Abstract: Due to the changed political situation at the beginning of the nineties a
Quality – Boom started in Germany at all levels of the economy. Scientific research
couldn’t answer the question whether – if so, how - the use of Quality Management
changed the management of social services organizations. The present paper focuses
on the following question: How does the use of quality management can improve the
activity of social service organizations? To reduce the complexity of this issue, it
seems obvious to select a particular perspective: the experience of executives, the
ones who play a central role in quality management matters. Overall, it seems this
obvious, not to focus this paper on monetary effects. The practical relevance of
article should therefore be formulated as a provisional working hypothesis: from the
combination of the different perspectives should be proved that quality
management - regardless of which system or what “quality philosophy" it operates –
must be seen as positive effects on this very important sector of social service
organizations.
Resumo: Devido a situação politica alterada no inicio da década de 90, o Boom da Qualidade começou na Alemanha em todos os níveis da economia. A pesquisa cientifica não poderia responder à questão


Keywords: quality management, social services, social management, non-profit
organization
JEL classification: I12, J17, M10



Introduction
In the social matters we can determine three major trends that create the authoritative
framework for the use of different approaches of quality management.
First, the existing resources are becoming increasingly scarce; resources are reduced or
are constantly threatened by cuts. Even the so-called Non- profit organizations (NGO)
must justify their allocation of resources against various stakeholders (donors, legal
requirements, and client). This could only be achieved through a prudent use of resources
and by the systematic description of revenues and expenses.
Secondly, the time of the supposed monopolies seems to be ended. A market-like
situation has developed in the social area. The needs and the related tasks have become
more and more differentiated. The resulting competition between the different providers
in recent years becomes more and more a reality; there is hardly a "protected" area.
Third, due to rapid changes the organizational forms (mainly towards process
management) are facing increasing pressure to change. The internal structural changes also alter the management functions at all levels. Above all, the management tasks that
are close to the client are increasingly complete: In addition to the professional
responsibility are also increasingly the individual responsibility, responsibility for costs and
the organizational responsibilities.
As Donabedian underlines in 1988, social care services provide help with intimate tasks
such as washing and dressing, which require the ‘consumer’ of care to act as a coproducer
of their own care and to interact closely with the service provider.
Understanding this collaborative aspect of social care and the central role of the career
service user relationship in defining the unit of production and consumption of care is
therefore fundamental to assessing effectively service quality. By focusing on this
relationship as the object of quality measurement, we ensure that assessments of quality
are not divorced from the practice of caring, which has been a critique of some early
quality assessment systems for social care. This focus also excludes from quality
assessment aspects such as equity, efficiency and accessibility which are perhaps better
considered as indicators of 'aggregate' performance of the support system in general,
rather than defining the quality of the care worker-service user relationship. These
service-related aspects can be used therefore to evaluate the service rather than assess
the quality of social care.

Quality Concept in Social Management
Discussions about "quality” in the social sector presents different conceptual challenges.
“Quality” it is sometimes to quite different things. German Researchers presents multiperspective
understanding of quality. The quality does not exist, and thence some authors
reject any definition monopole on what quality is. The multiple perspectives result from
the different views of the stakeholders as recipients, carriers, financier in their own
activity. For this purpose, the German researcher Beywl choose some dimensions of
quality that can be discussed in social services matters (presented below in Figure 1). He
describes with adjectives these different dimensions of quality: most beneficial, cheap,
exceptionally, best fit.
The experience of the researcher shows that especially the "Extraordinary” adjective must
be underlined in quality management discussion in social sector. The farther but then
discussed "in depth", the more also get the different perspectives of quality, coupled with
the views of the top developments outlined in the environment. The confrontation and
the struggle for a common understanding of quality stand at the beginning of the
implementation of quality management system.
Furthermore we distinguish between the concepts of quality of care and of quality of life.
First, the concept of „quality of care “include service accessibility, accountability, attitudes
and behaviour of staff, continuity of care workers, fluid communication of changes in care,
flexibility of the service to meet changing needs, privacy and dignity, reliability and
responsiveness of care workers, and skills, knowledge and trustworthiness of staff.
Secondly, „quality of life “concept is associated with services include the extent to which
they help improve users' health and physical functioning, they meet basic physical needs
with activities of daily living, they guarantee personal safety and security, ensure a clean
and tidy environment, help users stay alert and active, provide access to social contact, ensure users are in control of their life, maximize autonomy, skills, morale and self
confidence, and assist users coming to terms with impairment. One of the most important
researchers in social management, Donabenian stress that in addition to these items,
service managers and policy makers frequently include additional aspects such as
efficiency and equity as essential components of a high quality service.

Social Care Organizations

All organizations that are not settled the public sector but rather as private entities, have a
minimum level of formal organizational structure and they don’t distribute profits, can be
consider as non- profit organizations
churches, clubs, and parties. One of the main areas of responsibility in this case
the social work with its diverse services to disabled, old and in need of care
marginalized groups. These services are included within the framework of service
organizations. The organization t
three types of organization apart:

The product organization: their characteristic represents the output of material goods. You
can predetermine and describe the quality of their products wi
The customers are separated by the trade from the
The service organization: it is cha
a process in which, a product will be delivered only when the customer
it. The "production" of services
- principle). In contrast to the product organization
Therefore, service providers are trying to influence their customers so that they'll take
most beneficial
„In the widest sense quality is
something that can be improved. It
refers not only to products but also
on how people work, how
machines are operated and how to
deal with systems and policies. This
quality concept includes all aspects
of human behavior" (Imai, 1992)
"Quality is the best for certain
customer conditions. These
conditions are (a) the
respective benefits and (b) the
selling price a product.
"(Feigenbaum 1992)
220
ensure users are in control of their life, maximize autonomy, skills, morale and self
idence, and assist users coming to terms with impairment. One of the most important
researchers in social management, Donabenian stress that in addition to these items,
service managers and policy makers frequently include additional aspects such as
ency and equity as essential components of a high quality service.
Figure 1.The Quality dimensions (adapted from W. Beywl)
rganizations
All organizations that are not settled the public sector but rather as private entities, have a
level of formal organizational structure and they don’t distribute profits, can be
profit organizations. These include associations, federations, chambers,
. One of the main areas of responsibility in this case
the social work with its diverse services to disabled, old and in need of care
marginalized groups. These services are included within the framework of service
organizations. The organization theorist and consultant F.Glasl differenti
three types of organization apart:
heir characteristic represents the output of material goods. You
can predetermine and describe the quality of their products with the highest probability.
d by the trade from the organization.
: it is characteristic that the output of the organization consists in
a product will be delivered only when the customer
"production" of services and their "consumption" are considered together (unoactu
principle). In contrast to the product organization we don’t meet the delivery
Therefore, service providers are trying to influence their customers so that they'll take
Qualität
ist:
cheap
"Quality is the best for certain
customer conditions. These
conditions are (a) the
respective benefits and (b) the
selling price a product.
"(Feigenbaum 1992)
exceptionally
"Quality does not need to be
defined. It is understood without
any definition. Quality is an
immediate experience, regardless
of intellectual definitions and those
previously ... quality is the primary
empirical reality of the world.
"(Pirsig, 1992)
"Quality means "fitness for
use, from a customer
perspective, the quality is
higher, (a) the better, the
product features to meet
customer needs are and (b)
the fewer flaws it has."
ensure users are in control of their life, maximize autonomy, skills, morale and self
idence, and assist users coming to terms with impairment. One of the most important
researchers in social management, Donabenian stress that in addition to these items,
service managers and policy makers frequently include additional aspects such as
All organizations that are not settled the public sector but rather as private entities, have a
level of formal organizational structure and they don’t distribute profits, can be
. These include associations, federations, chambers,
. One of the main areas of responsibility in this case represents
the social work with its diverse services to disabled, old and in need of care people and
marginalized groups. These services are included within the framework of service
Glasl differentiates between
heir characteristic represents the output of material goods. You
th the highest probability.
of the organization consists in
a product will be delivered only when the customer is able to receive
are considered together (unoactu
we don’t meet the delivery from stock advantage of the service, when spare capacity is available. For clarity, further examples:
airlines, cinemas, car rentals etc.
The professional organization: the output has a uniqueness character; it can be delivered
only once and fits only to one client. So a psychotherapist will be acting on the individual
conditions of his patient. A "product off the shelf" is here not grateful, if a cure or
alleviation of suffering is to be achieved. The same applies to hospitals, architects and
similar organizations. The professional service provider must bring a lot of knowledge and
skills in a creative way in the performance process, to act in a particular situation. The
practice of professional service providers is characterized by large autonomy, selfresponsibility
and high professional ethics. A few more examples are: Dentists, probation,
life and social counseling etc.
In the latter type of organization we can include the social service organizations, whose
actual value creation process is taking place inside the customer. Many signs of recovery,
well-being take place in the area of care of the elderly and seriously ill people or people
with disabilities. In addition, many services are visible only much later that the order. Thus,
the specific issue of assessment of quality seems to unlock the entire social sector.
Conclusion
From the very beginning, the discussion about quality management of social services has
been determined from contradictory aspirations. A strange mixture capable of
incompatible pairs of concepts indicates the reasons for the introduction of quality
management in the field of social services. There are set forth for an austerity situation,
on the other hand it is argued with the need of consumer protection for clients; curbing
inflation is claim as necessary as the sovereignty of the users; the one expect to work
easier through greater efficiency, the other feared unnecessary overtime by a growing
bureaucracy; the standardization of workflows interpret as a relapse into Taylorization
world of labour, while the others believe to recognize an increasing humanization of
working life with respect to employee satisfaction. Finally, "Total Quality Management"
means the ability to continuously self-improvement. What hidden theory is control as a
guideline, the work at the end will depend on those who develop the quality management
on their part. The great opportunity for social work could be to develop the
methodological action through the medium of "Quality Management" section at the end.
The current developments in quality measurement come at a time of profound change in
the delivery of social care services, with the introduction of new form so fconsumerdirected
support and the transformation of adult social care around the personalisation
agenda. Despite a relatively low take-up currently, consumer-directed care continues to
receive support from policy-maker sand is expected to become the main mechanism for
commission in services in the coming years. It is likely that over the next few years, tighter
public spending budgets will encourage the development of quality measures as
governments are challenged to prove to tax-payers that they can do more with fewer
resources.