Conclusion: Approaches to Practice and Modern Social Work

As a socially constructed and contested occupation, social work is influenced by a myriad of factors that need to take account of the perspectives of the service user, worker, agency and society (Payne 1997). What this means for individual workers is that the backdrop to their practice will be influenced and constrained by the prevailing discourses about how social work should be organised and what it aims to achieve. The dominant discourse within the public and social services is that of managerialism related to the so-called ‘modernisation agenda’, with its claim to make services more competitive, efficient and customer-focused (Clarke and Newman 1997). Key to these developments is an ‘agenda for action’ which requires the development of plans and targets with specific dates for completion (Mitchell 2000). In the context of this narrative, two key concepts have been central to the debate about change: managers and markets. According to James (1994, p. 56), in this managerial discourse public organisations, including social services, ‘are or should be, orderly set-ups where the best people are at the top and where everybody knows their place. Managing is primarily about achieving task, and the good manager is the one who directs people clearly and objectively to achieve that task.’