Anja Höcke, Barbara Hinding, Silvia Biere, Jennifer Matthes, Michael Kastner Mannheim Institut of Public Health, Social Preventive Medicine. Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Germany

Starting Points to Support Innovation Competence during the Working Life of Social Workers – a challenge of demographic change

Mannheimer Institut für Public Health Medizinische Fakultät Mannheim Universität Heidelberg Ludolf-Krehl-Straße 7-1168167 Mannheim Telefon: 0621 – 383 9910 www.miph.uni-hd.de

2. Group interviews with executives: joint development of a local theory on innovation processes Local theory: •  Knowledge and assumptions of local actors concerning certain

circumstances •  serve to explain events, their meaningful integration into an overall

context and legitimisation of activities •  Local theories are not scientific theories but everyday theories •  Local theories often are implicit (unspoken); appropriate methods are

necessary to make them accessible (Hinding & Kastner, 2011) Group interviews with prevailing workshop character: •  Brainstorming: relevant influencing factors of innovation capacity -  at a personal level (important competencies, attitudes etc.) -  at the level of the immediate work situation -  at a higher organisational level

•  evaluation and weighting of the single factors •  development of an analysis model (s. example in fig. 3) to visualise

the local theory •  Naming of strengths and difficulties within innovation processes in

the organisation Analysis: Description and comparison of local theories by reference to the theoretical previous understanding of innovation processes and innovation-related behaviour.

Background Social Work professions are especially affected by the impacts of demographic change. The number of people who need social care services will increase in light of the ageing population while the supply of young qualified professionals will decrease simultaneously. At present 1.4 million people work in the field of social work – at the same time 82 % of social work organisations complain about a shortage of skilled labor (University of St. Gallen, 2012 ). In addition, the pressure to save costs is growing. More people depend on social care services – in contrast, there are dwindling resources. Consequences as time pressure and work intensification already affect the employees’ quality of work and health. This situation requires innovations. Innovations are made by humans. Innovation competence of employees plays a crucial role in the future viability of health care organisations. The question therefore arises, how to promote innovation capacities, especially in the face of ageing workforces. After all, innovation is commonly associated with younger employees, while the deficit model of ageing predominates with respect to older employees – and thus the concern older workforces bring about less innovation and are less willing to support internal organisational changes. This raises the question of innovation capacity changes throughout the working life. Objectives Objective of the ongoing study is to describe these changes and to identify factors that allow influencing them. Conditions that allow employees to fully develop their innovation capacity should be identified. The overall objective is the development of sustainable, holistic strategies and approaches to action to promote employability and innovation capacity of ageing employees within the field of social work.

Methods Biography and current work situation are of interest regarding persons. Individual and group interviews with social workers and executives have been conducted in several organisations to identify the specific influencing factors per social institution. 1. Guided biographical interviews, focussing on

•  occupational biography, •  occupational stress and strain, •  appreciation in the course of working life, •  reconciliation of family and work life, •  further training and qualification, •  past and present experiences with innovation.

Sample: 15 interviews with social workers •  hereof 7 women, 8 men •  Age structure: 2 between 30-39 years / 2 between 40-49

years / 11 between 50-59 years •  fields of work: family help and children’s social care, sexual

counselling, school support, social work in homes for the aged, social work for the homeless

Qualitative content analysis The evaluation of the individual interviews based on Mayring’s (2003) analysis steps: •  transcription of all interviews / focus groups •  paraphrasing: summary content analysis using MAXQDA

coding software •  generalisation and reduction of the captured contents.

Results 1.  Innovations within the field of social work are manifold. Frequently

mentioned was the specialisation in divisions, the opening up of new fields of work (e.g. day schools), the introduction of new technologies and tools for documentation as well as cost saving measures.

2.  Particularly important are new HR strategies – some of which are

already implemented – to maintain employability such as career planning, mixed-aged teams and offers for health promotion.

3.  Flexible organisation of working time and thus a better reconciliation of family and work life is seen as important to reduce stress and thus to maintain employability.

4.  The field of social work contains socio-political related top-down innovations (e.g. new legislation) as well as bottom-up innovations. As regards the latter, employees generate proposals for new working methods, fields of work etc.

5.  Lack of staff and consequently time pressure and the pressure of

cost saving are seen as significant obstacles to innovation.

Conclusions Measures to promote innovation capacity of social workers: 1.  Reduction of time pressure, measures for stress reduction and

trainings to improve the ability of coping with stress 2.  Participation and early integration of all concerned persons in

innovation processes. 3.  Improvement in communication in innovation processes 4.  Reconciliation of further education and offers of health

promotion, professional and private circumstances and demands to enable qualification and continual learning in every stage of life.

5.  Promotion of a good social climate.

Fig.1: Theoretical framework

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Fig. 2: Innovation process and levels of analysis Fig. 3: Example of visualized local theory

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Literature Hinding, B. & Kastner, M. (2011): Gestaltung von lernförderlichen Unternehmenskulturen zu Sicherheit und Gesundheit bei der Arbeit. BAuA-Forschungsbericht F2188 Mayring, P. (2003): Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. Grundlagen und Techniken, Weinheim.

Homepage http://miph.umm.uni-heidelberg.de/innogeso/

Ansprechpartner Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Medizinische Fakultät Mannheim, Mannheim Institute of Public Health (MIPH) Dr. Barbara Hinding barbara.hinding@medma.uni-heidelberg.de

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