Practices of activation in frontline interactions: Coercion, persuasion, and the role of trust in activation policies in Germany

Senghaas, Monika; Freier, Carolin; Kupka, Peter

doi:10.1111/spol.12443

Cited by 42 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…In line with earlier studies, we found that the observed activation strategies involved a mix of supportive and coercive elements (Sainsbury, 2008;Senghaas et al, 2018). The observed motivational strategies ranged from supportive (showing empathy and sharing experiences, to reminding clients of their legal duties) to specific cases that are more coercive (sanctioning).…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Welfare states try to encourage unemployed citizens to become economically self-sufficient through labour market activation policies (Considine, Nguyen, & O'Sullivan, 2018;Rice, 2013;Van Berkel & Borghi, 2007). Activation policies emphasize individual obligations in return for welfare benefits (Senghaas, Freier, & Kupka, 2018). Caseworkersin Dutch known as "klantmanagers"-play an important role in these policies, as they are responsible for making decisions about clients' activation trajectories.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Motivating the unemployed: A full‐range model of motivational strategies that caseworkers use to activate clients

2019

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Governments use activation policies to stimulate unemployed citizens in finding work. Caseworkers are, as frontline workers, responsible for concrete activation trajectories based on these activation policies. Little is known about how caseworkers try to get clients to participate in these activation trajectories. In a qualitative, inductive study (consisting of observations and reflective interviews) in two welfare agencies, we identified 10 motivational strategies that caseworkers employed. The full-range leadership model appeared to be an appropriate perspective to understand, systematize, and reflect on these strategies, in particular as our analyses show that these motivational strategies can be placed on a continuum ranging from laissez-faire to transactional and transformational strategies. We found that caseworkers matched their motivational strategy to the situation and client but preferred transformational strategies. Our findings implicate chances but also challenges for activation in practice and literature on front-line workers.

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Section: Conclusion and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motivating the unemployed: A full‐range model of motivational strategies that caseworkers use to activate clients

2019

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“…However, despite the emphasis that those studies have placed on the interactive aspects of bureaucrats' performance, there are very few studies analysing how SLBs' personal networks influence policy implementation (Hupe & van Kooten, ). This is quite strange because policy implementation is an interactive process (Grindle, ; Hill, ; Lazin, ; Senghaas et al, ; Siciliano, ), with SLBs potentially playing the role of gatekeepers (Brodkin, ; Dubois, ) by connecting policy beneficiaries with socially constructed policies (Schneider & Ingram, ).…”

Section: Social Network and Relationships: Approaching Interactive Imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The debates have underscored how various aspects associated with service users and organizational conditions or with bureaucrats' personal, social, and professional profiles affect their performance (Brodkin, ; Ellis, ; Ellis, Davis, & Rummery, ; Evans, ; Harrits & Møller, ; Hill, Hupe, & Buffat, ; Maynard‐Moody & Musheno, ; Møller, ; Møller & Stone, ; Tummers, ). The literature has also proven that policy implementation is an interactive process based on daily relationships between bureaucrats and their clients, peers, and superiors (Grindle, ; Hill, ; Lazin, ; Loyens, ; Marques, ; Matland, ; Senghaas, Freier, & Kupka, ; Siciliano, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How social networks affect policy implementation: An analysis of street‐level bureaucrats' performance regarding a health policy

Lotta

Marques

2019

Soc Policy Adm

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Policy implementation is an interactive process between citizens and street-level bureaucrats. Although the literature has already addressed different factors that influence discretion, there is still a gap in understanding if and how bureaucrats' relational profiles affect policy implementation.This article analyses bureaucrats' interactions and the relational environments in which they exercise their discretion.The hypothesis is that bureaucrats' different relational profiles specify policy implementation at the street level. We study bureaucrats in a Brazilian health care programme involving community workers that requires regular visits to beneficiary families' homes. The research departs from ethnography and network analyses with workers from three very different contexts. We analyse bureaucrats' practices, the discursive styles mobilized in their interactions, and their personal networks. The results show that organizational factors are central to explain variations in practices, and their relational profiles highly influence the discursive styles used by bureaucrats in their interactions with citizens. The article concludes that relational elements can affect the exercise of discretion and influence interactions at the street level and should be incorporated more systematically in the implementation literature.

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“…Hollertz, Jacobsson, and Seing's (2018) study concluded that performance targets divert street-level workers' attention away from clients' individual needs. At the same time, a German study pointed out that performance targets may motivate street-level workers to invest in relations with clients, in as far as they consider realizing these targets as a process of coproduction of workers and clients (Senghaas, Freier, & Kupka, 2018). Finally, tensions between street-level service personalization and standardization have also been discussed in the context of service provision models.…”

Section: Individual Action Plans and Personalizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making welfare conditional: A street‐level perspective

Berkel

2019

Soc Policy Adm

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This article looks at how welfare conditionality is delivered at the street level. It argues that the street‐level delivery of welfare conditionality is structured by policies, the governance context in which workers deliver welfare conditionality, the organization in which they work, and the occupation they are part of. Characteristics of these contexts present street‐level workers with a variety of signals and incentives that direct their decision making. The article elaborates on this proposition on the basis of a review of academic studies analysing the street‐level delivery of various aspects of welfare conditionality: the use of sanctions, service personalization, and the treatment of vulnerable clients. The review shows that context characteristics together have a significant impact on the street‐level transformation of welfare conditionality policies into practices. Street‐level decision making concerning the use of sanctions is far more complex than can be captured by a perspective on street‐level workers as merely policy implementers. Sanctioning practices are sometimes harsher, sometimes more lenient than policies lead us to expect. The “soft” side of welfare conditionality—represented by service personalization—is often under pressure at the street level, potentially strengthening welfare conditionality's tough side. This affects vulnerable jobseekers most: Street‐level studies show that the balance between disciplining and enabling aspects of welfare‐to‐work is most at risk for more vulnerable groups. The article concludes that the contextual pressures street‐level workers have to deal with in their daily work hardly reflect the “delicate equilibrium” that they need to deliver welfare conditionality in a professional, responsive, and responsible way.

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Practices of activation in frontline interactions: Coercion, persuasion, and the role of trust in activation policies in Germany

Cited by 42 publications

References 48 publications

Motivating the unemployed: A full‐range model of motivational strategies that caseworkers use to activate clients

Motivating the unemployed: A full‐range model of motivational strategies that caseworkers use to activate clients

How social networks affect policy implementation: An analysis of street‐level bureaucrats' performance regarding a health policy

Making welfare conditional: A street‐level perspective

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