息系统增加同事之间的沟通。特别是办公桌轮用制，在社会工作媒体上受到了极大的关注，一些学术评论家认为敏捷的方法使社会工作者更加孤立。到目前为止进行的少数研究表明，服务领导者对敏捷方法的期望与社会工作者在实地的实践之间存在差异。这些研究发现，服务领导者期望敏捷的方法可以节省资金，加强社会工作者的沟通，并为社会工作者提供更大的灵活性，以平衡工作和非工作承诺。大多数社会工作者认为，他们可以在何时何地进行记录工作，以及如何与同事和服务用户进行沟通，这些都提供了更大的灵活性。然而，这些工作方式也引发了一些问题，如如何在公共和非工作场所保护用户的个人信息，以及如何改变与同事和服务用户的沟通方式。需要进一步研究敏捷工作实践及其对服务效率、用户和社会工作者体验的影响。本项目旨在：1记录和分析服务领导者、社会工作者、监督者和服务使用者对敏捷方法的描述，他们所需要的实践和关系以及他们预期的结果; 2确定这些描述所依赖的关于儿童保护社会工作的知识和信念;3记录和分析社会工作者、监督者和服务使用者在从事敏捷工作时的实践、关系和经验的范围，并确定影响它们的因素; 4研究这些已确定的做法如何影响社会工作者和服务使用者的沟通和意义的形成。该项目将涉及在三个不同的地方当局进行研究，包括观察100-130个社会工作实践实例，并采访了40-60名参与者，了解他们对敏捷方法的看法和经验。该项目将导致对三个主管部门和大约20名社会工作者的做法进行详细的案例研究，并证明灵活方法对儿童保障社会工作和更广泛的公共部门服务的影响。它将产生以下资源：1为实践者：实践指南，考虑在敏捷环境中工作时的沟通，工作关系，监督，数据安全和自我照顾;工具，使实践者能够反思他们的敏捷工作经验并确定其影响;2为实践领导者和政策制定者：关于实施敏捷方法的最佳做法的证据，案例研究表明不同方法和做法的积极和消极影响，以及如何有效管理这些影响; 3为社会工作教育工作者：教学资源，使学习敏捷方法，工作实践及其对服务用户和社会工作者的影响。

Since 2010, agile approaches have been implemented increasingly enthusiastically by local authorities and the NHS in the UK. 'Agile' means approaches that are designed to enable simpler, more flexible organisational systems and working practices, which respond more directly to the needs of people using services. Changes include moving services online and providing employees with laptop computers or smart phones so they can work more remotely and flexibly. Agile approaches are seen as helping services to be more adaptable and workers to be more resilient in the face of complex, shifting requirements. Another key driver is that they allow services to be delivered more cheaply in the context of continuing public sector austerity.In children's safeguarding social work, agile approaches have led to new working practices such as hot-desking, home-based working and increased communication between colleagues via digital information systems. Hot-desking, in particular, has received significant attention in the social work press and some academic commentators have suggested agile approaches leave social workers more isolated. The few studies conducted so far have suggested differences between service leaders' expectations of agile approaches and social workers' practices on the ground. These studies found service leaders expected agile approaches to lead to financial savings, enhance social workers' communication, and offer greater flexibility for social workers to balance work and non-work commitments. Most social workers viewed them as offering greater flexibility about where and when they could carry out recording work, and how they could communicate with colleagues and service users. However, these ways of working also raised questions about how to keep users' personal information secure in public and non-work spaces, and changing forms of communication with colleagues and service users.Further research is needed into agile working practices and their implications for services' effectiveness, and users' and social workers' experiences. This project aims to:1 Document and analyse service leaders', social workers', supervisors' and service users' accounts of agile approaches, the practices and relationships they entail and their intended outcomes2 Identify the knowledge and beliefs about children's safeguarding social work on which these accounts rely;3 document and analyse the range of social workers', supervisors' and service users' practices, relationships and experiences when engaged in agile working, and identify the factors influencing them;4 examine how these identified practices impact on social workers' and service users' communication and sense-making.The project will involve research in three different local authorities, including observations of 100-130 instances of social work practice, and interviews with 40-60 participants about their views and experiences of agile approaches. The project will lead to detailed case studies of the three authorities and approximately 20 social workers' practice, and evidence about the implications of agile approaches in children's safeguarding social work and in public sector services more widely. It will produce the following resources:1 for practitioners: practice guides considering communication, working relationships, supervision, data security and self-care when working in agile contexts; tools which enable practitioners to reflect on their experiences of agile working and identify its implications;2 for practice leaders and policy makers: evidence about best practice in implementing agile approaches, case studies demonstrating the positive and negative implications of different approaches and practices, and how these can be effectively managed;3 for social work educators: teaching resources to enable learning about agile approaches, working practices and their implications for service users and social workers.