Developing communities of practice
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v14i2.491Keywords:
communities of practice, learning organisations, management, social work, leadership, supervision, team effectiveness, strategyAbstract
Social work in the UK has undergone a period of momentous change in the last decade with the introduction of a ‘modernising agenda’ that has increased managerial approaches to the organisation, development and delivery of services. These approaches are embedded and social workers and social work managers must find ways of working within them to synthesise appropriate responses that promote the values and cultural heritage of social work within the new context. This paper considers the possibilities offered by communities of practice to develop learning organisations in which a managed and participatory approach to social work and social care can be generated. A super-ordinate model of contending learning cultures is developed and used to create a blue print for practice that draws on a range of management and professional theories and perspectives.
Successful involvement of people who use services is identified as a key feature of a more advanced approach to leading a community of practice and the effectiveness of supervision is seen as dependent on the development of a community. The approach offers a strategy for first line and middle managers to develop team effectiveness and improve services that is robust and not dependent on organisational initiatives and cultures.
References
Adair, J., 1983. <i>Effective Leadership</i>. London: Pan <a target="_blank" href='http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/reports/report20.pdf'>http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/reports/report20.pdf</a>\nBandura, A. (1997) <i>Self-efficacy: The exercise of control</i>. New York: Freeman <a target="_blank" href='http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/knowledgereviews/kr13.pdf'>http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/knowledgereviews/kr13.pdf</a>\nBarber, P., 1988. Learning to grow: the necessity for education processing in therapeutic community practice. <i>Journal of Therapeutic Communities</i>, 9, 2, 101-108 <a target="_blank" href='http://publications.everychildmatters.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/HC-330.pdf'>http://publications.everychildmatters.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/HC-330.pdf</a>\nBarr, H., Goosey, D. and Webb, M. (2008) Social work in collaboration with other professions. in M. Davies (Ed.) <i>The Blackwell Companion to Social Work</i>. (3rd ed.) Oxford: Blackwell (pp. 277-86) <a target="_blank" href='http://www.skillsfor.org.uk/files/Effective%20Supervision%20unit.pdf'>http://www.skillsfor.org.uk/files/Effective%20Supervision%20unit.pdf</a>\nBeddoe, L. (2009) Creating conversation: Social workers and learning organisations. <i>Social Work Education</i>, 28: 7, 722-736\nBeresford, P. (2003) <i>It’s Our Lives: A short theory of knowledge, distance and experience</i>. London: Citizen Press\nBeresford, P. and Croft, S. (2002) Involving service users in management :Citizenship, access and support. in J. Reynolds, et al. (Eds.) <i>The Managing Care Reader</i>. London: Routledge (pp.21-28)\nBlewitt, J. (2008) Social work in new policy contexts: Threats and opportunities. in S. Fraser and S. Matthews (Eds.) <i>The Critical Practitioner in Social Work and Health Care</i>. London: Sage\nBrown, K., Immins, T., Bates, N., Gray, I., Rutter, L., Keen, S., Parker, J., and members of the Project’s Steering Group (2007) <i>Tracking The Learning and Development Needs of Newly Qualified Social Workers Project</i>. Leeds: Skills for Care.\nCare Standards Act (2000). <i>Care Standards Act 2000</i>. London: HMSO\nCarr, S. (2004) <i>Has Service User Participation Made a Difference to Social Care Provision</i>. Scie position Paper 3. Bristol: Policy Press\nCarr, S., 2008 <i>Personalisation: A rough guide</i>. London: Scie. http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/reports/report20.pdf [Accessed 19th August 2009]\nDale, P., Davies, M., Morrison, T., and Waters, J. (1986) <i>Dangerous Families</i>. London: Tavistock\nDeming, W.E. (1994) <i>Out of the Crisis</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press\nDfES/DH (Department of Health) (2006) <i>Options for Excellence. Building the social workforce of the future</i>. London: DfES/DH\nFuller, A., Hodkinson, H. Hodkinson, P., and Unwin, L. (2005) Learning as a peripheral participation in communities of practice: A reassessment of key concepts in workplace learning. <i>British Educational Research Journal</i>, 31, 1, 49-68\nGray, I., Parker, J., and Immins, T. (2008) Leading communities of practice in social work. Groupwork or management? <i>Groupwork</i> 18, 2, 26-41\nGlendinning, C., Clarke, S., Hare, P., Inna Kotchetkova, I., Maddison, J., and Newbronner, L. (2006) <i>Outcomes-focused Services for Older People. Scie</i> Adults’ services knowledge review 13. Bristol: Scie. http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/knowledgereviews/kr13.pdf [Accessed 19th August 2009]\nGould, N. (2000) Becoming a learning organisation: A social work example. <i>Social Work Education</i>, 19, 6, 585-596\nGould, N. and Baldwin, M. (2004) <i>Social Work, Critical Reflection and the Learning Organisation</i>. Aldershot: Ashgate\nGSCC (2002) <i>Codes of Practice for Social Workers and Employers</i>. London: General Social Council\nGSCC (2005). <i>Specialist Standards and Requirements for Post Qualifying Social Work Education and Training. Leadership and management</i>. London: General Social Council\nGSCC (2006) <i>Specialist Standards and Requirements for Post Qualifying Social Work Education and Training. Practice education</i>. London: General Social Council\nHafford-Letchfield, T. (2006) <i>Management and Organisations in Social Work</i>. Exeter: Learning Matters\nHafford-Letchfield, T., Leonard, K., Begum, N., and Chick, N.F. (2008) <i>Leadership and Management in Social Care</i>. London: Sage\nHawkins, P. and Shohet, R. (2000) <i>Supervision in the Helping Professions</i>. Buckingham: Open University\nHersey, P. and Blanchard, K.H. (1993) <i>Management of Organisational Behaviour : Utilising human resources. (</i>6th ed.) London: Prentice Hall\nHinshelwood, R.D. and Manning, N. (1979) <i>Therapeutic Communities: Reflections and progress</i>. Abingdon: Routledge\nHoque, K., Taylor, S., and Bell, E. (2005) Investors in people: market led voluntarism in vocational education and training. <i>British Journal of Industrial Relations</i>, 43, 1, 135-153\nJordan, B. and Jordan, C. (2006) <i>Social Work and the Third Way: Tough love as social policy</i>. (3rd ed.) London: Sage\nKlein, G. (1981) Implementing quality circles; A hard look at some of the realities. <i>Personnel Review</i>, November/December\nLawler, J. & Bilson, A., (2010) <i>Social Work Management and Leadership; Managing complexity with creativity</i>. London: Routledge\nLord Laming (2009) <i>The Protection of Children in England: A progress report</i>. London: TSO http://publications.everychildmatters.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/HC-330.pdf [Accessed 1st October 2009]\nMartinez-Costa, M. and Jiminez-Jiminez, D. (2009) The effectiveness of TQM: the key role of organisational learning in small businesses, <i>International Small Business Journal</i>, 27, 1, 98-125\nMartin, G.P., Phelps, K. and Katbamna, S. (2004) Human motivation and professional practice: Knights, knaves and social workers, <i>Social Policy and Administration</i>, 38, 5, 470-87\nMayhew, N., (2006) B<i>oard Level Development- Beyond Change Management</i>. <a target="_blank" href='http://www.executive.modern.nhs.uk/inview/inviewarticle.aspx?id=58'>http://www.executive.modern.nhs.uk/inview/inviewarticle.aspx?id=58</a>\nMorgan G. (2006) <i>Images of Organisation</i>. London: Sage\nMullins, l., (2007) <i>Management and Organisational Behaviour. (8</i>th ed.) Harlow: Prentice Hall\nOakland, J.S. (2003<i>) Total quality management- text with cases</i>. Third edition. London: Heinemann\nO’Leary, D. and Lownsbrough H. (2007) <i>The Leadership Imperative</i>. <a target="_blank" href='http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/leadershipimperative'>http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/leadershipimperative</a>\nParker, J. (2007) Developing effective practice learning for tomorrow’s social workers, <i>Social Work Education</i>, 26, 8, 763-79\nPayne, M. (2005) <i>Modern social Work Theory</i>. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan\nPenhale, B. and Parker, J. (2008) <i>Working with Vulnerable Adults</i>. London: Routledge\nPlaskoff, J. (2006) Intersubjectivity and community building: Learning to learn organisationally.in M.A. Easterby-Smith and M.A. Lyles (Eds) <i>Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management</i>. Oxford: Blackwell\nQuinney, A. (2006) <i>Collaborative Social Work Practice</i>. Exeter: Learning Matters\nReynolds, J., Henderson, J., Seden, J. Charlesworth, J and Bullman, A. (Eds.) (2002) <i>The Managing reader</i>. UK: Routledge\nSCIE (2004) <i>Learning Organisations: A self assessment resource pack. London:</i> Social Care Institute for Excellence\nSenge, P.M. (1990<i>). The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organisation</i>. London: Random House\nSfC/CWDC (Skills for England) 2007. <i>Providing Effective Supervision</i>. Leeds: SfC http://www.skillsfor.org.uk/files/Effective%20Supervision%20unit.pdf [Accessed 14th April 2008]\nSinclair, I. (2008) Inspection: A quality-control perspective. in M. Davies (Ed.) <i>The Blackwell Companion to Social Work</i>, (3rd ed.) Oxford: Blackwell. (pp. 449-57)\nThompson, N., (2006) <i>Promoting Workplace Learning</i>. Bristol: BASW / Policy Press\nThompson, W. (1982) Is the organisation ready for quality circles. <i>Training and Development Journal</i>, December\nTsui, M., S. (2005) <i>Social Work Supervision: Contexts and concepts</i>. London: Sage\nTuckman, B.W. (1965) Developmental sequence in small groups, P<i>sychological bulletin</i> 63, 384-99\nWenger, E. (1998) <i>Communities of Practice. Learning, meaning and Identity</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press\nWenger, E. (2004) <i>Knowledge Management as a Doughnut: Shaping your knowledge through communities of practice</i>. Ivey Business Journal, 68, 3, 1-8\nWenger, E. (<i>c</i>2006) <i>Etienne Wenger Home Page</i> <a target="_blank" href='http://www.ewenger.com'>http://www.ewenger.com</a>\nWenger, E. (2006) <i>Communities of Practice: A brief introduction</i>. <a target="_blank" href='http://www.ewenger.com/theory/index.htm'>http://www.ewenger.com/theory/index.htm</a>\n
Downloads
Published
2012-12-20
How to Cite
Gray, I., Parker, J., Rutter, L., & Williams, S. (2012). Developing communities of practice. Social Work and Social Sciences Review, 14(2), 20-36. https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v14i2.491
Issue
Section
Articles
License
Copyright lies with the journal. Enquiries regarding reproduction should be sent in the first place to enquiries@whitingbirch.net
