Social work as a bureaucratic professional labour: an empirical analysis in non-profit organizations in northern Portugal

Abstract

In the last decade and a half, a new perspective on sociological analysis of professional groups has gradually emerged: professionalism and professionalization are no longer analysed as opposed to bureaucracies. In a previous article, we developed an analytical model in which we theorized a hybrid concept of Bureaucratic Professional Work (BPW), based on a theoretical hypothesis of association between various organizational forms (divisional bureaucracies, professional bureaucracies, neo-bureaucracies and post-bureaucracies) and different types of professional work in social work. Structured interviews were conducted with 63 social work professionals who work in 35 non-profit organizations of social services in northern Portugal. We questioned how these professionals perceive their own work in relation to the level of control and centralization of decisions, the routine of procedures and the predictability of results. We also study how social constraints, the tasks performed and work in multidisciplinary teams vary according to the type of BPW. This allows us to detail the modalities of the BPW and set out exploratory hypotheses for other more extensive quantitative studies as well as complementary studies of a qualitative nature.

Na última década e meia uma nova perspetiva de análise sociológica sobre os grupos profissionais tem progressivamente emergido: o profissionalismo e a profissionalização deixaram de ser analisados em oposição com as burocracias. Num artigo prévio desenvolvemos um modelo de análise em que teorizámos o conceito híbrido de trabalho profissional burocrático (TPB) com base numa hipótese teórica de associação entre formas organizacionais variadas (burocracias divisionárias, burocracias profissionais, neoburocracias e pós-burocracias) e diferentes tipos de serviço social profissionalizado. Os dados resultam de entrevistas estruturadas com 63 profissionais de trabalho social que trabalham em 35 organizações não lucrativas (ONL) de serviços sociais do norte de Portugal. Questionamos a forma como estes profissionais percecionam o seu próprio trabalho em relação ao nível de controlo e centralização de decisões, de rotinização de procedimentos e de previsibilidade de resultados. Também estudamos a forma como os constrangimentos sociais, as tarefas realizadas e a trabalho profissional em equipas multidisciplinares varia segundo o tipo de TPB. Isto permitiu entrar no detalhe e no pormenor das modalidades de existência do TPB e colocar hipóteses exploratórias para outros estudos quantitativos mais extensivos e para estudos complementares de natureza qualitativa.

Keywords:

• professional work
• bureaucratization
• professionalism
• social work
• non-profit organizations

Palavras-chave:

• trabalho profissional
• burocratização
• profissionalismo
• trabalho social
• organizações não lucrativas

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

This work was funded by ERDF – European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (Operational Programme for Competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within the research project ‘Knowledge, Autonomy and Reflexivity in Professional Work in the Third Sector (KARPROW)’, with the ref. PTDC/CS-SOC/098459/2008, and within the strategic project of CIIE, with the ref. PEst-OE/CED/UI0167/2011.

Notes on contributors

Telmo H. Caria is a Full Professor of Sociology of Professional Knowledge in the Department of Economics, Sociology and Management of the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD-Vila Real, Portugal), and a main researcher in the Centre of Educational Research and Intervention (CIIE) at the Psychology and Educational Sciences Faculty of Porto University. He has published several papers on teachers’ professional culture (1990–2000) and on ethnographic method (1994–2002). Since 2000, he has developed research on social work and professional knowledge, supported by the contributions of ethnomethodology, sociology of professional groups, sociology of organizations and anthropology of knowledge.

Fernando Augusto Pereira is a Ph.D. Professor of Social Sciences at the Institute Polytechnic of Bragança (Bragança, Portugal) and a main researcher of the Group for Research in Ethnographies of Professional Knowledge in the Centre for Educational Research and Intervention at the University of Porto (Portugal). He is a coordinator of the Center for Research and Intervention on Elderly of the Higher Health School of Bragança. Since 2000, he researches around the subjects of sociology of professional knowledge, professional cultures in education and social work and ethnographies of professional work. About these subjects, he has published on a regular basis books, articles and proceedings.

Notes

1. Professionalization of work = number of professionals/number of employees in the organization.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by ERDF – European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (Operational Programme for Competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within the research project ‘Knowledge, Autonomy and Reflexivity in Professional Work in the Third Sector (KARPROW)’, with the ref. PTDC/CS-SOC/098459/2008, and within the strategic project of CIIE, with the ref. PEst-OE/CED/UI0167/2011.