ABSTRACT
The practice of management in social care and the contexts in which managers operate have been the focus of much recent interest. Standards are being developed for managers in particular settings (such as residential care homes), and training for managers in registration and inspection services is a current government preoccupation. This chapter presents two strands of research. Firstly, the authors obtained the particulars of forty posts from advertisements, reflecting a wide range of social care settings. From these and government papers the authors constructed an understanding of expectations. The chapter argues that what employers want from managers, is that they manage the dilemmas, constraints and challenges which face them, with limited opportunity to become the well-qualified, professionally developed people aspired to in job descriptions and person specifications. It then compares these aspirations with the realities for first line managers.
