Creating a competence profile of a new profession: social service agents in welfare centers
| Pages | 362-380 |
| Date | 12 February 2018 |
| Published date | 12 February 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-01-2017-0009 |
| Author | Riitta Forsten-Astikainen,Pia Heilmann |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
Creating a competence profile of a
new profession: social service
agents in welfare centers
Riitta Forsten-Astikainen
Kerttu Saalasti Institute, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland, and
Pia Heilmann
School of Business and Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology,
Lappeenranta, Finland
Abstract
Purpose –This study examines in detail how a new occupational group in a field creates and defines its
professionalcompetences. Thebackground of the study refers to a new way of organizingsocial and health care
services thatrequires new type of expertise. The authorsexamine the professionals of thisnew sector –service
agents and the competences –they need in a multi-professional networking organization. The goal of this
organizationalpilot project is togather both experience and practicalknowledge of how the“gatekeeper”model
can work between the customer and the service provider. The purpose of this paper is to learn the service
agents’perspective on their own work,namely, how they create their work, whattheir visions of the future are,
and what can be learnedfrom the new organizing model.
Design/methodology/approach –Qualitative data collection and small-scale exploratory study of a new
profession: eight service agents and their two supervisors were interviewed to raise awareness of what
professional competences these new job contents require, how service agents can influence the content of their
work, and what competence needs will emerge in the future.
Findings –The key findings indicate that service agents lack the courage to modify their own mission.
When a new profession is created, they are uncertain about how to create self-content on their own terms.
They assume they need a certain degree and to know something more than they already know. They do not
dare define their own new professional territory, but rather wait for that definition to come from their
organization or society. However, the results also show that some service agents have a hidden willingness to
be creative even when there is a lack of courage. There is a need to take more initiative and for agents to think
freely outside the box in this new situation.
Research limitations/implications –The number of interviewees is small and the context specific.
However, the study gives an indication of the factors that need to be taken into account when the
dissemination of the model starts.
Originality/value –The paper describes the resu lts of the pilot project of a new pro fession and a
customer-oriented mo del in the social and health care sector.
Keywords Competence, Learning, Holistic competence view, Innovation, Social and health care service
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Public sector health care organizations have an important role to play in organizing health
services in Finland, as over 80 percent of public sector personnel work in social and health
care. The number of social and health care professionals was 386,364 at the end of 2013;
73 percent of them were employed in the public sector, 17 percent worked in companies,
and 10 percent worked in associations (National Institute of Health and Welfare, 2015).
One of the key targets for the program launched by Finland’s current Government is
customer orientation in health and social services. In practice, this goal means that the
various service providers must work together comprehensively when evaluating each
customer’s needs and possible care and service chains (The Council of State, 2015).
Workplace innovations, a more efficient supply of services, and the development of the
working world require that social and health services dare to reform boldly and without
prejudice; such reform should concern products, processes, new business concepts, new
Employee Relations
Vol. 40 No. 2, 2018
pp. 362-380
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-01-2017-0009
Received 11 January 2017
Revised 26 October 2017
Accepted 13 November 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
362
ER
40,2
competences and skills, and practices and management (Hämäläinen, 2005; Taipale and
Hämäläinen, 2007).
This study focuses on a public social and health service actor, the South Karelia Social
and Health Care District (EKSOTE). Traditionally, in Finland, health care centers are places
where inhabitants of municipalities meet the doctor and nurses and receive health care
services. Social services are available in social service units. EKSOTE has recently
concentrated its health and social service practice in just a few welfare centers. The main
idea for this new service model is that each customer interacts service with only with one
server agent at a time in the “front office.”All social services are offered and organized
contemporaneously. Health promotion services and third-sector services are also available
in these centers. The role of the third sector in this network is to develop so-called
“low-threshold services,”such as training, information dissemination, and pamphlets to
raise public awareness of the issues related to general health and social security.
For most municipal inhabitants, this new service model means a diversification of advice
and guidance. The old model used to be a producer-based concept based on the services of
nurses and doctors. Consequently, the services previously focused on illnesses and
diagnoses. Now, the customer’s well-being is most important and the starting point.
Social work and health care work used to be separated into several wards. In the new model,
personnel work in multidisciplinary teams, where the expertise of remote doctors,
specialized nurses, social workers, and e-services are utilized jointly. Service agents provide
assessment services and guidance. The more diversified the offered service is, the easier the
problem will be for these agents to solve.
The job of social care professionals –service agents –is based on a so called one-stop shop.
They are the experts and organizers who first meet the customer in the “front office.”Their
primarytask is to identify the customer’s currentsituation and organize othersuitable services
as needed. Additionally, service agents navigate the pathways to those experts who will be
responsible for the customer’s situation in the future. Both welfare center units and the service
agent profession are new and unique models for delivering social services to citizens. The work
of a service agent requires network knowledge. The new service model and job content of
service agents require know-how that cannot necessarily be defined or determined in advance.
Therefore, service agents should be curious, creative, unprejudiced in their work, and also dare
to think “outside the box.”The content of their work is not completely formulated; it takes its
definite form on the basis of the experience agents acquire during everyday situations.
The aim of this study is therefore to identify the service agents’personal views about
their work and their role in shaping the new designated professional content. The point of
view expressed is a reflection of their current expertise and competences and also their
possible competence needs for what the job and position require at the moment. In addition,
an assessment of future competence needs is examined.
Research problem
This study seeks to define the overall competence portfolio of a new, recently established
professional group. To do so, we examine competence profiles of social care professionals –
service agents –in Finnish health care centers. The main research question is:
RQ1. How do service agents create their new profession?
The main research problem is divided into three sub-questions:
RQ2. What kind of professional competences do these new job contents require?
RQ3. How can service agents influence the content of their work?
RQ4. What kinds of future competence needs are emerging?
363
Social service
agents in
welfare centers
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