Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T22:24:35.718Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Activation Work: Policy Programme Administration or Professional Service Provision?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2012

RIK VAN BERKEL*
Affiliation:
School of Governance, Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance, Utrecht University, Bijlhouwerstraat 6, 3511ZC Utrecht, The Netherlands
PAUL VAN DER AA
Affiliation:
Department of Social Affairs and Employment, SWA, PO Box 1024, 3000BA Rotterdam, The Netherlands email: [email protected]

Abstract

This article focuses on the design of frontline work in public agencies involved in the delivery of activation programmes and services. More specifically, it raises the following questions: should we think of activation work as an administrative function or as a form of professional service provision? And does the design of activation work matter in terms of the effectiveness of activation services? In answering these questions, the article provides a meta-analysis of two strands of literature. First, we analyse the available literature reporting on studies of activation frontline work and its organisation and management in public agencies responsible for delivering activation programmes. Secondly, we look at those studies of the effectiveness of activation that focus on the impact of characteristics of frontline work and its organisation and management on activation policy outcomes. We conclude that although the desirability of a professional design of activation work meets relatively wide support among scholars, the feasibility of this professionalisation project is highly contested. In addition, the debate on the nature of the activation profession has only just started. Finally, evaluation studies show that activation work characteristics do affect the outcomes of activation programmes. Against this background, we conclude that a more prominent place of activation work on the research agenda of social policy scholars is recommendable.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, M. (forthcoming), ‘Conditionality, sanctions and the effective absence of redress in the British New Deal Programmes’, in Brodkin, E. and Marston, G. (eds.), Work and the Welfare State: The Politics and Management of Policy Change, Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Ashworth, A., Cebulla, A., Greenberg, D. and Walker, R. (2004), ‘Meta-evaluation: discovering what works best in welfare provision’, Evaluation, 10: 2, 193216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Behncke, S., Frölich, M. and Lechner, M. (2007a), Public Employment Services and Employers: How Important Are Networks with Firms? IZA discussion paper, Bonn: IZA.Google Scholar
Behncke, S., Frölich, M. and Lechner, M. (2007b), Targeting Labour Market Programmes: Results from a Randomized Experiment, Bonn: IZA.Google Scholar
Behncke, S., Frölich, M. and Lechner, M. (2007c), Unemployed and Their Caseworkers: Should They Be Friends or Foes? Bonn: IZA.Google Scholar
Betzelt, S. and Bothfeld, S. (eds.) (2011), Activation and Labour Market Reforms in Europe: Challenges to Social Citizenship, Basingstoke: Palgrave.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloom, H., Hill, C. and Riccio, J. (2003), ‘Linking program implementation and effectiveness: lessons from a pooled sample of welfare-to-work experiments’, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 22: 4, 551–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brodkin, E. (2007), ‘Bureaucracy redux: management reformism and the welfare state’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 17: 1, 117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brodkin, E. (2011), ‘Policy work: street-level organizations under new managerialism’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 21: 1, i25377.Google Scholar
Burgess, S., Propper, C., Ratto, M. and Tominey, E. (2004), Incentives in the Public Sector: Evidence from a Government Agency, CMPO Working paper, Bristol: CMPO.Google Scholar
Considine, M. (2000), ‘Selling the unemployed: the performance of bureaucracies, firms and non-profits in the new Australian “market” for Unemployment Assistance’, Social Policy and Administration, 34: 3, 274–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Courty, P. and Marschke, G. (2004), ‘An empirical investigation of gaming responses to explicit performance incentives’, Journal of Labor Economics, 22: 1, 2356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fletcher, D. R. (2011), ‘Welfare reform, Jobcentre Plus and the street-level bureaucracy: towards inconsistent and discriminatory welfare for severely disadvantaged groups?’, Social Policy and Society, 10: 4, 445–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freidson, E. (2001), Professionalism: The Third Logic, Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Handler, J. (2004), Social Citizenship and Workfare in the United States and Western Europe: The Paradox of Inclusion, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Handler, J. (2006), ‘“Ending welfare as we know it”: welfare reforms in the US’, in Henman, P. and Fenger, M. (eds.), Administering Welfare Reform: International Transformation in Welfare Governance, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Hasenfeld, Y. (1983), Human Service Organizations, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Hasenfeld, Y. (1999), ‘Social services and welfare-to-work: prospects for the social work profession’, Administration in Social Work, 23: 3, 185–99.Google Scholar
Henman, P. and Fenger, M. (eds.) (2006), Administering Welfare Reform: International Transformation in Welfare Governance, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Hill, C. (2006), ‘Casework job design and client outcomes in welfare-to-work offices’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 16: 2, 263–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holzner, C., Munz, S. and Büttner, T. (2009), ‘Evaluating the organisational performance of local job centers’, http://www.socialpolitik.ovgu.de/sozialpolitik_media/papers/Holzner_Christian_uid141_pid102.pdf (accessed 4 March 2011).Google Scholar
Howard, C. (2006), ‘The new governance of Australian welfare: street-level contingencies’, in Henman, P. and Fenger, M. (eds.), Administering Welfare Reform: International Transformation in Welfare Governance, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Jewell, C. (2007), Agents of the Welfare State: How Caseworkers Respond to Need in the United States, Germany and Sweden, New York: Palgrave/Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jewell, C. and Glaser, B. (2006), ‘Toward a general analytic framework: organizational settings, policy goals, and street-level behavior’, Administration and Society, 38: 3, 335–64.Google Scholar
Johnson Dias, J. and Maynard-Moody, S. (2007), ‘For-profit welfare: contracts, conflicts, and the performance paradox’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 17: 2, 189211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jørgensen, H., Nørup, I. and Baadsgaard, K. (2010), ‘Employment policy restructuring and the “de-professionalization” question – do recent Danish developments give an answer?’, Paper presented at the RESQ conference, Copenhagen, June.Google Scholar
Kazepov, Y. (ed.) (2010), Rescaling Social Policies: Towards Multilevel Governance in Europe, Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Kjørstad, M. (2005), ‘Between professional ethics and bureaucratic rationality: the challenging ethical position of social workers who are faced with implementing a workfare policy’, European Journal of Social Work, 8: 4, 381–98.Google Scholar
Kluve, J. (2010a), ‘The effectiveness of European active labor market programmes’, Labour Economics, 17: 904–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kluve, J. (2010b), Active Labor Market Policies in Europe: Performance and Perspectives, Heidelberg: Springer.Google Scholar
Lechner, M. and Smith, J. (2007), ‘What is the value added by case-workers?’, Labour Economics, 14: 135–51.Google Scholar
Lipsky, M. (1980), Street-Level Bureaucracy, New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Lurie, I. and Riccucci, N. (2003), ‘Changing the culture of welfare offices: from vision to the frontlines’, Administration and Society, 34: 6, 653–77.Google Scholar
Marston, G., Larsen, J. and McDonald, C. (2005), ‘The active subjects of welfare reform: a street-level comparison of employment services in Australia and Denmark’, Social Work and Society, 3: 2, 141–58.Google Scholar
McDonald, C. and Marston, G. (2006), ‘Room to move? Professional discretion at the frontline of welfare-to-work’, Australian Journal of Social Issues, 4: 2, 171–83.Google Scholar
Morgen, S. (2001), ‘The agency of welfare workers: negotiating devolution, privatization and the meaning of self sufficiency’, American Anthropologist, 103: 3, 747–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noordegraaf, M. (2011), ‘Risky business: how professionals and professional fields (must) deal with organizational issues’, Organization Studies, 32: 10, 1349–71.Google Scholar
Nybom, J. (2011), ‘Activation in social work with social assistance claimants in four Swedish municipalities’, European Journal of Social Work, DOI:10.1080/13691457.2010.501021.Google Scholar
Pawson, R. and Tilley, N. (1997), Realistic Evaluation, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Peck, L. and Scott, R. (2005), ‘Can welfare case management increase employment? Evidence from a pilot program evaluation’, The Policy Studies Journal, 33: 4, 509–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sainsbury, R. (2008), ‘Administrative justice, discretion and the “welfare to work” project’, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 30: 4, 323–38.Google Scholar
Sandfort, J. (2000), ‘Moving beyond discretion and outcomes: examining public management from the front lines of the welfare system’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 10: 4, 729–56.Google Scholar
Scrivener, S. and Walter, J. (2001), Evaluating Two Approaches to Case Management: Implementation, Participation Patterns, Costs and Three-Years Impact of the Columbus Welfare-To-Work Program, New York: MDRC.Google Scholar
Soss, J., Fording, R. and Schram, S. (2011), ‘The organization of discipline: from performance management to perversity and punishment’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 21: 1, i20332.Google Scholar
Thorén, K. (2008), ‘Activation Policy in Action’: A Street-level Study of Social Assistance in the Swedish Welfare State, Vaxjö: Vaxjö University Press.Google Scholar
Van Berkel, R. (2011), ‘The local and street-level production of social citizenship: the case of Dutch social assistance’, in Betzelt, S. and Bothfeld, S. (eds.), Activation and Labour Market Reforms in Europe: Challenges to Social Citizenship, Basingstoke: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Van Berkel, R., van der Aa, P. and van Gestel, N. (2010), ‘Professionals without a profession? Redesigning case management in Dutch local welfare agencies’, European Journal of Social Work, 13: 4, 447–63.Google Scholar
Van Berkel, R., de Graaf, W. and Sirovatka, T. (eds.) (2011), The Governance of Active Welfare States in Europe, Basingstoke: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Van der Aa, P. forthcoming, ‘De uitvoerder telt. Organisatie en gebruik van discretionaire ruimte bij de uitvoering van de activerende bijstand’ (working title), Ph.D. thesis, Utrecht University, Utrecht.Google Scholar
Vinzant, J. and Crothers, L. (1998), Street-Level Leadership: Discretion and Legitimacy in Front-Line Public Service, Georgetown: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Wright, S. (2003), ‘Confronting unemployment in a street-level bureaucracy: jobcentre staff and client perspectives’, Ph.D. thesis, University of Stirling, Stirling.Google Scholar
Wright, S. (2006), ‘The administration of transformation: a case study of implementing welfare reform in the UK’, in Henman, P. and Fenger, M. (eds.), Administering Welfare Reform: International Transformation in Welfare Governance, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Wright, S. (2011), ‘Steering with sticks, rowing for rewards: the new governance of activation in the UK’, in van Berkel, R., de Graaf, W. and Sirovatka, T. (eds.), The Governance of Active Welfare States in Europe, Basingstoke: Palgrave.Google Scholar