| CODE | SWP5214 | ||||||||||||||||
| TITLE | Quality Management and Evaluation of Social Services | ||||||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Social Policy and Social Work | ||||||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit provides students with advanced knowledge and skills in the areas of planning, managing and evaluating social services. This unit seeks to nurture a culture of quality management in order to ascertain commendable service to both internal and external clients. The content encapsulates different theories embracing quality management in the services sector, as well as empirical studies and best practice approaches in the field of continuous improvement. Thus, both deductive and inductive strategies are utilized to bridge the gap between theory and empiricism. Study-Unit Aims: The study-unit aims to equip students with advanced knowledge and skills to be effective quality auditors in their organisations. To this end, it gives a generous theoretical platform on which to build and maintain an organisational culture characterised by continuous improvement and evaluation, which would include performance indicators and other measures that can be used to monitor and enhance quality standards. Students will have the opportunity to understand and reflect how quality management is directly related to the values of good governance, in particular efficiency and effectiveness. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - demonstrate the importance of client and stakeholder needs to lead high-quality human services organizations; - apply quality theoretical frameworks to specific service delivery environments; - develop quality standards and performance indicators in order to realize the objectives of continuous quality improvement; - design and manage evaluation exercises in order to identify strengths are areas for improvement within existing programmes; - engage in user participation and stakeholders' consultation to ascertain quality standards; - enhance organisational and individual efficiency and effectiveness as part of a corporate vision that encapsulates good governance. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - apply quality measures and continuous monitoring across projects; - develop a culture towards quality management in social care services; - adopt and adapt quality performance indicators across different care services; - make self-evaluation and organisational evaluation. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Nigam S 2015 Total Quality Management: An Integrated Approach. US. - Hughes, Owen E. (2012). Public Management and Administration: An Introduction (4th ed.) UK, Palgrave Macmillan. - Woodside, M. and Mcclam, T. (2006). An introduction to human services. US, Thomson Brooks/Cole. - Burke, Rory (2013). Project Management: Planning and Control Techniques (5th ed.). UK, Wiley & Sons. - Beresford, Peter and Sarah Carr (2012). Social care, service users and user involvement. UK, Jessica Kingsley. Supplementary Readings: - Hasenfelt, Yeheskel (2010). Human services as complex organisations (2nd ed). UK, Sage. - Patti, Rino (2008). The Handbook of Human Services Management. UK, Sage. - Austin Michael, Ralph Brody and Thomas Packard (2008). Managing the Challenges in Human Service Organizations. UK, Sage. - Beresford, Peter (2016). All our welfare. UK, Policy Press. - Pettinger, R. (2007). Introduction to management. US, Palgrave Macmillan. - Sims, D., Fineman, St., and Gabriel, Y. (1993). Organising and organisations. UK, Sage. - Harley-McClaskey, Deborah (2016). Developing human service leaders. UK, Sage. - Martin, Lawrence L. (2001). Financial management for human services administrators. UK, Pearson. - Huang, Y. & Wong, H. (2018). Creation of a social work practice plan: an attempt to learn from business and logic modelling. China Journal of Social Work, 11(1), 4-17. - Kazi, M.A.F. (2003). Realist evaluation in practice: Health and social work. London, UK: Sage Publications. - Kazi, M.A.F., Pagkos, B. & Milch, H.A. (2011). Realist evaluation in wraparound: A new approach in social work evidence-based practice. Research on Social Work Practice, 21(1), 57 – 64. - Savaya, R. & Waysman, M. (2005). The Logic Model. Administration in Social Work, 29(2), 85-103. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Independent Study | ||||||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Damian Spiteri |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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