Evaluating the impact of the IPOP (Improving Personal and Organisational Performance) programme
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v17i1.543Keywords:
<i>continuing professional development</i>, <i>post-qualifying social work</i>, <i>leadership and management</i>, <i>evaluation</i>, <i>impact</i>, <i>self-leadership</i>Abstract
A host of recent UK social work publications have highlighted the critical importance of leadership and management development for social work managers. The lack of specialist leadership and management development is evidenced by the General Social Care Council’s figures on the uptake of post-qualifying leadership and management programmes. There is a limited amount of published research on the impact of this type of professional learning as most studies focus on programme delivery rather than on their impact on practice. Hence, this paper will report on an evaluation of the practice-related impact of an introductory leadership and management programme, using data from pre- and post-programme questionnaires (n=75), follow up telephone interviews at 3-months (n=24) and an initial analysis of submitted assignments (n=32). Those data are drawn from consenting social work managers across 5 widespread local authorities in England. The programme, Improving Personal and Organisational Performance, is taught over 4-days in two, 2-day blocks and focuses on three areas of development: self-leadership, communication and resilience as a leader. A third-party testimony process, alongside assignment submission, ensures the involvement of, and validation from, the employer. The findings of the evaluation indicate positive, statistically significant evidence of initial programme impact on managers and longitudinal examples of actual programme impact on managers, their teams, organisations and services. The implications of these findings will be considered in relation to the new Professional Capabilities Framework.
References
Armstrong, S. and Fukami, C. (2009) Past, present and future perspectives of management learning, education and development. in S. Armstrong and C. Fukami (Eds.) <i>The Sage Handbook of Management Learning, Education and Development</i>. London: Sage, (pp.1-22)\nAshworth, R., Boyne, G. and Entwistle, T. (2010) Reflections on theories of public service improvement. in R. Ashworth, G. Boyne, and T. Entwistle <i>Public Service Improvement. Theories and evidence</i>. Oxford: OUP (pp.205-217)\nBailey, D. (2002) ‘Training together – part two: An exploration of the evaluation of a shared learning programme on dual diagnosis for specialist dug workers and Approved Social Workers. <i>Social Work Education</i>, 21, 6, 685-699\nBailey, D., Carpenter, J., Dickinson, C., and Rogers, H. (2003) <i>Post Qualifying Mental Health Training</i>. London: National Institute of Mental Health\nBrown, K. and Keen, S. (2004) Post-qualifying awards in social work (Part 1): necessary evil or panacea. <i>Social Work Education</i> 23, 1, 77-92\nBrown, K., McCloskey, C., Galpin, D., Keen, S., and Immins, T. (2008) Evaluating the impact of post-qualifying social work education. <i>Social Work Education</i>, 27, 8, 853-867\nChapman, J. and Morris, M. (2011) Post-qualifying students’ experiences of implementing skills acquired from a ‘hearing voices’ module into routine clinical practice. <i>Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice</i>, 6, 2, 85-92\nCarpenter, J. (2011) Evaluating social work education: A review of outcomes, measures, research designs and practicalities. <i>Social Work Education</i>, 30, 2, 122-140\nDCSF (Department for Children, Schools and Families) (2009) <i>Building a Safe, Confident Future: The final report of the Social Work Task Force</i>. London: DCSF\nDoel, M., Nelson, P., and Flynn, E. (2008) Experiences of post-qualifying study in social work. <i>Social Work Education</i>, 27, 5, 549-571\nGSCC (General Social Care Council) (2004) <i>Revised Post-Qualifying Framework for Social Work Education and Training</i>. London: GSCC\nGSCC (2007) <i>Leadership and Management Specialist Standards</i>. London: GSCC\nGSCC (2011) <i>A Report on Social Work Education in England: Data pack</i>. Rugby: GSCC\nHafford-Letchfield, T. and Lawler, J. (2010) Guest editorial: Reshaping leadership and management: The emperor’s new clothes? <i>Social Work and Social Sciences Review</i>, 14, 1, 5-8\nHafford-Letchfield, T. and Bourn, D. (2011) ‘How am I doing?’: Advancing management skills through the use of a multi-source feedback tool to enhance work-based learning on a post-qualifying post-graduate leadership and management programme. <i>Social Work Education</i>, 30, 5, 497-511\nHolroyd, J. (2012) <i>Improving Personal and Organisational Performance in Social Work</i>. London: Sage\nHolroyd, J. and Brown, K. (2011) <i>Leadership and Management Development for Social Work and Social Care: Creating leadership pathways of progression</i>. Birmingham: Learn to Care\nJones, R. (2010) Managing at a distance in social work and social care. <i>Social Work and Social Sciences Review</i>, 14, 1, 59-75\nJones, J., and Attfield, R. (2007) <i>Flying High: Some leadership lessons from the Fast Track Teaching Programme</i>. Reading: CfBT Education Trust\nKelly L. and Jackson, S. (2011) Fit for purpose? Post-qualifying social work education in child protection in Scotland. <i>Social Work Education</i>, 30, 5, 480-496\nLaming, H. (2009) <i>The Protection of Children in England: Action plan</i>. London: TSO\nLeadership Academy (2011) <i>Leadership Framework</i>. London: Department of Health\nLeinster, J. (2010) Social work management in Ireland: time for education and training. <i>Social Work and Social Sciences Review</i>, 14, 2, 73-94\nManz, C. and Neck, C. (2009). <i>Mastering Self-Leadership: Empowering yourself for personal excellence</i>. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall\nMcAllan, W. and MacRae, R (2010) Learning to lead: evaluation of a leadership development programme in a local authority social work service. <i>Social Work and Social Sciences Review</i>, 14, 2, 55-72\nMunro E (2011) <i>The Munro Review of Child Protection. Final report. A child centred system</i>. London: TSO\nNeill, M. (2009). <i>Supercoach – 10 secrets to transform anyone’s life</i>. London: Hay House\nOfsted (The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) (2012) <i>Framework for the inspection of local authority arrangements for the protection of children</i>. Available from <a target="_blank" href='http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/framework-for-inspection-of-local-authority-arrangements-for-protection-of-children'>www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/framework-for-inspection-of-local-authority-arrangements-for-protection-of-children</a>\nPlatt, D. (2011) Assessments of children and families: Learning and teaching the skills of analysis. <i>Social Work</i>, 30, 2, 157-169\nPolitis, J. (2005). Dispersed leadership predictor of the work environment for creativity and productivity. <i>European Journal of Innovation Management</i>, 8, 2, 182-204\nRitchie, J. and Lewis J (2003) <i>Qualitative Research Practice</i>. London: Sage\nSkills for Care (2008) <i>Mapping of Leadership and Management Standards for Health and Social Care: Leadership and management product 3</i>. (2nd ed.) Leeds: Skills for Care\nTaylor, B.J., Mullineux, J.C., and Fleming, G. (2010) Partnership, service needs and assessing competence in post-qualifying education and training. <i>Social Work Education</i>, 29, 5, 475-489\nTCSW (The College of Social Work) (2012) <i>Professional Capabilities Framework for Social Workers</i>. Available from <a target="_blank" href='http://www.collegeofsocialwork.org/pcf.aspx'>www.collegeofsocialwork.org/pcf.aspx</a>\nTIC (The Information Centre) (2012) <i>Personal Social Services: Staff of Social Services Departments, England, as at September 2011</i>. London: The Health and Social Care Information Centre\nWalker, L. (2004) <i>Changing with NLP: A casebook of neuro-linguistic programming in medical practice</i>. Oxford: Radcliffe Medical Press\nWatson, J. (2008) ‘The times they are a changing’: Post-qualifying training needs of social work managers. <i>Social Work Education</i>, 27, 3, 318-333\nWebber, M., Currin, L., Groves, N., Hay, D., and Fernando, N. (2010) Social workers can e-learn: evaluation of a pilot post-qualifying e-learning course in research methods and critical appraisal skills for social workers. <i>Social Work Education</i>, 29, 1, 48-66\nWebber, M. and Salter, L.C. (2011) Gearing practitioners up for research: evaluation of a pilot online research training course for social workers. <i>Research, Policy and Planning</i>, 28, 3, 185-197\nYelloly, M. (1995) Professional competence and higher education. in M. Yelloly and M. Henkel (Eds.) <i>Learning and Teaching in Social Work. Towards Reflective Practice</i>. London: Jessica Kingsley.\n
Published
2013-04-11
How to Cite
Keen, S., Brown, K., Holroyd, J., & Rosenorn-Lanng, E. (2013). Evaluating the impact of the IPOP (Improving Personal and Organisational Performance) programme. Social Work and Social Sciences Review, 17(1), 64-82. https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v17i1.543
Issue
Section
Articles
License
Copyright lies with the journal. Enquiries regarding reproduction should be sent in the first place to enquiries@whitingbirch.net
