The development of an individual, demand driven approach in a long-lasting exemplarian action research

Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology

J. Community Appl. Soc. Psychol., 13: 451–463 (2003)

Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/casp.750

The Development of an Individual, Demand DrivenApproach in a Long-lasting Exemplarian ActionResearch

BEN VALKENBURG

University of Utrecht/STAB, Department of General Social Sciences, PO Box 80140, Utrecht, The Netherlands

ABSTRACT

In this contribution, the author aims to elucidate the core aspects of the individual, demand driven

approach and the way this approach has been developed in action research projects spanning more

than 15 years. First the authors describe the developments towards more client centred approaches of

labour-market policies and care, which formed the background against which the individual,

demand driven approach took shape. Then the authors sketch the main characteristics of the action

research programme they have been involved in. As an example one of the projects of this pro-

gramme will be elaborated further. In the fourth section of this contribution the authors give an over-

view of the four most distinctive aspects of the individual, demand driven approach. Then closes of

with a few evaluative remarks. Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Key words: individual approach; demand driven approach; exemplary action research; supported

employment; reintegration trajectories

BACKGROUND OF THE INDIVIDUAL, DEMAND DRIVEN APPROACH

As it is hoped to make clear in this contribution, an individual, demand driven approach is

not just a way of working in the primary process of policy delivery (for example in the

coaching of unemployed people in finding a job). It is also a vision on the relation between

citizens (in their role as workers, unemployed people, clients of the care-system and so on)

on the one hand, and the people, institutions and organizations that are responsible for the

development and delivery of policies on the other hand. This vision has far reaching con-

sequences on all levels of the policy process. In this sense, at least in the Dutch situation,

this approach represents a fundamental change in the institutional, supply oriented tradi-

tion of well-fare state policy.

It did not ‘start’ that way. In the second half of the 1980s labour agencies had to

admit that they were not successful in assisting long-term unemployed people with a large

* Correspondence to: Ben Valkenburg, University of Utrecht/STAB, Department of General Social Sciences, POBox 80140, Utrecht, The Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected]

Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted 3 September 2003

distance to the labour market. In spite of all the investments in labour market policies,

many long-termed unemployed people remained unemployed. A lot of young people

had dropped out of education, were not participating in the labour market and thus were

running the risk to become the long-term unemployed of the future. In this situation,

small-scale projects were devised, mainly by practitioners using their everyday experience

and competences. They tried to link up with the specific personal situation, motives, pro-

blems and possibilities of the individual job seeker. Their first step was to understand the

specific situation of the unemployed individual, and to try to find his or her strength and

possibilities. From there on they helped to develop a trajectory towards a fitting job. With

this client centred approach they were very successful. Unemployed people that in tradi-

tional labour-market policies were seen as ‘hopeless cases’, turned out to be employable

on the regular labour market. On the basis of these small-scale projects the client centred

method of coaching of individual trajectories was developed.

Meanwhile, the care sector witnessed a change in the way of thinking about care for

retarded people. Until the late 1960s of the last century, this care mainly took place in

separate provisions which were more or less placed outside regular society (at least in

the Netherlands). Retarded people were primarily seen as people with limitations, rather

than possibilities. In reaction to this traditional approach small-scale initiatives were

employed. They were primarily looking for the possibilities of retarded people and tried

to strengthen the conditions to develop these possibilities further in and with the regular

society. This also meant that for a part of this group paid work was considered an impor-

tant basis for social participation. Against this background, there was a growing interest in

supported employment: coaching people not only towards a paid job on the regular labour-

market, but also in the workplace itself. Originating from the US, this method was further

developed in the Netherlands, initially in the form of six local experiments. These experi-

ments too had a client centred approach and were very successful.

The methods of coaching of individual trajectories and supported employment were

developed outside the regular, large-scale agencies and institutions. Looking back, these

small-scale, experimental projects were an important starting point for the development of

an individual, demand driven approach. They were also the starting point for what for us

turned out to be a long-term action research programme. Part of our research projects

focused on the small-scale, experimental projects (Coenen-Hanegraaf, Gortz, & Coenen,

1995; Coenen-Hanegraaf, van Vliet, & Coenen, 1994; Coenen-Hanegraaf, Valkenburg,

Ploeg, & Coenen, 1998b; Coenen-Hanegraaf, Valkenburg, Vertegaal, & Coenen, 1997;

Valkenburg, 1993). Part of them were aimed at the translation of these small-scale and

experimental methods to more regular and large scale institutions (see later).

EXEMPLARIAN ACTION RESEARCH AS GUIDING PRINCIPLE

The research programme has been based on the general, methodological principles under-

lying exemplarian action research. The research is aimed at developing insight into (the

background of) the complex actions of those who are practically involved in the issue

under examination, at developing and changing this practice in close co-operation with

the researched (i.e. professionals, clients, policy-makers, managers), and at using the

mutual implementation of change as a research instrument. In this process the principle

of reciprocal adequacy plays an important role. Every project that is part of the overall

programme has moved through a theme stage, crystallization stage and exemplarian stage.

452 B. Valkenburg

Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Community Appl. Soc. Psychol., 13: 451–463 (2003)

These aspects are elaborated further in the contribution of Harry Coenen and Sjaak

Khonraad (this issue), so in what follows, they are only mentioned briefly.

More specific for this programme has been, that the individual projects were put in and

connected to a general framework, in our case the development and implementation of an

individual, demand driven approach. In each project our aim has been to use the knowl-

edge developed in preceding projects, and to implement the project in such a way that it

contributed to the further development of this knowledge. This created the conditions for a

long-term research strategy, in which it was tried to bring together the several threads of

thought on client centred approaches, both theoretically and practically.

The next section elaborates further on these aspects, with one of the projects as an

example.

THE PROJECT ON SHELTERED EMPLOYMENT

In 1997, a research project was started within the sector of Sheltered Employment. This

sector is a large one: almost 100,000 workers in 80 companies, ranging form small ones

(300 workers) to big ones (3000 workers). The main task is to offer employment to people

with mental and/or physical handicaps, to contribute to the further development of their

skills and competences, and, if possible to support them in finding employment on the

regular labour market. The sector of Sheltered Employment has a long tradition, dating

back to the 1950s.

The project was initiated in an attempt to translate the knowledge that had been devel-

oped in preceding small-scale, experimental projects, to more traditional, large-scale insti-

tutions. Many people in the sector of Sheltered Employment wanted to make the change to

a more client centred approach. For most of them this was a well meant, but very general

intention. As researchers the authors could answer the question what this approach stood

for in the primary process of small scale, experimental projects. Together the authors

could elaborate the (many) questions that were raised by this answer:

* Could this approach simply be translated to the primary process of the large scale

companies for Sheltered Employment? There were good reasons to suppose that it

could, but that it would not be ‘simple’. Undoubtedly, there are many differences

between a small-scale experiment and a large-scale company that is producing for a

market and that has to earn part of its money on this market.

* How does this approach in the primary process relate to the general policy of the

welfare state on Sheltered Employment? The small-scale projects had a lot of

‘freedom’. Their experimental status meant more or less that they could operate at

some distance from the existing policies, measures and regulations. For the sector of

Sheltered Employment this situation was totally different. They had to deal with a lot of

policies, measures and regulations. Furthermore national and local polities were

permanently changing in response to all the problems the sector was facing.

* What does an individual, demand driven approach in the primary process imply for the

secondary process of the organization (management, communication, financial

regulations, and so on)? For the preceding projects this had not been a complex issue.

Being small scale and experimental, they had no existing secondary processes. When

they started to develop them, they could make a ‘fresh start’. Again, for the sector of

Sheltered Employment this was totally different. They had to change existing

traditions, not only in their primary, but also in their secondary processes.

Individual, demand driven approach to action research 453


This process of initiating the project took a long time and a lot of discussion. It resulted in

a plan for a first explorative research project into the significance of an individual, demand

driven approach for the sector (Coenen-Hanegraaf, Coenen, Valkenburg, & Coenen,

1998a). As part of this research managers and professionals from 20 organizations for

Sheltered Employment were interviewed. In regular meetings with representatives of

these organizations the research results were discussed and, if needed, further developed.

After this first explorative project, further research initially took the form of a bilateral co-

operation with a few of these 20 organizations. Soon it turned out that many other orga-

nizations had serious intentions to make a more client centred approach. This intention

was not in the least inspired and stimulated by the forthcoming new Law on Sheltered

Employment which placed great emphasis on the development of skills and competences

of individual workers and on (increasing) the outflow of Sheltered Employment workers

to the regular labour market.

Linking up with these developments and making optimal use of the firm support for the

research project, a broader research strategy was designed. The initiation of research, the

explorative study, the problem analysis of the research field and the subsequent refinement

of the aims and questions of the broader research strategy together can be regarded as the

theme stage of the project.

In the broader project design several research strategies and instruments were used. The

first trail was formed by the so called pilots: five organizations for Sheltered Employment

which, supported by the researchers, were experimenting with the implementation of an

individual, demand driven approach. In these experiments the authors worked with a com-

bination of instruments: interviews, discussions, work documents (including a sketch of

the initial situation within the organization when the action research was started), in-com-

pany courses, consultancy and coaching, implementation of the new method, evaluation

and organization development. Which combination was used, was dependent upon the

specific situation of the pilot organization. In the pilots:

* concrete individual, demand oriented trajectories were developed, managed and

evaluated;

* the intention was to develop this method for coaching clients (the primary process) and

at the same time to implement this approach in the broader organization and work

processes (the secondary process);

* the results were analysed with respect to their possible contribution to shared

knowledge and experience for the whole sector.

In the overall research project, the pilot studies played an important role in the crystalliza-

tion stage, though the pilots can be considered to have each followed their own theme

stage, crystallization stage and exemplarian stage on the level of the organization.

The second trail was formed by a platform of organizations for Sheltered Employment

that wanted to be informed about the developments and initiatives in the pilots. Aim of the

platform was to support companies in their initiatives and to enhance the exchange of

knowledge and experiences via presentations, workshops and discussions. This second

trail also involved research at sector level. This trail formed an important step in the tran-

sition from the crystallization stage, in which research and action strategies were devised

to develop the individual, demand driven approach, to the exemplarian stage, in which the

fulfilment and actual implementation of this approach took place.

This happened in the third trail, which implied the development and administration of

training courses for both managers and professionals at the national level and at the level

454 B. Valkenburg


of separate organizations. The training courses consist of an integrated programme of

schooling, training and intervision.1 Much emphasis is placed on the exchange between

the proposed course content on the one hand (theory, vision and method of an individual,

demand driven approach), and the concrete practice of the participants on the other hand.

Because of this constant feedback relation, the training courses have functioned as an

important research instrument.

The fourth trail was formed by ‘overall’ research activities at a national level. These

activities were employed with the aim of bringing together the information from the other

three trails and to develop additional knowledge, which would enable us to come to a

broad overall analysis at the national level. Such a move is necessary for the chosen exem-

plar, in this case the individual, demand drive approach, actually to have any exemplarian

value for other, comparable but not directly studied situations. The additional knowledge

that was developed concerned:

* the developments concerning the coaching of individual trajectories and supported

employment within the sector of Sheltered Employment and in related sectors (e.g. the

domains of care and education adjoining Sheltered Employment);

* an overview and analysis of the social policies relevant for Sheltered Employment;

* the theoretical, social scientific debate on modernization and individualization. This

theoretical study was practically prompted. Many practitioners and managers saw

client centred approaches as ‘fashion of the day’ (it comes today, and goes tomorrow)

or as something imposed upon them by the current demands of politics. It turned out to

be extremely important to make clear that this approach primarily was and should be

seen as a response to a changing, that is individualizing society (cf. Giddens, 1990,

1991).

Finally, the results of the research were discussed during a meeting of a large body of orga-

nizations and institutions involved in the developments, the board of the National Consul-

tative Body of Sheltered Employment (co-commissioner and co-financer of the research

project).

All the research material, ranging from work documents and reports to the results of

questionnaires and training courses, was brought together. Supplemented with analyses

of available policy documents, literature and results of related social policy research,

the research material was used as input for a final report (Valkenburg, Coenen-Hanegraaf,

& Coenen, 2000).

With this final report the authors broad research project formally came to end. Up till

today it has been followed up by ongoing consultancy and research practices within orga-

nizations for Sheltered Employment and other relevant organizations (e.g. privatized rein-

tegration agencies), and by national and in-company training courses.

CORE ASPECTS OF THE INDIVIDUAL, DEMAND DRIVEN APPROACH

After having given an overview of the research programme in which the individual,

demand driven approach has been developed, focus will now be on what the authors view

1Intervision implies that what is learned in theory during a specific course, is constantly related to the workpractice. In this case it means that, starting from the theory and the method of the individual, demand drivenapproach, the professional attitude and work practice is further developed. At the same time, experiences from thework practice are used to adjust the theory and further develop the method.



are the critical success factors of this approach. In what follows, is a discussion on the

following core aspects:

(1) Individuals should be in charge of their own (life) trajectories as much as possible.

(2) Trajectories should be guided by an assessment of the core aspects that drive an

individual person.

(3) The interaction between client and professional has to be based on equality, respect

and mediation.

(4) The interaction between the primary process and secondary process has to be

characterized by reciprocity.

In these critical factors the underlying driving principles of exemplarian action research

(democratization, emancipation and empowerment) as well as the accompanying metho-

dological principle of reciprocal adequacy are clearly reflected.

Individuals should be in charge of their own (life) trajectories as much as possible

The central aim of the individual, demand driven approach is to learn and enable people to

be in charge of their own lives in an adequate way.

‘To be in charge’ means that they have a clear conception of the choices that can and

must be made in their daily life, i.e. in the daily interactions in which they partake and the

(life) trajectories they are involved in within the various domains of life. Clients should be

informed in due time which particular decisions have to be made in the trajectory and what

consequences they will have for them. ‘In due time’ implies that the client must be given

the opportunity to think and reflect upon the upcoming decisions, and to let it sink in affec-

tively and emotionally. The client has to understand what the professional is doing and

must agree with the steps that are made. The client’s consent must be of a substantial qual-

ity and implies more than just a formal ‘yes’.

‘To be in charge’ also implies that clients themselves (learn to) take decisions and carry

the responsibilities that go with it. In terms of rights and responsibilities: it is the duty of

the professional to set up the trajectory in line with the starting position of the individual

client. Only when this connection is established can the client be asked and expected to

carry responsibility for the choices and decisions made. Moreover, the steps to be taken

and the resulting responsibilities have to be in line with the possibilities and competences

of the client (and the same thing applies for the professional, by the way).

‘To learn and enable’ means that coaching is aimed at enhancing the competences of the

individual, which are important resources to take charge of one’s own life. The individual,

demand driven approach departs from the assumption that people always take charge of their

own life. So the question is not whether they do, but to what degree they take charge of their

own life and how adequate they are in handling things. In enhancing the competences of the

client, the criterion is not whether the individual is able to fully take charge of his or her own

(life) trajectory yet, but whether he or she succeeds in being more in charge than before.

Moreover, a trajectory must contribute to the integration, empowerment and emancipa-

tion of the client.

Integration is defined here as the pursuit to enhance the individual client’s competence

to participate in regular interactions and communication within society, without con-

stantly having to push oneself to the limit. Integration must be seen as a reciprocal process:

the sustained effort at influencing the actions of other people, to establish an adequate con-

nection between the meanings, norms and (power) relations that are (re)produced by all

456 B. Valkenburg


the people involved in the situation under consideration. In this sense, integration is not a

neutral concept. It may imply a change in the way the individual client acts, but also in the

way other people who are involved in the interaction, act (like coaches, colleagues, man-

agers, parents, caretakers, teachers).

Emancipation can partly be described in terms of integration in the sense mentioned

earlier. ‘Plainly’ participating in everyday interaction and communication, without having

to learn and develop yourself all the time, is an important form of emancipation. But

emancipation must to some extent also be described in terms of change and development,

i.e. as the pursuit of:

* Teaching the individual how he or she can contribute to the production of social

structures and concepts through his/her own participation in interaction and

communication. Emancipation not only implies that the individual learns to deal with

the existing situation and act accordingly, but also that he or she is able to exert

influence with his/her own personality on that situation and the people in it.

* Further development of the individual’s competences (empowerment), on the basis of

this expanding influence on the interactions and situations he or she is involved in.

* Creation of social contexts for the individual that offer the opportunities to translate the

new developed competences into practice, and that enable the individual to learn how

to realize these possibilities himself/herself.

In short, in the individual, demand driven approach, trajectories should be developed, admi-

nistrated and managed together with, and driven by the individual client. This basic princi-

ple should be the foundation of the policy underlying the development of trajectories and the

general practice of the organization administering the policy. The empowerment and eman-

cipation of the client, then, cannot be filled in and achieved by a professional at a desk. Con-

tent and consequences must be based on the day-to-day thinking and actions of the client.

This approach breaks with the traditional, supply driven approach that currently dom-

inates the existing policy practices, including those in the field of reintegration. Many

institutional practices are still characterized by a top-down approach, in which the role

of the objects of the policy with regard to the development, administration and manage-

ment of the particular policy is very limited. Usually, the most important steps have

already been taken before the individuals for whom the policy is designed, enter the pic-

ture. In most cases, the problem is already defined, the causes are determined and the pos-

sible solutions are specified, for which instruments are developed. Only then, the

individual clients whom the policy concerns, are involved in the process.

Trajectories should be guided by an assessment of the core aspects that drive

an individual person

In the individual, demand driven approach the client is first and foremost seen as a person

with strengths, possibilities and competences. The client is not regarded as a sum of loose

characteristics, but an individual person in a concrete social context, whose characteristics

cohere in a certain manner against this particular contextual background. Competence

must not be restricted, as often happens, to the skills that someone has. Competence must

be understood in the widest of meanings; it lies in (the coherence of) several aspects:

* wishes, motives, and realistic prospects;

* skills (functional and social skills, but also emotional, affective, and communication

skills) and personal factors (certain talents and restrictions);



* learning styles: possibilities and ways of learning;

* social background and (natural and professional) networks;

* atmosphere and personality.

These five aspects and their mutual interrelation are the resources that an individual can

fall back on, and which can be further developed.

The development and administration of trajectories should link up with, and make use

of the competences of the individual client. It is also important that within the coherence

of these aspects, a nucleus has to be sought: what is this person’s most distinctive motiva-

tion, which skills can be put to use et cetera.

The first aspect to be considered in the assessment concerns the wishes, motives and real

perspectives. Beside (un)conscious wishes concerning the way the individual would like

to participate in society, motives play an important role. Motives can be traced back to

three different levels:

* the underlying goals or aims that the individual wants to realize (e.g. gathering his or

her own income or (re)gain independence);

* the degree to which the individual is motivated to put his or her wishes into practice and

act upon them;

* the way the general need for safety and security of a person is reflected in a particular

action repertoire to fulfil these needs. This action repertoire is of crucial importance for

the action perspectives of the individual, but the relation to the underlying fundamental

needs of the individual is hardly accessible.

Wishes and motives together demarcate the possible perspectives within a trajectory;

against the background of the concrete context in which the client finds himself/herself

(e.g. the situation on the labour market) some perspectives and prospects can be consid-

ered ‘real’ while others do not seem feasible.

Secondly, an important basis for a trajectory lies in the functional, social, cognitive,

emotional, affective and communicative skills and the potential for development of the

client. A trajectory not only has to link up with the current skills of the client, but also

has to offer him or her opportunities to expand on these skills, so that empowerment

can take place. In this process of empowerment, the specific way the individual learns best

(the individual’s learning style) deserves special attention. There are limits to what people

can learn, of course. But the point of departure is to regard something as a potential skill,

as something that can be learned, as long as possible.

A third important condition with regard to the support for and guidance in a trajectory is

formed by the social background and networks in which the client participates and which

imply certain meanings, norms and values regarding matters like paid work, taking

responsibilities, hierarchy, status, etc. This social background and these networks also

form part of the trajectory, i.e. the aim is that participation in one area of life (e.g. paid

labour) will also have an effect on other domains of life (e.g. functioning in a family, in an

educational setting, etc.).

A fourth aspect to be taken into consideration, is that the social background of an indi-

vidual brings with it a certain atmosphere and personality: the meanings, norms and atti-

tudes the individual attributes to himself/herself and to the relation with important others. A

trajectory will have to be accommodated to this atmosphere and personality of the client.

For the development of a trajectory, it is of crucial importance that these five aspects are

considered in their mutual interrelation. For the meaning and weight of every separate aspect

458 B. Valkenburg


is determined by the way it coheres with the other aspects. Equally important is to take the

perspective of the client as point of departure, as interpretative framework to get a view on

the coherence of the different aspects. If one fails to do this, aspects like motivation and

developmental potential remain just loose parts, that are only brought together from the per-

spective of the professional but do not actually relate to each other in the eyes of the client.

Developing insight into the competences of clients, presumes that clients are involved

in the development and steering of their own trajectory from the beginning. The aim of a

trajectory, then, cannot be determined beforehand, but will have to be described in the

process of development and will get more refined as the trajectory takes its course.

The interaction between client and professional has to be based on equality,

respect and mediation

Taking the client’s perspective serious and placing the individual in a central position

imposes certain demands on the interaction between professional and client. To create

coherence and continuity in the diverse stages of the trajectory of the client—which

means that they have to cohere and ‘logically’ follow each other from the perspective

of the client—it is necessary that the coaching activities are based on a high-quality inter-

action. Equality, respect and mediation are the key characteristics of such interaction.

The communication between client and professional has to break away from a one-way

traffic, which usually implies inequality of power and inequality of position within the

relationship. In the individual, demand driven approach, the relationship between client

and professional is characterized by an interaction aimed at concrete goals, in which client

and professional play an equally important role and treat each other with respect. This

forms the basis for the client’s control and for his or her ability to develop. The goal of

the meetings, appointments and activities have to be clear for both coach and client. For

the learning process of the client, it is very important that he knows with which goal a

(learning) activity takes place; this is a precondition to be able to learn. For the coach,

it forms the basis to find out what needs to be taken into consideration, and what not.

The competences of the client and the professional are seen as complementary and of

equal value. This means that the analysis of the starting situation of the client is considered

adequate only when both share this analysis (reciprocal adequacy). The same applies with

regard to the subsequent steps that are taken in the trajectory. A co-operative relationship

based on equality also means that there is mutual respect between professional and client.

By acknowledging possible differences, the input of client and professional is mutually

taken seriously. Last but not least, the relationship between client and professional must

be based on trust. Only on the basis of trust, real insight can be developed in the starting

position of the client.

The individual, demand driven approach takes as point of departure that everybody can

learn, if only the right conditions are created. People can gain new knowledge and

insights, master new skills, and can learn to put these into practice. The conditions to

be able to do this can be summarized in three key points.

Firstly, content and approach of the learning process must link up with the developmen-

tal potential, the learning styles and the strength of the individual. ‘Link up with’ means

that the learning process is aimed at the ‘next zone of development’: at new competences,

that can be learned using the already existing competences.

Secondly, content and approach of the learning process should link up with the devel-

opment process of the individual. This way, the learning process can contribute optimally



to realizing the central goal of the individual, demand driven approach (letting the indi-

vidual be in charge over his or her own life), and to the sub-goals related to it (e.g. doing

paid labour). At the same time, advantage is taken from the fact that it is easier for people

to acquire new competences when they can actually practically use it in their day-to-day

activities.

Thirdly, the individual must be stimulated to transfer competences acquired in one context

to other contexts. What is at stake here, is not just learning, but also learning how to learn.

The exemplary value of what is learned is not primary seen to lie in the content, but mostly

in the perspective of the individual (which contexts are relevant with regard to what is

learned; how do these contexts relate to each other from the perspective of the individual?).

These three points imply that the content and approach of the learning process must not

be based upon the ideas of the professionals that are concerned with the clients trajectory,

but upon the perspective of the person for whom the learning process is meant, i.e. upon

the results of the assessment. In the course of the trajectory, certain aspects in the learning

process are accentuated and further contextualized. The main question that needs to be

answered is what exemplary theme can form the ‘engine’ for the learning process of

the individual.

The role of the professional in this learning process must be a mediating one. The pro-

fessional primarily aims to let the individual himself/herself learn from the context he or

she is involved in. Mediation means that the interaction of the professional tries to make

the individual conscious of his or her own individual thinking and acting in interaction.

This way, the individual can gain insight in the results of these interactions, what his or her

own contribution in the interaction was and what that means for what he or she learns from

it. The final goal is that people learn how to put these individual learning strategies to use

in a conscious way.

The interaction between the primary process and secondary process has to be

characterized by reciprocity

The success factors mentioned so far, all relate to (the underlying view of) the method of

the individual, demand driven approach. Beside an elaboration at the level of the primary

process, this approach also needs to be elaborated at the level of the secondary process of

the administrative organization, though. To guarantee an adequate ‘fit’ and fluid transi-

tions between the subsequent steps in the process of the individual client, is a task for the

professional. But this task can only be fulfilled satisfactory if the organization creates the

necessary conditions.

The necessary conditions to guarantee an optimal interaction between the primary pro-

cess and the secondary process, can be described as follows:

* there must be coherence and flexibility in the trajectory and the activities related to it so

as to make individual made-to-measure coaching possible;

* the overall responsibility for the trajectories of individual clients, and the responsibility

for parts of the trajectory must be clear;

* the individual, demand driven approach must be embedded within the overall

organization;

* evaluations can not be solely based on output criteria, but must also be related to criteria

regarding the qualitative content of the trajectories; the management and steering of the

organization has to be adjusted to these made-to-measure coaching enhancing

conditions.

460 B. Valkenburg


Demand driven development, administration and management of trajectories imply coher-

ence and flexibility in the co-operation between the various departments involved in the

development, administration and management of a trajectory (e.g. assessment, matching

and coaching). The demand of coherence implies that overlapping procedures, lacuna, dis-

crepancies and fractures in trajectories must be avoided. It must be made clear and explicit

how trajectory related activities throughout the whole organization are brought in line with

each other and what this means for the distribution of tasks, for the work processes and for

the communication and working relations between the different departments and admin-

istrators. Moreover, flexibility is necessary, while for each client, the role of administrators

and their departments can vary. The leading principle is not defined by the output tasks and

standard instruments of separate departments, but is located in their roles in the trajec-

tories of individual clients. The structure and functioning of the administrative organiza-

tion has to be brought in line with this need for coherence and flexibility. To be able to do

this, the responsibility for the total trajectory of a client must be laid down and organized

in a clear way. This means that it is not only clear who has got overall responsibility, but

also who is authorized to perform specific tasks in the trajectory.

Flexibility and coherence further assume an reciprocal interaction between the primary

process and the secondary process. In each individual case, the administrators must be

able to consider what input of which department is necessary for a particular trajectory,

respectively what policy is needed to realize this input. This means that the administrators

have to be involved in the development of the policy, so as to be able to relate it to the

development of trajectories.

To enable the professional to approach clients in an individual, demand oriented way,

this approach must be embedded in the various departments of the organization. Neces-

sary condition in this context is a clear, actively discussed vision, and a concrete elabora-

tion of this vision with regard to the set-up and structure of the organization, its

tasks, output criteria, etc. As regards the output criteria it must be taken into consi-

deration that, on the one hand, individual made-to-measure coaching must be possible,

while on the other hand, it must be possible for the organization and external clients to

check the results of the professional. This implies, that the settlement of accounts is not

solely based on output figures, but must also be based on the content of the primary pro-

cess, i.e. on the way in which trajectories are developed and managed.

The steering of the organization will have to be adjusted to the conditions mentioned

earlier. This means that management, evaluation and re-adjustment of the work processes,

task descriptions and performance evaluations, planning, accounts settlements, etc., that

are based on it, will have to be supportive with regard to these issues.

PROGRESS, PROBLEMS AND PITFALLS

This article closes with a few evaluative remarks on an individual, demand driven

approach and the action research programme as was described earlier.

Throughout the years an individual, demand driven approach has found growing sup-

port in social policies. One of the reasons for this undoubtedly is the practical experience

that it can be very successful, not only in terms of ‘scoring’ (for example in getting people

into paid labour), but also in terms of emancipating the client (that is: support the client in

getting a better grip on his or her everyday life). This, of course, does not mean that it is

broadly implemented in all its respects and consequences. The change that is implied is a



fundamental one and is hard to make, especially in large-scale institutions like Sheltered

Employment, where old traditions are deeply rooted. In this respect national social poli-

cies are not very helpful. On the one hand, they emphasize the desirability of client centred

approaches. On the other hand, many social policy measures are primarily driven by finan-

cial considerations and focus on paid labour as ‘the solution for all problems and all cli-

ents’. A large part of the policy-delivery process has been privatized and transformed into

a market, also for the organizations that formally are still part of the public sector. This

stimulates organizations to think (and act) in terms of their organizational interests (how

can we survive on the market of social policy?) and of quick scores (which people can be

coached to a paid job as quickly as possible?). They are more or less forced to work with

‘lean production’. In the current situation, for example, it is rule rather than exception that

labour market consultants have only an hour to talk with a client and get a good picture of

the clients’ situation, motives, possibilities and competences. This is seen as being suffi-

cient to coach the client to a paid job. As a consequence they focus mainly on their ‘easy’

clients; the harder ones, that demand more time and attention, are more or less put aside.

To put it cynically: easy clients get a client centred approach, the harder ones do not.

In this situation the picture of everyday policy delivery is strongly differentiated.

Almost all administrative organizations advertise themselves as being client centred.

For a lot of these organizations this is nothing but window dressing. For others, it is more

than just that. Part of their work processes are pragmatically focussed on ‘quick scores’

and ‘lean production’. In this way they try to create the means for more client centred

work processes in other parts of their organization. Finally there are organizations that

consequently try to take an individual, demand centred approach as a starting point for

changing their everyday practice. At the risk of being too optimistic, it is thought that this

differentiated picture represents progress. Twenty years ago a client centred approach was

hardly an issue. In the current situation it is, on a broad scale, with a lot of driving force,

and unavoidably with a lot of problems, drawbacks and pitfalls.

Comparable remarks can be made on the action research programme presented earlier.

In the current situation many labour market agencies, organizations for Sheltered Employ-

ment, schools, care institutions, and so on are seriously interested in research and consul-

tancy projects for further development and implementation. This, can be seen not only as

an expression of the growing support for client centred approaches, but also for action

research. In the authors’ experience there is a growing interest in research that primarily

focuses on how social policies can contribute to the emancipation of the client, that con-

ceptualizes the change that has to be made from existing institutional, supply oriented

social policy practices to more individual, demand oriented practices as a fundamental

one, and that is based on the combination of vision, theory and everyday practice.

This does not mean that the path of action research is all covered with roses. Given its

close relation to the differentiated practice of social policy, the action research programme

as has been sketched represents a differentiated reality too. In some projects the learning

process was positive in terms of the development of knowledge and the practical imple-

mentation of an individual, demand driven approach. In other projects a lot has been

learnt, but mainly in terms of how this approach should not be developed and implemen-

ted. As part of a broader research programme, this kind of knowledge is important and can

be ‘used’ in a fruitful way. In terms of its contribution to the emancipation of the clients

involved, these projects can be very problematic. Sometimes it is relatively easy to decide

what to do in this situation. The authors have had projects, where they have became part of

the process of window dressing and decided to stop. In many other projects, the situation is

462 B. Valkenburg


far more complex. What if many of the involved consultants really support a client centred

approach and want to ‘go for it’, but meet too much resistance among their management?

And what if the opposite is the case? And, last but not least and most often the case, what if

on all levels of the organization people are struggling, sometimes in a conflicting way, on

the pro’s and contra’s of such an approach? In these situations there are no general rules

for decision-making. Decisions can only be made in the specific context they present

themselves in. Needless to say, if looking back over a longer period of time some of these

decisions have turned out to be right, others to be wrong.

As said, in the authors’ experience there is a growing support for action research, espe-

cially on the level of the organizations that are involved in policy delivery. At the same

time, this way of doing research in the domain of social policy is not without its problems

on the level of national politics. On this level action research is seen as ‘too close’ to the

everyday practice of policy delivery and as a ‘too long-lasting way of doing research’.

From this perspective what is needed is quantitative research, desirably on a large scale,

on the investments in and results of social policies (‘monitoring’) that yields short-term

support for policy decisions. The interest in the complex processes underlying the quan-

titative figures, and thus in research that offers insight in these complex processes, is lim-

ited. On this level there still is a lot to discuss and a world to win for action research. The

starting point should not be that quantitative, monitoring research is irrelevant. The pri-

mary aim of this discussion should be that quantitative, monitoring research and action

research deliver different kinds of knowledge and that both are needed to support the

development, determination and delivery of social policies.

REFERENCES

Coenen-Hanegraaf, M. A. H. R., Gortz, M., & Coenen, H. (1995). Betaald werk met perspectief.Supported Employment voor mensen met mogelijkheden. Utrecht: Jan van Arkel.

Coenen-Hanegraaf, M. A. H. R., Traas, M., & Coenen, H. M. J. (1991). Integratie in de arbeid vanVSO/MLK-schoolverlaters en mensen met een vergelijkbare achtergrond in de regio Helmond.Utrecht: University of Utrecht, Vakgroep Algemene Sociale Wetenschappen.

Coenen-Hanegraaf, M. A. H. R., Vliet, K. van, & Coenen H. M. J. (1994). Perspectief op betaaldearbeid voor mensen met een verstandelijke handicap. Utrecht: Jan van Arkel.

Coenen-Hanegraaf, M. A. H. R., Coenen, F., Valkenburg, B., & Coenen, H. (1998a). Individuali-sering als basis voor een modernisering van de sociale werkvoorziening. Utrecht: University ofUtrecht/STAB.

Coenen-Hanegraaf, M. A. H. R., Valkenburg, B., Ploeg, M., & Coenen, H. (1998b). BegeleidWerken; theorie en methodiek van een individuele, vraaggerichte benadering. Utrecht: Jan vanArkel.

Coenen-Hanegraaf, M. A. H. R., Valkenburg, B., Vertegaal, L., & Coenen, H. (1997). Arbeids-participatie en emancipatie van mensen met een verstandelijke handicap. Tussen experiment enimplementatie. Utrecht: Jan van Arkel.

Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity. Cambridge: Polity Press.Valkenburg, B. (1993). Maatwerk: tussen generalisme en specialisme. Tijdschrift voor Arbeid enBewustzijn, 17(1), 21–28.

Valkenburg, B., Coenen-Hanegraaf, M. A. H. R., & Coenen, F. (2000). De Sociale Werkvoorziening:Erosie of vernieuwing? Utrecht: University of Utrecht/ STAB.



Documents

The development of an individual, demand driven approach in a long-lasting exemplarian action research