Čižikienė, Janina

The aim of social service organizations that provide modern social services is to give quality social services that would help a person (family) to become independent and able to integrate into society. Successful operation of organizations is ensured by the ability of managers to lead, motivate employees to achieve the set goals, and promote cooperation with stakeholders. Therefore, managerial leadership is especially important to influence the activities of the members of the organization, creating conditions for continuous improvement and cooperation. A leader must be able to bring employees into a team, evaluating achievements and facilitating social interaction between team members, and strive to continually improve employees’ ability to provide individual, customer-oriented services. The aim of the article is, based on theoretical analysis and empirical research, to highlight the peculiarities of managerial leadership in social service organizations and to define the influence of leadership in the process of providing social services to employees, service recipients, and stakeholders. The research revealed what the most important characteristics, personal qualities, and competencies of a leader in an organization are and what influence managerial leadership has when organizing and providing quality social services. The research identified the aspects of managerial leadership that would help ensure successful operation of organizations when providing effective support to those experiencing exclusion in the community.

Objective: The research is to analyse the theoretical leadership assessment assumptions, to determine the compatibility of managers’ assessment by choosing to implement the quality management system EQUASS (The European Quality in Social Services) in a social service organization. Methodology: Research Methods are based on researchers’ insights, applying scientific literature analysis and synthesis methods, discussing leadership styles and leadership factors, questioning survey leaders’ opinions on participation in implementing quality management system in EQUASS, taking into account leadership style and leadership factors. Findings: The empirical study identified a correlation analysis between leaders’ aspirations to participate in the project Improving the Quality of Social Services through EQUASS and the leadership style of these leaders in relation to leadership expression factors. The results of the pilot study have shown that the strongest inspirational motivation factor is judged by the senior manager, senior managers with a high managerial experience, and the result-oriented award-winning factor. Value Added: The attitude of leaders in implementing a quality management system in an organization providing social services, taking into account the style and factors of leadership. Appropriate and effective leadership of the manager can lead to successful employee performance by implementing quality services and helping employees overcome difficulties in an organizational environment by implementing a quality management system. Recommendations: In social service organizations, leadership has its own specificity, because the management’s work is based on the principles of social work focused on satisfying the needs of the service user and aspects of integration into society and modern management principles. Successful leadership is achieved by adapting leadership style to the needs of employees and users, taking into account the circumstances. Leadership style is particularly important in influencing the activities of the members of the organization, the efficiency of their work, creating the right conditions for education and cooperation.

This article analyses the problem of immigration. In the process of globalization, the countries are forced to solve the issues of emigration, declining birth rates, and populating ageing. Therefore, immigration may be beneficial as the immigrating people help to create economic potential by filling vacancies. However, the acceptance of immigrants and their integration often leads to debates and confronts the members of society. The methods of research: analysis of scientific literature and documents, expert interview, analysis and interpretation of the research results. The review of scientific literature and the research data, presented in this article, may be adapted for improvement of the social integration factors, while considering the way the needs of immigrants are met and the integration measures that are provided. The research has revealed the key factors, influencing the social integration of immigrants in social enterprises.

In summary, it might be concluded that the level of social capital is closely related with development of social cohesion, since active civil communities and participation of community members in volunteer activities are the required factors of social capital, promoting and increasing social, civil, and economic activity of individuals, which is based on the mutual understanding, shared values and goals of community members. Thus, following the concept of social cohesion, which is defined as creation of the environment, where individuals, groups, communities would wish to trust and cooperate for achieving the common goals, an important part of social cohesion is ensuring the development of civil communities. This development requires regular interaction between the community members and continuous support of the community network, as well as search for the ways to incorporate the social capital. Finally, close associations between development of social cohesion and high social capital level could help to solve the issues of social exclusion, arising the society and in the community.

This article analyses the transformation of the social childcare system in Lithuania, which aims at eliminating institutional childcare homes by the year 2020 and the placement of parental care for children in families of adoptive parents and carers, and returning them to biological parents. However, during the transition period, patronage impairment is noticeable, and municipalities choose an intermediate option and place children in community homes that provide short-term or long-term social care. It provides social services to a social care institution, in which the community in a separate room (house, apartment) family-friendly environment model houses up to 8 children in the home environment. When providing social services to parental care, it is necessary to understand the importance of deinstitutionalisation in the system of social services and to model their activities towards the home environment, bearing in mind that the process of deinstitutionalisation involves a change in the formation of a permanent custody, the services that best suit the individual interests of each child, taking into account their needs for growth and improve. This can only be achieved by improving the human resources capabilities of social service organizations by providing the right knowledge to provide tailor-made services based on results-oriented work principles. Applied research methods are analysis of scientific literature and documents, interviews with social workers of a community nursing home, analysis and interpretation of research results. The review of scientific literature and research data presented in the article reveal the problems of the institutional care transformation process and the challenges of transforming the children's care homes and developing the activities of community child care homes.

The article analyses the aspects of provision of social services, reducing social exclusion, in the view of rational choice theory. This approach was selected due to the fact that provision of social services often leads to discussions explaining the appropriate and rational choice of assistance for the socially excluded members of society. The authors discuss the key aspects of provision of social services, considering the dimensions and factors of social exclusion in the context of rational choice theory.

This paper analyses the peculiarities of human resources management in social enterprises with a particular focus on the aspects of managing voluntary work. The aim of this article is to suggest means of improving and optimizing the process of managing voluntary work in social enterprises following the findings of the theoretical analysis and empirical research of the subject. The results of the study disclose the main challenges that executives of social enterprises, where the workforce tends to be volunteers, face. The study also analyses the impact of voluntary work to social enterprises. Following the theoretical and empirical research, the article suggests possible means of improving and developing the organisation of the voluntary work in social enterprises.

The article focuses on the peculiarities of providing non - fin ancial social assistance to social risk families in child day care centers. The research provides an analysis of the aspects of providing social assistance to disadvantaged families and their children, and it also discusses the possibilities of providing n on - financial social assistance in child day care centers. The aim of the article is to identify the effectiveness of non - financial social assistance and to define its influence on social risk families and children of such families. The research, firstly, r eveals the difficulties that the providers of non - financial social assistance and employees of child day care centers face in fulfilling their duties, and, secondly, specifies how non - financial social assistance provided in child day care centers affects disadvantaged families on reducing their social exclusion. The results of the research also reveal the possibilities of organizing and improving the process of providing non - financial assistance in child day care centers.

The European Union's education and lifelong learning policy stresses informal learning within the society. The article aims to review the concept of lifelong learning and to analyze opportunities for continuous learning process in organizations. New technologies, innovations in the workplace and professional training encourage employees to improve constantly and awareness of the importance of lifelong learning can help to secure their future in a changing labor market. Research methods applied were as following: literature and document analysis, expert interviews, analysis of the results and interpretation. The article presents a review of scientific literature and research data reveals leaders’ approach to employees' willingness to raise their qualification constantly and the organization's opportunities. The survey showed that employers want to have a highly qualified staff meeting the requirements of the organization, but do not always have sufficient funds for professional development.