Social services in post-industrial Europe: an incomplete success story and its tragic moments

The Fate of Social Modernity

“…Furthermore, the special case of Eastern Europe does not receive particular attention either. This may appear unfortunate, given the recent tendency of some ex-communist nation-states to become 'decoupled' from the Western tradition of democratic capitalism -even though other dynamics in this part of Europe still resemble those prominent in Western countries (see Kuitto 2016;Bode 2017a). More generally, it goes without saying that commonalities Introduction: the case for studying the fate of organised welfare provision in Europe in the development of organised welfare provision within the Western world do not inform us about the fate of social modernity at a global scale.…”

The Expression of Managerial Leadership in Social Service Organizations

“…The ever-changing social environment poses new challenges for the social services sector, society, community, so the manager must not only perform his / her direct management and leadership functions but also become an organizer and innovator of management practice (Lynch-Cerullo & Cooney, 2011;Carnochan et al, 2019;Hwang, 2019). Thus, managerial leadership was determined by the new public management factors in the social services sector: service commercialisation and increased competition in the service sector, total standards of quality management, local administrative control and transparency, legislative reforms accepted by the government, evidence-based organizational social work activities and technical developments (Carnochan et al, 2014;Bode, 2017;Wathne, 2020;Hansen et al, 2020)…”

“…Researchers from different countries study the activities of organizations and the peculiarities of social services provided in EU countries (Esping-Andersen, 1990;Lethbridge, 2005;Penna & O'Brien, 2006;Harpur, 2012;Bode et al, 2013;Greve & Sirovátka, 2014;Bode, 2017;Koprić et al, 2017;Wollmann & Marcou, 2017;Marimon et al, 2019;Abrahamson, Greve, & Boje, 2019). It should be noted that researchers regularly examine the problems of the framework of social services and organizations providing these services, they attempt to base their activities on certain principles, show how it is possible to evaluate the quality of activities and their efficiency in mixed market conditions (Vanagas & Čižikienė, 2015;Mažeikienė, Naujanienė, & Ruškus, 2014;Andrews & Jilke, 2016;Bode, 2017;Evers et al, 2019;Čižikienė, 2020). In social service organizations, however, there is a lack of studies on leadership issues.…”

Paradoxical Internationalization: Regulatory Reforms in the Mexican Health‐Care System through the Lens of European Experience

“…These arrangements affect the process of organizing public service provision rather than its content, notably by the separation of purchasing and providing functions; the use of regulatory agencies; and schemes for (often competitive) performance evaluation, meant to influence the behavior of decentralized administrative agencies and free‐standing service providers. Compared to classical models of public administration, the coordination of parties involved in the respective division of labor tends to be reshaped permanently and at various instances— despite attempts to make it more collaborative (for the case of social service provision, see Bode ). Processes are more loosely coupled when it comes to developing, resourcing, and monitoring service delivery.…”

“…The data on Germany is inferred from a recently completed research project on the changing governance of the country’s hospital sector (Bode ), and from previous studies on developments in healthcare administration (Bode ). The two projects embraced (altogether) 25 interviews involving 15 representatives of organizations involved in the regulation of the health‐care system (sickness funds, professional associations, hospital federations, and regional ministries).…”