The peculiarities of social service organizations development

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of this article is to identify and verify whether social service organizations in Lithuania and in selected European Union countries have the same trends in their very different profile, nature and structure (aspect of management). Design/methodology/approach – The quality assessment of social service organizations activities in the European Union is particularly relevant, since the establishment of common quality standards is one of the most important objectives not only for practitioners, but also for scientists of this research field. Due to uncertainty of social services and the quality concepts, the concept of service quality is becoming more difficult to assess; in addition, the quality of social services should be evaluated in a very wide context, as the European Union countries have different social service organizations operating experience and the economic, cultural and social situation; Findings – The study reveals that variety of social service institutions determine the need and importance for social services, as well as versatility and complexity of social services and social work – as the services are provided for different groups of customers, so assistance is also different depending on the peculiarities of service users group. Regardless of the fact that some individuals may have the same or similar problem (eg., dependence on drugs), they need to get assistance to their individual needs and situation; Research limitations/implications – An assurance of social services organizations activities and services quality is also heavily influenced by the European Union country's political, cultural and social life peculiarities and changes taking place in the society.