Distribution of responsibility in inter-professional teams in welfare-to-work

ABSTRACT

Welfare-to-work has imposed constraints on professional social work, yet research into the exercise of professional responsibility in public welfare settings has paid limited attention to the organizational context of professionals. This article examines how professionals define their responsibilities and how they shift certain aspects of their decision making responsibilities within the team and in the organization of the Jobcentre. A discourse analysis of 19 interviews with team members in Danish rehabilitation teams found three different ways of managing tensions between different features of institutional and professional responsibilities: deferring responsibility to the legislation, emphasizing the importance of inter-professional team work, and emphasizing the professional responsibility of individuals. These empirical findings are discussed in relation to Bauman’s theory on division of work and displacement of responsibility. This paper concludes that, while considerable organizational mechanisms are at play that displace moral and professional responsibility, professionals seek to manage these challenges in (inter-)professionally responsible ways.

KEYWORDS:

• Professional responsibility
• welfare-to-work
• accounts
• inter-professional team

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. It is necessary here to underline the distinct differences between Bauman’s (1989) case and that of the rehabilitation teams. The rehabilitation teams do have the overall well-being of clients as an aim, even if that well-being is closely connected to labour-market participation. This can in no way be compared to the aims and effects of the Holocaust. Thus, I am not comparing the case of the rehabilitation teams to the case of Holocaust, but utilizing the theory of organizational mechanisms to distributing responsibility, which Bauman (1989) demonstrated with his extreme case.

2. §85 in the Act on Social Service on social assistance, often personal home support.

Additional information

Funding

The study is part of a PhD project funded by Aalborg University and Metropolitan University College.