A Case Study of The Practical Use of a Case Management System - A Praxiography of a Danish Employment Agency
Authors
Zoorob, Sami ; Hertz, Lasse Roosevelt
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2022
Submitted on
2022-06-03
Pages
55
Abstract
Digitale værktøjer, der bruger tidligere data til at forudsige udfald, indgår i stigende grad i danske jobcentres daglige sagsbehandling. Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan et sådant værktøj - et sagsstyringssystem med forudsigende elementer kaldet ASTA - faktisk bruges i en lille kommunal enhed, der betjener personer med akademisk uddannelse. Vi anvender en praksiografisk tilgang inspireret af Annemarie Mol's The Body Multiple (2002), hvilket betyder, at vi fokuserer på, hvad mennesker og teknologier gør sammen i praksis, snarere end kun på formelle hensigter. Vi finder, at sagsbehandlernes hverdag ændrer sig gennem den sociotekniske vekselvirkning mellem ASTA's funktioner og lokale rutiner: systemet og medarbejdernes praksis påvirker hinanden og ændrer, hvordan arbejdet organiseres. På den baggrund argumenterer vi for, at sagsstyringssystemer bør forankres lokalt og løbende tilpasses konkrete arbejdsgange frem for at bygge på en standardløsning for alle. Vi skitserer praktiske forbedringer, der kan øge sagsbehandlernes autonomi, herunder muligheden for at vælge og konfigurere en personlig brugerflade. Vores studie viser, at de ydelser, der tilbydes ledige, er sociotekniske i deres tilblivelse; for at forstå og forbedre dem må man følge, hvordan mennesker og teknologier former hinanden tæt på praksis.
Digital tools that use past data to predict outcomes are increasingly part of daily casework in Denmark’s jobcenters. This thesis examines how one such tool - a case-management system called ASTA with predictive features - is actually used in a small municipal unit that serves people with academic degrees. We use a praxiographic approach, inspired by Annemarie Mol's The Body Multiple (2002), which means we focus on what people and technologies do together in practice rather than only on formal intentions. We find that the everyday work of caseworkers is reshaped by the socio-technical interplay between ASTA's functions and local routines: the system and staff practices influence each other and change how work is organized. Based on these observations, we argue that case-management systems should be grounded in local needs and be continually adjusted to fit concrete practices, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all design. We outline practical changes that would increase caseworkers' autonomy, including the ability to choose and configure a personalized user interface. Our study shows that services offered to unemployed clients are socio-technical in nature; to understand and improve them, we must follow how people and technologies shape each other up close.
[This summary has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
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