Managing Change as a Youth Work Manager - Essay Example

Managing Change as a Youth Work Manager Introduction Youth work can be defined as the work that aids young people in learning about society, others, and themselves (Fayol, 2009: p21). This is via informal activities of education, which combine learning, challenges, and enjoyment, while also seeking to promote their social and personal development and enhance their ability to have a place, influence, and voice in society and their community (NYA, 2006: p1). Management of youth work is a broad and complex subject, especially at a time of profound financial and political environments. As such, this paper will seek to discuss the elements that make for an efficient and effective youth work manager during this time of change with regards to leadership and management skills, people management, planning, multi-agency working, and government legislation and funding knowledge. These elements will be mentioned, in relation to youth work management, to determine the factors that make such a manager successful in an environment of dynamic financial and political changes. Youth Work Management in Times of Change Changes in Youth Services in the last 5 to 10 years Youth service agencies, which used to receive generous allocations as part of the Labour government’s policies towards youth empowerment, have been forced to contend with decreasing funding since the economic crisis of 2008/2009 (Stoner et al. 2012: p54). Funding decreased significantly between 2012 and 2013 for majority of youth services and this trend is expected to continue as the recession recovery continues to be slower than expected. The effects of this trend have substantially changed the landscape for youth services compared to 5-10 years ago. While youth work service would offer more diverse services aimed at improving youth autonomy, achievement, and involvement, current services are aimed at tackling existing youth problems, rather than youth empowerment. This can be seen in the concerns over reduction of youth programs that has diverted attention away from youths with complex needs, compared to current services that are targeted at specific problems (Tyler, Hoggarth, & Merton, 2009: p43). The withdrawal of funding to the Future Jobs Fund is another example of the changes to youth work service provision. What this has meant is that services have increasingly turned their attention away from creating jobs for the unemployed young people. Similar trends are also evident in pilot programs aimed at providing young people with incentives and support to involve themselves in activities that increased employment opportunities, as well as training opportunities (Dixon, 2013: p9). The Activity Agreement, for example, which sought to empower inaccessible and disadvantaged youths without access to training, employment, and education has been cut. The cuts have also resulted in reduction in services aimed at youth recreation, which are essential for promoting maturity, moral growth, and intellectual development among young people. This services that the funding cuts have forced to shut down are crucial in enabling young people in the UK to become responsible adult citizens who can positively influence society. The funding cuts have also had significant effect on designing and facilitation of youth programs across the country (Harrison, 2012: p43), especially those aimed at vocational and educational training. As a result of these changes, many youth agencies’ missions to provide quality services to young people have been severely compromised due to the funding cuts. In addition, attempts by the UK government to fund only those services that have measurable step-by-step outcomes have greatly disadvantaged services that have a long-term agenda for youth empowerment (Watson & Gallagher, 2009: p38). In deed, some of these agencies may have to close, especially those that mainly deal with long-term services, because they have to drastically alter their missions and targets, which would require more money. Spending cuts have also substantially impacted on the ability of youth work services to train staff (Adair, 2012: p44), which has reduced their ability to deal with complex youth issues, particularly as the current economic crisis impacts on their parents ability to provide for them. The resulting teenage delinquency, which would have been dealt with by youth services, may now go largely unattended as the staff that had been trained in addressing these problems move on to better paying job opportunities. Youth work management involves several aspects (Sapin, 2009: p29), including staff development, reporting, office administration, resource management, identifying and bidding for funding sources, multi-agency partnerships, budgeting, recruitment, planning activities, youth worker supervision in enhancing their learning, building and managing volunteer capacity, sourcing for effective practitioners, and building relationships with them. All these aspects have to adapt to changing financial and political scenarios that were present before the economic crisis of 2008/2009. Managing youth work involves complex and diverse undertakings as different scenarios change, occurring in various settings like outreach work, detached work, buildings, or in mobiles. Prior to any attempts to managing multiple role functions, the manager will need to first know how to self-manage. Adirondack & Simpson (2005: p32) contend that youth work managers must know their own values, weaknesses, strengths, where their best contributions can be made, how they manage relationships and time, and their learning styles in order to manage changes effectively. Managers should be aware of their function as role models, as well as that their actions will hugely impact the organization’s culture during the period of change. Therefore, effective youth work managers must be aware of the fact that those under them will simulate what they do. After setting these objectives, an effective youth worker, must then be well versed in management of finances, especially as funding declines due to the current slow-down in economic growth. There are several vital financial aspects that fall under the responsibilities of a youth work manager. These include volunteer and staffing costs, designing budgets that consider set finances and targets available for youth activities, mortgages or rent, training, consumable costs, insurance, travel costs, equipment, and overheads (Bryson, 2003: p51). The youth work manager should ensure that he/she places emphasis on delivering financial controls so that only the authorized and planned expenditures are pursued, while also ensuring that charges for costs are made as per the recommended budget estimates. In times of financial change, the youth work manager must ensure that they maintain up-to-date expenditures and funding income, as well as monitoring expenses and making reports for donors with regards to planned budget estimates. Securing funding for youth work activities will also be crucial as competition for donor money. This will require that the youth work manager researchers the potential funders’ requirements, making sure that they address their requirements as they apply for increasingly competitive funding (Johnson et al. 2013: p41). A youth worker manager should also take responsibility for leadership and management during the processes of selection and recruitment in order to make sure they select the correct candidates for various roles (Ingram & Harris, 2011: p54). This is important as money for hiring multiple workers to tend specific positions is becoming restricted in the current economic uncertainty. Therefore, the youth work manager should ensure that they pay attention to information specifying the responsibilities and roles that should enable the correct candidates to make an application for the position. A detailed specification of personality and an accurate description of the job are, thus, crucial, as well as criminal record check and thorough process of induction. Political/legal changes in the UK in the form of Asylum and Immigration Act contends that recruiting people who are not entitled to work there is illegal. Thus, the manager must ensure that they conduct the requisite checks on immigration before they are offered employment in order to clearly manage their workforce in adherence to changing legislation (Coleman & Earley, 2004: p45). This will also ensure that they select the correct candidates to avoid having to re-hire with increasingly limited resources resulting from financial slow-downs in the UK economy. As aforementioned, management involves getting things done using human resources available to the organization, which is especially important during financial and political changes. The effective manager will, therefore, be required to take his responsibilities in managing people with increased regards to current requirements. This should involve performance reviews, supervision, and staff development; with the objective of getting the best possible out of a leaner workforce (Hudson, 2003: p71). To accomplish his/her roles, the youth work manager should come up with a revised development policy for staff that outlines provisions for access to development and training for volunteer and part-time employees, who will become more important as competition for funding increase. In addition, the policy must also outline provisions for appraisal, supervision, and additional training for a potentially leaner full time staff. The training will also make sure that these members of staff, especially the older ones, are up-to-date with competencies needed to engage young people (Buchroth & Parkin, 2010: p40). Some of these competencies, especially the internet and social media, are important if the organization is to become leaner and more efficient as required by the current financial climate. Staff supervision is probably the most fundamental responsibility or role that is played by a youth work manager. As financial constraints lead to leaner management, regular discussions concerning the practice with one’s supervisor enable the staff members to have a clearer image of their roles, as well as how development plans relate to on-going work, values, and goals (Handy et al. 2012: p61). As such, supervision remains a critical tool for youth work management in the midst of change. The manager takes well-structured, regular and planned meetings to aid staff in identifying experiences and skills reflect on achievements, plan future activities according to identified issues, and receive constructive feedback. Good supervision ensures that the required support will be given to staff taking on more responsibility in the midst of change (Drucker, 2012: p38), allowing them to effectively carry out their responsibilities. Communication is also a crucial tool for a youth work manager, overseeing change in the organization. The manager will be required to encourage active listening and offer constructive feedback. Since morale will undoubtedly be affected with changes in the financial environment, good communication by using compliments and positive encouragement will help in maintaining motivation (Handy, 1993: p44). Impact of Political Influence The interdependence and interconnection between different markets and sectors as a result of the effects of globalization, while establishing critical economic links between sectors across nation-states, has also meant that any fluctuation in one market or sector will eventually affect other sectors (Kakabadse et al, 2014: p88). The financial crisis of 2008/2009 that hit financial institutions had a domino effect on trade, reducing government taxes and, in turn, restricting money available to spend on government services. The subsequent funding cuts in social services did not spare the UK and youth services were not spared the necessary budgetary cuts. The huge spending cuts aimed at the public service sector are hugely ideological, since the main objective of governments, especially in a democracy that necessitates winning elections, is to ensure that the economy runs efficiently with minimal deficits or inflation. Therefore, the UK government has had to cut spending to decrease inflation rates and reduce benefits, which has had a negative impact on youth work agencies. Spending cuts to youth work services has also meant that organizations involved in youth work have to cut back on service provision. Consequently, constrained youth work agencies have been forced to only run services that are narrower in scope, mainly offering services to marginalized youth and those who are most vulnerable (Cavalli & Galland, 2013: p44). The financial crisis of 2008/2009 proved that youth work services are not immune to political actions taken to correct an economic crisis. As a result of government spending that far exceeds its taxation revenues; any significant impact on revenues has a magnified effect on government spending. As the UK government continues its attempts to cut the large budget benefits accrued to fund its welfare state, its fiscal policies will undoubtedly hit vulnerable government services like youth work (Never, 2011: p992). In its attempt to regain the previous lofty levels of economic stability and growth following the recession, deficit reduction has emerged as the best political tool, which has drawn the youth service sector into the equation. Reductions in government revenue has meant that maintaining the previously high government spending is unsustainable in the face of debt defaults, high inflation, and escalating interest rates. In addition, the government has sought to strengthen free trade and a free market economy, whose consequences of social inequality and social injustice are well documented as a result of a “survival for the fittest” mentality (McCann, 2013: p8). Deficit reduction, therefore, has mainly been aimed at reassuring investors, at the expense of social services. In the UK, political changes, whatever their reason, have historically led to new policies due to the formulation of new laws, which has a significant effect on the youth and, in turn, impacting on the management and operations of youth work (Gallagher, 2011: p56). Thus, being aware of legislation is crucial to employment, the protection of children and young people, their rights, safety, and health. Therefore, an effective youth manager must ensure that the staffs are up-to-date with regards to policies and laws, arranging for re-training of the staff where necessary. In order to empower young people, managers should make sure that the youth workers are capable of imparting knowledge on their responsibilities, rights, and consequences of crime. Young people should have the resources to make informed decisions concerning their actions and lives in the community and society at large (Ford et al. 2009: p91). Thus, the youth manager must ensure that members of the organization know about services that offer young people more legal advice. In youth work, three main legislations are of special importance; the Children Act and the Equality Act. While there are other legislations affecting youth work, these are the most important to youth workers. The youth work manager must ensure that they implement the Equality Act passed in 2010, while also ensuring that it is integrated into the provisions of youth work and applied effectively to all staff members. This Act will continue to spawn policy changes over the next few years (Fusco, 2012: p39). It places on employers the responsibility and duty in ensuring that no individual is discriminated on the basis of maternity and pregnancy, gender reassignment, civil and marriage partnerships, age, sexual inclinations, disability, race, sex, and religion. The youth work manager will, thus, have to implement working policies that set out to eliminate incidents of discrimination among the workers when working with children and young people (Fusco, 2012: p39). Policies that ensure eradication of discrimination in staff management are just as crucial. The Children Act of 2004 set out the requirements and framework for youth work across agencies and organizations. This framework resulted in the introduction of integration of services among the youth, especially in providing for a more holistic aspect to dealing with young people and children. Some of the services that youth work managers must be especially aware of in managing the changes required by the Act are the health, youth justice, police, social services and education sectors and organizations. Integrated services as proposed by the Act (Children’s Workforce Development Council, 2008: p1), and which the youth work manager must enhance the staff’s knowledge of, include; all organizations and agencies that support young people and children and work together efficiently and effectively to ensure young people are at the core of their strategy. These services must also prioritize the needs of the young people, in addition to, improve their lives. Therefore, in order to manage these changes emanating from the legislation of the Children Act, the youth work manager must show additional commitment to partnerships and alliances with other organizations and agencies at strategic level (Stoner et al. 2012: p4). In addition, they must also create a working organizational structure and environment that enhances the ability of staff members to take part work at a multi-agency and organizational level. Conclusion This paper set out to show complexities of managing change for youth work managers operating under shifting political and financial scenarios and environments. Youth workers, in this situation, must manage themselves. In addition, it is important for them to involve workers and young people more in planning, as well as improve on how they communicate changes to workers, manage finances in light of increasingly constrained resources, and be familiar with legislation and changing policies, as well as requisite multi agency and organizational collaborations and partnerships. Self-management by the youth work manager is important to the delivery of goals and responsibilities necessitated by the changing environment. References Adair, J. (2012) Effective Strategic Leadership. 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