<p>This research project explores the effects of neoliberal policy reform at Children Aid Society (CAS) in Ontario with a specific focus of a newly amalgamated agency in Northern Ontario. For the purpose of this research paper, the agency currently restructuring is referred as Agency # 1. The amalgamation has been initiated by the Ontario Ministry of Youth and Children Services (MYCS). In order to provide these changes, the MYCS formed the Commission to Promote Sustainable Child Welfare (CPSCW) to look into approaches that would make services more efficient and sustainable. This project focuses on the interpretation of the amalgamation through three lenses: the academic literature reviewed; five interviews conducted with administrators and front line workers; and finally the researchers lived experience at Agency # 1 will form a backdrop to the research questions in order to highlight the voices of the research participants. A qualitative approach was conducted to analyze and outline specific themes and sub themes that relate to the literature review such as Neoliberalism, Centralization and New Public Management (NPM). The findings support that neoliberal policy reform has impacted employees at Agency # 1 through a series of miscommunication on policy and procedures along with a delayed process to agreeing on a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The data outlines that the process has been highly influenced and developed by the MYCS, CPSCW and senior administration. The data supports the conclusion that neoliberal reform through managerial approaches is highly entrenched in restructuring of Agency # 1.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

The literature indicates that engaging parents in child/youth mental health services is crucial for achieving positive outcomes. Yet, little research exists on how providers and organizations might hinder or facilitate parental engagement. This study aims to address this gap in literature by answering three research questions: (1) how do service providers working in child and youth mental health services define parental engagement? (2) Why does engaging parents in treatment remain a challenge for service providers? (3) What organizational- and provider-level factors contribute to this challenge? To facilitate this aim, semi-structured interviews were conducted with four service providers, including those working in community-based or outpatient child and youth mental health services. Participants were recruited using a snowball sampling recruitment method. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analyzed following principles of Constructivist Grounded Theory. Study results highlighted system- (e.g., access), organizational- (e.g., expectations and constraints), provider- (e.g., stance) and parental-level (e.g., shame) factors impacting parental engagement in services. These findings coincide with the documented impacts of neoliberalism and New Public Management on shaping mental health services. This study thus challenges traditional conceptualizations of engagement and underscores the interplay of complex factors that occur between service-levels. An expanded definition of parental engagement is therefore warranted if providers and organizations intend on holistically engaging parents in their child/youth’s care. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

Bristen på familjehem och svårigheter med att rekrytera nya familjehem är idag ett aktuellt och omfattande problem. Familjehemsvården åsyftar att placera barn och unga som av olika skäl inte får sina behov tillgodosedda i sina biologiska hem. Socialtjänsten är ytterst ansvarig för handläggning och att säkerställa kvalitén på den familjehemsvård som bedrivs. Behovet av familjehem har ökat under de senaste åren medan socialtjänsten har svårt att rekrytera i samma takt, vilket i sin tur har lett till en ökad tillgång för privata företag att etablera sig på marknaden. Att samverka med privata aktörer i fråga om familjehemsvård har lett till utökat utbud av familjehem men även begränsad insyn i placeringar. Tidigare forskning väcker frågor om barnets bästa och socialsekreterarens roll i relation till den privatiserande marknaden som utvecklats samt den ökade efterfrågan av familjehem. Syftet med denna studie är därför att undersöka och jämföra socialtjänstens handläggning och socialsekreterares upplevelser i ärenden med kommunal respektive konsulentverksamhet inom familjehemsvården. Detta undersöks med en kvalitativ ansats, genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med tre socialsekreterare. Interpretativ fenomenologisk analys (IPA) har använts som analysmetod i studien där mönster och teman identifierats och analyserats vilket konstruerat resultaten för studien. Resultatet visade att handläggning för ärenden sker på samma sätt oavsett placeringsform men där förhållanden inom placeringar kan variera och påverka handläggningen. Vidare hur uppfattningarna om kvaliteten varierar.

Because of on-going reform efforts, rapidly changing business environments, and increasing demands for government services while reducing expenditures, organizations realize government is challenged with social welfare problems that cannot be effectively tackled utilizing our traditional bureaucratic structures. Organizations must work across traditional organizational boundaries to implement reform efforts that reduce the size of government, operate more efficiently, reduce fiscal stress, and employ market-like mechanisms. Government reform efforts are not new; universities, to include Virginia Tech, play a large role in reform activities. Also playing a prominent role in government reform efforts are contractual relationships; these relationships continue to increase. Virginia Tech, through the implementation of the Federal Reimbursement Unit (FRU), has had a long-term contractual relationship with a local government in implementing government reform, specifically in the implementation of a unique model program to maximize local revenues to finance a child welfare program. The goal of the program is to use less county tax dollars to support children in foster care, and provide a seamless process in maximizing resources from federal entitlement and state programs. While contracts have played a major role in reform efforts for many decades, long-term contract relationships are not fully explored in the literature. There is much more to learn about the relationships, and their role in reform, specifically how contracts evolve over time. Using a single case study design, this research explored the evolution of a long-term contract involving collaborative activities between a state university and a local county through the implementation of this unique model program. Interviews provided the primary method of data collection with experts in the child welfare field. The research explored key factors in the model program that led to the implementation and evolution of the contract with a focus on selected elements of the popular New Public Management (NPM) form of governance and interagency collaboration. The results identify multiple collaborative and selected NPM elements that existed in the implementation and subsequent evolution of the contract. These selected elements may not be present in other long-term contracts; however they played a significant role in the implementation and evolution in this research. / Ph. D.

In contrast to the decline of New Public Management (NPM) in many countries, reports on executive agency policy in Korea point to its success. To explore why it has been successful, this study investigates the relationship between multi-level culture and work motivation (i.e., job satisfaction and organizational commitment). This study develops a multi-level framework and examines direct, moderating, and varying contextual effects in the relationships among organizational cultures (clan, adhocracy, market, and hierarchy), individual perceptions of organizational culture, and work motivation, using survey data from 1,535 public employees in 46 executive agencies in Korea and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). Key findings include, first, clan, adhocracy, market, and hierarchy organizational cultures all have positive associations with organizational commitment; however, individual perceptions of organizational market and hierarchy cultures are negatively related to organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Second, market and hierarchy cultures have positive varying contextual effects in relationships with organizational commitment. Third, organizational culture has more explanatory power than individual perceptions of organizational culture. Finally, efforts to develop and sustain balanced organizational culture evidently led to the success of the executive agency system in Korea. The findings support the argument that NPM reforms need to be examined through the lens of a multi-level culture and balanced culture perspective. / Ph. D.

Detta arbete undersöker förändringar inom läraryrket till följd av politiska ochorganisatoriska förändringar de senaste decennierna. Syftet är att utforska och fördjupaförståelsen för hur olika förändringar påverkat läraryrket, och vilka konsekvenser de gett förgymnasielärare. Genom att analysera faktorer som bidrar till dessa förändringar och derasverkliga effekter ges en djupare inblick i hur lärares arbete påverkats. I vilken utsträckninglärare upplever hinder och utmaningar i sitt arbete och vad dessa hinder består av belysesäven i arbetet. Dessutom undersöks det närmare hur gymnasielärare upplever sinaförutsättningar och möjligheter att utföra sina arbetsuppgifter. För att studera dessa fenomenanvänds en kvalitativ enkätstudie som skickats ut till 24 gymnasieskolor i Skåne. Vårteoretiska utgångspunkt grundar sig i Karaseks och Theorells teori om arbetsförhållanden, därJDCS-modellen används för att analysera och resonera kring lärarnas upplevelser och vårempiri. Analysen av empirin utförs med hjälp av en innehållsanalys för att identifieragemensamma teman och mönster relaterade till lärarnas arbete och stödet de erhåller.Resultaten tyder på att många lärare utsätts för hög arbetsbelastning i kombination med lågtsjälvbestämmande på sina arbetsplatser. Empirin ger därmed insikt i utmaningar inomläraryrket och betonar vikten av att balansera arbetskrav med autonomi och socialt stöd för attfrämja välbefinnande och effektivitet hos lärare.

Syfte: Tidigare forskning visar att offentliga verksamheter tillämpar balanserat styrkort anpassat till dess specifika verksamhet. Antalet studier som behandlar anpassning av balanserat styrkort till offentlig verksamhet är begränsat vilket leder till att studien syftar till att belysa hur balanserat styrkort anpassas till svensk offentlig verksamhet. Metod: Studien tillämpar en abduktiv kvalitativ ansats med datainsamling i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Bearbetning av data och teori följer tematisk analys. Studien genomsyras av den tolkande hermeneutiska traditionen. Resultat &amp; slutsats: Studien tolkar att offentlig verksamhet tillämpar anpassade balanserade styrkort där ingen uppnår samtliga kriterier för balanserat styrkort. Studien tolkar vidare att nyttan med anpassat balanserat styrkort uttrycks i form av enkelhet och enhetlighet vilket skapas genom att syftet med anpassat balanserat styrkort är detsamma som inom traditionellt balanserat styrkort. Anpassning av perspektiv uttrycks genom att lärande- och tillväxtperspektivet exkluderas till förmån för medarbetarperspektivet. Förslag till vidare forskning: Studien föreslår vidare forskning vad gäller strategikartans roll efter strategiutveckling, kausalitet när ett annat perspektiv än det finansiella placeras högst upp i hierarkin, lärande- och tillväxtperspektivets exkluderande till förmån för medarbetarperspektivet samt valet att avveckla balanserat styrkort inom offentlig verksamhet. Uppsatsens bidrag: Uppsatsen bidrar till en ökad förståelse för balanserat styrkort anpassas till offentlig verksamhet. Förståelsen för anpassning skapas genom fyra aspekter; Tillämpning, Nytta, Syfte och Perspektiv. / Aim: Previous research reveals that public sector organisations apply balanced scorecard adjusted to their own specific business. The number of studies dealing with balanced scorecard adjusted to public sector organisations is limited which open on to the purpose of the study, which is to illuminate how balanced scorecard is adjusted to public sector organisations in Sweden. Method: The study applies an abductive qualitative research method with semistructured interviews as data gathering tool. The processing of data and theory follow thematic analysis. The study permeates the interpretive hermeneutic tradition. Result &amp; conclusion: The study interprets that public sector organisations apply adjusted balanced scorecard where none acquire all criteria of the balanced scorecard. The study also interprets that the benefits of adjusted balanced scorecard are simplicity and uniformity. The benefits are accomplished through the purpose of implementing adjusted balanced scorecard, which is the same purpose as for traditional balanced scorecard. Perspectives are adjusted to the specific business, which primarily involves the exclusion of the learning-, and growth perspective in advantage of a perspective concerning employees. Suggestions for future research: The study suggests further research regarding the usefulness of strategy maps after strategy development, the causality when other perspective than the financial is placed at the top of the hierarchy, the exclusion of the learning – and growth perspective in advantage of perspectives concerning employees and phase out of balanced scorecard in public sector organisations. Contribution of the thesis: The study adds enhanced understanding of how public sector organisations choose to adjust balanced scorecard. The enhanced understanding concerning adjustment is created through four aspects; Application, Benefits, Purpose and Perspectives.

Education on behalf of social trust constitutes a central theme in all societies. Different forms of cheating and fraud have a negative impact on the bonds of social trust. The purpose of the thesis is to increase understanding of the scope for learning about the individual-society relationship as it finds expression in pedagogical practices involving norms relating to cheating. The established norms concerning school cheating are identified in group-based discussions involving Upper Secondary students and teachers. Students ascribe each other roles on the basis of the perceived capacity to produce school results and thereby also to justify the need for school cheating. In the norm negotiations a significant tolerance is shown towards cheating which is adjudged to be necessary, provided that a hierarchic, fair distribution of grades can be retained. The teachers perceive expectations of acting for goal fulfilment, in the form of good student grades, as based on economic arguments. Good student grades imply satisfied customers in a market exposed to competition and a strong market value for the individual school. From a critical viewpoint these norms are related to the contemporary, dominant neo-liberal principles of commercialisation and individualisation in social organisation. The school actors perceive, in accordance with stratified norm theory, the norms from economic systems of conduct as more strongly conditioning on conduct than those norms from political-administrative or socio-cultural conduct systems. The teachers are aware of expectations, in hidden concert and consent with other school stakeholders, to offer social approval for student cheating and sympathetic marking concerning the lowest grade for passing i.e. violation of rules, where this is necessary to meet the economic as well as political-administrative objectives that have been established. To be part of pedagogic practices involving school cheating implies learning to uncouple rules and practice, law and morality. Such a double agenda is incompatible with norms and ideals in official curricula as well as being destructive of the bonds of social trust; it thereby functions as a hidden curriculum.

Cette thèse traite des réformes et des politiques éducatives mises en place au Royaume-Uni après l’arrivée au pouvoir des nouveaux travaillistes en 1997. À la suite de la dévolution, deux Assemblées furent créés en 1999, l’une au Pays de Galles, et l’autre en Irlande du Nord, et l’Écosse se dota d’un Parlement. Cela entraîna la pérennisation des différences qui existaient entre les systèmes éducatifs du Royaume-Uni, la gestion de chaque système éducatif étant confiée à ces nouvelles institutions. La thèse analyse en profondeur les évolutions et les transformations générées au sein des différents systèmes éducatifs entre 1997 et 2010 (période de gouvernance des nouveaux travaillistes), et dégage les divergences et/ou rapprochements qui en ont découlé. Elle montre comment chacune des quatre nations a fait évoluer sa politique éducative, tout en tenant compte des réformes qui furent mises en place par les précédents gouvernements, ces changements ayant déjà profondément bouleversé l’organisation des systèmes éducatifs (New Public Management/autonomie des écoles). Certaines réformes antérieures à la période d’étude, qui modifièrent profondément le modèle de fonctionnement et l’organisation de ces systèmes éducatifs, sont également abordées car les gouvernements du début des années 2000 durent en tenir compte lors de l’élaboration de leurs projets éducatifs. Cette étude comparative tente aussi de définir l’efficacité des réformes en matière de performance scolaire et d’égalité des chances. / This thesis deals with the reforms and education policies that were implemented in the United Kingdom after the arrival of New Labour in 1997. Following devolution, two Assemblies were created in 1999, one in Wales, and one in Northern Ireland, and Scotland had a Parliament. This led to the persistence of the differences that existed between the education systems of the United Kingdom, the management of each education system being entrusted to these new institutions. The thesis analyses in depth the evolutions and the transformations generated within the different education systems between 1997 and 2010 (period of governance of New Labour), and reveals the divergences and/or convergences that ensued. It shows how each of the four nations has changed its education policy, while taking into account the reforms that were put in place by previous governments, these changes having already profoundly changed the organisation of these education systems (New Public Management/Local management of schools). Some reforms, prior to the period under study, which profoundly changed the organisation of these education systems, are also discussed because the governments in the early 2000s had to take them into account when developing their education projects. This comparative study also attempts to define the effectiveness of reforms in school performance and equal opportunities.

Denna uppsats fokuserar på den etableringsprocess som har skett i Jönköpings kommun vid införandet av familjecentraler. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur införandet av familjecentraler kan förstås och genom det skapa fördjupad kunskap om etableringsprocesser i socialt arbete. Studien har genomförts i form av en fallstudie. Empiri har samlats in genom intervjuer och genom offentliga allmänna handlingar. Materialet har analyserats genom ett adhoc-förfarande inspirerat av fallstudieanalys. Teorier som använts i analysen grundar sig i agenda-settingteori och i nyinstitutionell organisationsteori. Resultatet visar att familjecentraler som idé är omtolkningsbart vilket resulterat i en omfattande översättningsprocess. I den processen har socialtjänstens roll varit decimerad, vilket avspeglas i det utrymme som socialtjänsten ges på familjecentralerna där deras roll definieras av andra professioner än de själva. Det som gör att familjecentralerna kommer att etableras är en kritik mot och från barnhälsovården rörande relationen med socialtjänsten. Detta ackompanjeras av en ökad oro för föräldraskapet samt ökade krav på billigare och bättre verksamheter inom den offentliga sektorn. Dock får familjecentralsetableringen ett abrupt avbrott i och med att studier lyfts fram som indikerar att det finns bristande kunskaper rörande familjecentralernas effekt, vilket skapar hinder för nyetableringar. Detta medför inte att befintliga familjecentraler läggs ner vilket kan förstås i att familjecentralspolicyn visar en hög grad av institutionalisering, en stark förgivettagen tro på familjecentralerna, där dessa upphör att behöva legitimeras i form av problemadressering och resultat. / This bachelor thesis focuses on the establishment process of family centers in Jönköping municipality, Sweden. The purpose of this case-study is to examine on which terms the establishment of family centers can be understood aiming for the creation of in-depth knowledge about establishment processes in social work. Data has been collected via semi-structured interviews and via open records. The data has been analyzed via ad-hoc analyses inspired by cases study analyses. Theoretical framework used in the study is Kingdon’s agenda setting theory and neo-institutional organization theory. The study presents that family centre policy is highly interpretable and therefore has been a case of policy translation, which has resulted in a decimated part for the social services in the family centers, highly defined by other professions. The establishment of family centers is a result of a critique aimed against and from the child health care services, accompanied with an increased worry for parenthood and demands for more economically efficient function within the public sector. The process is interrupted by studies that indicate insufficient knowledge about the efficiency of the family centers. However this doesn’t result in closure of family centers because the function has reached a high degree of institutionalization, where it is legitimized by presumptions and beliefs rather than results and problem addressing.