Organisations in adult social care in England are facing challenges of greater
complexity and having to cope with them in an environment where the pressure of
competition for resources is relentless, the demand on services is rapidly increasing
and the rate of change is accelerating. The need for effective leadership has never
been more critical, to enable organisations to sustain and increase effectiveness.
Lawler and Bilson (2010, p.35) acknowledge that defining leadership and management
roles in social care is not easy and that there is a need for a framework that is relativist
and complex because that is the nature of the world in which they act (p.179). So
approaches which are rational and objectivist, which fits many leadership models, are
less suitable than those which recognise complexity, reflexive behaviour and plurality
of perspectives (Collinson, 2018). This doctoral study captures the lived experience of
leaders in adult social care and explores key aspects of leadership practice to meet
these sectoral challenges; identifying a dynamic and sometimes complex set of
asymmetrical and interdependent power relations at different organisational and
socially constructed levels; highlighting the embodied nature of leadership where
identity and emotions can shape leaders’ practices; and analysing why responses to
the challenges fail to break the never-ending cycle of stakeholder-driven pressure. A
conceptual proposition to develop the effectiveness of adult social care leadership is
presented.