Cultural change and quality standards

As we saw in Chapter 2, management and organisational theory moved from abstract model-building to understanding the workforce as human beings rather than as cogs in a machine. Paradoxically, organisations can become more efficient if, instead of trying to tidy the people in them into neat little pigeonholes and control their every action, human needs are responded to and human strengths — creativity, enthusiasm, engagement — are fostered. In social work, as elsewhere, this has to happen in a context of constant change which can create enormous uncertainty and even hostility. This means there is quite a challenge facing the managers who must provide the leadership to motivate staff under difficult circumstances and manage the process of change.