ABSTRACT
The concept of 'managerial strategy' may be a way of charting a course through the twin perils of determinism and voluntarism. An emphasis on managerial strategy opens up an approach which neither removes from consideration the work processes nor reduces the labour process solely to participants' day-to-day activities, abstracted from the specific conditions and power relations within which work processes are located. In Welfareville the position of front-line managers in the labour process was more ambiguous than the radical social work literature suggested; The District Managers did not share global goals with senior management, nor were their interests merged straightforwardly with those of social workers. Welfareville's front-line managers were shown to have retained their allegiance to multi-level trade unionism in response to specific pressures and in line with individual aspirations. The chapter also presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in this book.
