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REBUILDING SOCIAL SERVICE QUALITY: FROM FRAGMENTED FUNCTIONS TO PROCESS THINKING WITH LEAN TOOLS
Abstract
This article explores the potential of process-oriented quality management in the field of social assistance, with a specific focus on case management services in Romania. Rooted in a sociological framework that integrates positivist, interpretive, and critical paradigms, the research applies a mixed-methods design to analyze the dysfunctions affecting the quality of intervention processes. The empirical data were collected through 400 questionnaires addressed to service beneficiaries and four focus groups involving 34 case managers from various counties. Central to this study is the strategic use of two classic tools from quality management theory—the Pareto Diagram and the Ishikawa (Fishbone) Diagram—adapted to the context of social work services. The Pareto analysis enabled the prioritization of key dysfunctions, revealing that over 80% of service failures stem from a limited set of causes: bureaucratic overload, insufficient training, poor institutional coordination, and lack of procedural clarity. The Ishikawa diagram helped identify systemic causal links among these factors, allowing for a visual representation of the roots of service fragmentation. The research concludes that improving service quality in social work requires a shift from function-based management to process-based thinking, where professionals become active agents in analyzing and redesigning intervention flows. The integration of Lean principles and total quality management (TQM) into social services is proposed as both viable and necessary. The study offers a theoretical and methodological model for sustainable quality enhancement, adaptable to public or NGO service providers aiming to increase efficiency, coherence, and client-centered outcomes.
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