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Social work on the whiteboard: governing by comparing performance
[journal article]
Abstract This article explores a number-based comparative logic unfolding around a particular kind of meeting in a social work setting: a daily and short gathering referred to as a “pulse meeting”. At such meetings, staff gather around a whiteboard visualizing individual statistics in terms of the number of ... view more
This article explores a number-based comparative logic unfolding around a particular kind of meeting in a social work setting: a daily and short gathering referred to as a “pulse meeting”. At such meetings, staff gather around a whiteboard visualizing individual statistics in terms of the number of client meetings performed or assistance decisions made. The statistics function as a basis for further division of work tasks. As such, it is a particular way of representing what social workers do at work. Ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the social services revealed how such openly exposed individual performance and the related number-based comparative logic can trump alternative logics ranging from the overall collective performance, competing views on clients' needs and efficiency, and the social worker’s sense of professionalism. When participants of the study compared themselves to each other and in relation to standards and goals, certain conclusions were drawn about what should be done by whom and in what order. Such conclusions became embedded in an objectivity status difficult for anyone to argue against. Finally, the number-based logic also found its way into the counter-practices formulated by social workers unsatisfied with what was visualized on the whiteboard.... view less
Keywords
social work; social services; achievement; measurement; comparison
Classification
Training, Teaching and Studying, Professional Organizations of Social Welfare
Social Work, Social Pedagogics, Social Planning
Organizational Sociology
Free Keywords
attention displacement
Document language
English
Publication Year
2019
Page/Pages
p. 185-195
Journal
Social Inclusion, 7 (2019) 1
Issue topic
"Producing people" in documents and meetings in human service organizations
ISSN
2183-2803
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed