Ethical issues in social work research

Although in this chapter I intend to focus critically on management approaches within the public services, what follows is not an antimanagement polemic nor is it intended to be a deconstruction of the concept of hierarchy. Moreover, I start from an acceptance that public service organisations are characterised by hierarchical frameworks which in the foreseeable future are unlikely to change. This is not to imply that hierarchies are necessarily the only effective way to organise the delivery of services; there is, indeed, a place for the espousal of different organisational models. Hugman (1991) , for instance, has argued effectively that hierarchy is not a ‘natural’ organisational form but is the result of the ‘struggle between state control and occupational autonomy’ which occurred during the professionalisation and organisational unification of social work. My concerns, therefore, are first with how hierarchies function, and how the people on every level interact, exercise responsibility, make decisions, use power, learn and develop and participate in the fulfilling of policy and practice; and second, with what informs the thoughts and actions of those with managerial responsibility. In elaborating those concerns I shall aim to unpack what I see as the pivotal problems of modern public 121 service management; to offer a distinction between management and managerialism; to explore the implications of power and leadership for managers, and to describe an ethically informed management model which is ensconced in problem solving and learning. Finally, I should explain that although my arguments are directed at public service management generally, many of the illustrations are drawn from my experience in the Probation Service.