The majority of the interviewees recognise the important role of knowledge sharing on the development and improvement of the provision of floating support services. While individuals providing floating support services have the skills and knowledge to carry out their duties, they are also expected to draw on the specific expertise of colleagues where appropriate. Figure 5.1 shows the responses on the role of knowledge sharing to the provision of FSS captured in Nvivo. It shows that there were 42 references (comments or answers) made from the 15sources (participants) who commented on the issue.
Figure 5 1: Screen shot of Nvivo showing the role of KS to FS
The FSS are multi-disciplinary in the sense that the floating support workers need to know where to sign-post service users and how to broker access to other services. According to Cameron (2010) floating support workers carry out crisis intervention work and provide multi-disciplinary support as clients often have multiple needs. Knowledge sharing is the central part of this continuous improvement process and it enhances the quality of services being provided by floating support worker. As a participant from case B commented:
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FSW: “knowledge sharing improves relations in providing FSS and
greater emphasis is placed on quality of service and responding directly to specific client needs.”
FSW: “I am a big believer in sharing. I know as a team, we provide a
better service when information and knowledge is shared accordingly….. but if you look closely—there are information that someone in the team may have that is crucial to the level of support a service user will get “.
FSW: “we are working together as a team to achieve the same goal, so I
think we should not distance ourselves from one another. So when we share our knowledge, ideas and expertise with one another it helps strengthen the teams and helps ensure the success of providing the needed support to the service users.”
FSW: “you know….. knowledge sharing is important in our work, as it provides the opportunity for the team members to share their expertise and knowledge regarding a service user.”
In providing floating support services, the floating support workers share relatively explicit knowledge with adult social service workers through documentation of routines, manuals, case notes and referral notes. However, for more tacit pieces of knowledge, experienced floating support workers play an important role by physically meeting with adult social service workers and sharing specific client knowledge. As suggested by participants from case E:
ASSW: “I am able to carry out my role effectively because of the
opportunity to communicate and share knowledge with
colleagues providing floating support services to the service users in sheltered housing."
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ASSW: ―it is important that we work as a team and share knowledge with other team members…. as it is our duty to provide excellent service and share explicit information with other colleagues.” ASSW: “My job is such that I have to assess the needs of individual that
is being referred to me and once I have made a decision given the information I obtain from the service user. I have to then communicate back to the team that made the initial referral”. ASSW: “knowledge sharing or information sharing …. In my view
speeds up the process of deciding on the case file and this mean that, services user can get the needed support without much delay……. yeah I would say knowledge sharing with other team does help”.
Whilst it has been noted generally that knowledge sharing has a greater role to play in the provision of floating support services to meet the service users requirements; a small minority of interview participants have stated that clients would still receive services even if knowledge is not shared. As participants from case A and case F stated:
FSW: “…..personally, I don‟t think it make any difference whether we
share knowledge with other team members, at the end of the day, the service users will still get the required services irrespective of what we do.”
ASSW: “sharing knowledge with teams is not as simple as that,…. we
work with different teams and that takes time to get everyone in one meeting. Also other teams members sometimes don‟t engage in information sharing and it can be frustrating….. especially if you are waiting for a crucial information from the other team to made a final decision.”
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FSW: “my view is that knowledge sharing with team is not going to make
any difference if other team members are not willing to share their knowledge, I think the most important thing is maintaining the commitment of providing the best services to the service users.”
Whilst a few participants have noted that knowledge sharing with teams will not be successful if the other team members do not participate in the sharing of information; the important role knowledge sharing has on business has been highlighted in literature. According to Reid (2003), knowledge sharing provides an avenue for an organisation to generate solutions and efficiencies that provide a business with a competitive advantage. However, Cyr and Choo (2010) argue that it requires time and effort to share knowledge. There is also the fear of losing knowledge and some doubt on how the knowledge is used by others. Blair (2002) notes that individuals within the organisation believe the knowledge they possess is more beneficial to the organisation than the data and information stored in the organisation's information systems. Knowledge sharing is a mutually dependent process involving an exchange of information whereby a floating support worker gives something of value and receives something of value. As participants from case D and case A asserts:
ASSW: “In order to perform my role, knowledge sharing with my
other colleagues is very important as it helps facilitate the services to the elderly. Without sharing information with other colleagues it can be difficult to successfully complete case notes.”
ASSW: “it is important to share knowledge with colleagues, even
though you have the case note in front of you….. you still need to contact the team that made the referrals to get some vital information which is not written in the case file, hence the need to share knowledge”
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FSW: “to be honest with you…..there is no way we would have work
effectively without having to share knowledge and information with other colleagues…… it is very important that we communicate with one another in order to support the services user to living independently in their home”
FSW: “sometimes in my role, I am having to communicate my
knowledge of having worked with a client for so long….. and because I have so much information regarding this client, which sometimes is not documented in the client‟s file. I am having to communicate this knowledge to social services so they can make the right decision on the support that will be given to the client.”
The knowledge required by floating support workers to effectively assess the needs of service users is considered to be tacit and it‘s also primarily based on experience. Knowledge sharing between floating support workers and adult social services has to be harmonised, ensuring that the same ideas are not recreated. It has been stressed ( Sharple et al., 2002) that knowledge sharing is only one of the tasks of the floating support worker and their role is about making sure that service user‘s needs are met excellently. Some scholars (Cyr S and Choo C.W; 2010, Riege 2005, and Reid 2003) have noted that managing knowledge sharing involves a lot of enterprise and effort, together with specific incentives related to performance. In order to effectively share knowledge some commentators (Wasko and Faraj 2005; Harris 2006; Cress et al., 2007), have argued that building trust among the parties involved is an important enabler to promoting a knowledge sharing culture between individuals within an organisation.
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5.3 Data Analysis from the Survey Questionnaire on the Role of