LEAN SOLUTIONS IN CASE MANAGEMENT IN SOCIAL WORK

The transition to the market economy and the recalibration of budgets, financial independency and the transfer of responsibility to the local level in the management of social work budgets have caused concerns for the rational spending of money intended for these activities. We are still very far from managing these budgets fairly and efficiently, but the direction is very clear: the money will be little and must be used efficiently. The health and economic crisis that followed should lead to efficiency in the first phase and then to effectiveness and sustainability in the second. This requires a series of abrupt changes, which are difficult to achieve, both due to factors internal and external to the institutions. Their organization, the very high level of bureaucracy, poor staff performance, corruption and political interference in the administration turned good intentions into bad habits and inefficiency. Social services lack the contents and strategies to achieve quality, the elements that determine whether a service is considered quality or not are missing. There are control institutions, but they are ineffective because they cannot enforce quality assurance. They don�t have tools and don�t understand how to get results. The aim of this paper is to explore the deficiencies in social care case management, highlighting how these issues diminish the effectiveness of services and the well-being of beneficiaries. To achieve the purpose of the article, three focus groups were conducted with social case managers. The research underscores the importance of high-quality case management, which encompasses timeliness, effectiveness, client-centeredness, safety, and equity. The study also examines the potential of Lean management principles to improve efficiency in social work by eliminating waste and focusing on value creation. The barriers that stand between case management service providers and their beneficiaries identified in this research cand by removed by setting quality targets, organizing employees according to modern human resources system models, and institutional reorganization. The control of the variation of the processes cannot be done with a management based on functions, where the decisions, approvals, allocation of resources �walk� from one department to another, reaching that in the end, the beneficiary receives mediocre solutions or solutions that cost a lot. The current yield is negative, the institutions consuming huge resources to obtain results without much value. Our approach may not bring about the immediate changes we desire in this field, but it lays the groundwork for viable long-term solutions that can enhance the quality of services and improve the performance of social welfare institutions in the future.