ABSTRACT
The 'happy family' is the negotiated and carefully managed appearance of team harmony. This chapter addresses some of the issues, specifically in regard to the way child care practitioners manage relationships with their immediate work mates. And thereby gain a measure of autonomy over their own practice and at the same time demonstrate their ability to be a 'good colleague'. The chapter draws on the work of Manning and Van Maanen and Katz to identify specific processes of organisational socialisation whereby practitioners cognitively map out a social system of collegial relationships. It demonstrates that like others in complex organisations the social workers develop shared conceptions of organisational boundaries, internal locales and group loyalties. The chapter examines how colleagues are chosen by work mates to participate informally in a mutual exchange of advice/consultancy. Colleagueship means learning that the team acts as the 'happy family', a necessary artifice to defend against the uncertainties and dilemmas that arise from working with real families.
