Professionalization of Housing Management
Introduction
Shelter, water and food are generally accepted as the basic needs of life. Housing is a fundamental need; it provides shelter and also gives access to a decent water supply. Housing is not generally thought of as an area of professional activity-the idea of housing as a subject of academic study is often greeted with genuine surprise.
It has been noted that there is growing significance of professional housing management in Hong Kong and it has also been known the wide adoption of the “Hong Kong management model” in the neighbor cities of high density. The complexity of housing issues also inhibits radical revision. Housing reflects and affects the economic and social framework in which it is located. Housing is influenced by demographic, economic, fiscal and social trends, while housing policy changes have their own impact on all of these aspects. Programs designed to deal with one issue often have unintended effects in other fields and it is only too easy for policies to cancel each other out or contradict each other.
It is extremely unlikely that a future package of coherent, rational policies will emerge which can tackle housing problems across the board; there will always be uncertainty and scope for speculation.
Housing is undoubtedly affects the social, political and health issues however there are growing debates on the issue of housing as a profession. In fact in Hong Kong as been stated has a growing number of housing professionals. The issue of concern here has been pointed to the professionalization of housing management.
Issues
Based on formulation which involves nine separate continua, issues on the professionalization of housing management would be tackled. The nine continua in which has identified includes knowledge, task, decision-making, authority, identity, work, career, education and role. According to the formulation, an occupation can be considered as a profession when the knowledge is broad and theoretical to used in a non-routine task to reach a unprogrammed decision making according to the ends decided for the society and supported by occupational group as work is the central life interest and the basis of individual career achievement which involves an extensive education, showing skill and meeting other latent status requirement involves in the total role that is expected to extent beyond expertise and work situation.
To determine if housing management is a profession, profession is defined. There are many definitions of profession, professional, or a process of professionalization. An effective definition comes from , who describes a profession as “a type of high-grade, non-manual occupation, with both objectively and subjectively recognized occupational status, possessing a well-defined area of study or concern and providing a definite service, after advanced training and education.” (1964)
To further qualify this definition, it is useful to look at Greenwood’s list of characteristics that define a profession: systematic theory, autonomy, community sanction, ethical codes and a culture ( 1966). , on the other hand, argues that there are four values associated with professionalism: expertise, autonomy, commitment, and responsibility (1963). identifies five characteristics of an archival profession: specialized knowledge or theory, community sanction, professional cohesion, culture, and institutionalized altruism (1994). Abbott defines a fully formed profession as an organized body of experts who apply some particular form of esoteric knowledge to particular cases (1988).
Housing managers are often referred to as professionals, and housing management is seen as one of the local government professions. (1990) point out that to be considered as a professional housing manager the following criteria should be considered.
Ø the degreed of tenant satisfaction (or seller satisfaction in a new purchase) with the current manager,
Ø the degree of professional attainment as measured by designations,
Ø the capability to produce reports and analyze data, and
Ø the overall management plan of what services will be provided for what fee.
These areas are interrelated and the extent to which housing managers are designated could indicate greater competence in any or all of these areas.
Knowledge
By criterion, housing managers are weakly professionalized by virtue of their position in local government where councilors and other professional groups such as architects can exert control over their work. Also, the professional body, the Chartered Institute of Housing, does not control entry to the profession and many housing managers are not formally qualified in housing. Therefore, housing managers are on relatively weak ground in arguing that there is a strong and distinct body of professional knowledge (1994,).
Established professions have systems of instruction and training together with entry by examination and other formal prerequisites. They are believed to possess and enforce some kind of code of ethics or rules of behavior. They are also thought to rely on fees for services. These various definitions are, in fact, closely linked and comprise the same fundamental principles of what constitutes a profession.
Task
The view, formerly taken for granted, of the role of ‘professional’, expert, housing officer is challenged in a number of ways by the consumerist and citizenship models. In the consumerist model housing managers seek to take account of the views of individual tenants, thus accepting implicitly that ‘professionals’ do not know everything. In the citizenship model tenants are encouraged to play an active role in influencing the policy and management process, again implying a degree of humility on the part of housing managers which does not accord well with the traditional view of the objective expert. Thus whatever view of their role housing managers hold, it has implications for their approach to their relationship with tenants and tenants’ groups.
Decision Making
The traditional model of local government sees housing managers as holding expertise and skills which justify their authority in managing the council housing stock with little or no reference to the tenants. Where tenants are ‘involved’ in management it is largely by having information provided by the professionals rather than by joining in negotiations, consultation or even by providing information to the professionals.
(1988) argues that few people would claim that the profession of housing management had fully established itself on the model of the professions that have traditionally dominated local government. The profession has not yet gained the status conceded to other professions, nor the dominance in the housing department characteristic of other departments of the local authority (1988)
Authority
There is a slow establishment of housing as a separate occupational category in the local government bureaucracy. Housing departments staffed with specialist housing managers were only slowly established as the stock of council housing built up after 1919. Even today the housing work of local authorities is concerned with influencing the private provision of housing, as well as the management of council housing so town and country planners, environmental health officers and building control officers, for example, have a role in regulating the development or management of housing in the private sector. Within the council housing sector, other professionals, such as architects, have a more influential role in the design of council housing than housing managers: accountants may be responsible for the collection of rents; and engineers may be responsible for the maintenance of the stock (1987).
Housing management is ill-defined as an occupational category. This ambiguity can be seen, it is sometimes argued, when housing is compared with other local government professions such as town planning, environmental health and social work.
Identity
The growth of local authority housing from 1919 did not lead to a new professional group taking charge of housing-related work in local government. The housing was managed by officers from a variety of local government backgrounds or disciplines such as public health, surveying or finance reflecting the variety of departments holding some responsibility for housing development and administration at that time (1987).
Work
The alternative local authority approach was based, as Power (1987) argues, largely on the management of property rather than people. It was an impersonal form of management based on a written contract and established procedures. However, appropriate standards of behavior were stipulated where it was considered that the property could be misused or damaged, or other tenants could be adversely affected.
Career
A third reason for the low professional esteem of housing managers is the generally low educational background of many housing staff. No professional qualification has the same status in housing work as membership of the has in town planning, for example.
(1988) acclaimed that housing management may not constitute a profession in the sense established by the older professions. The very use of the word ‘management’ to describe the profession suggests not a profession, but a particular, management role, requiring specialist skills or knowledge (1988)
Education
Another indicator of a stronger ‘professional’ orientation is that more housing managers have come into housing from higher education. However, relatively larger numbers of graduates and qualified staff have been employed by housing associations than local authorities, possibly affecting the relative status of housing work in local government and housing associations (1993), and the majority of housing managers enter their occupation from school or some other job.
Most definitions of a profession focus on theory-based education as opposed to on-the-job training, existence of professional bodies responsible for regulating a profession, and a service orientation among the practitioners. Even though in the case of management, some of the characteristics of a full profession (1988) have not yet developed, the existence of others, such as professional education and training, professional organizations, professional literature, and codes of ethics (1998) are sufficient to accord it the elevated status of a profession.
Role
Housing managers have a low professional status and an ambiguous role. Nevertheless, there have been attempts to sustain professional associations and to stimulate a stronger ‘professional’ ethic which values training and education. Attempts to define more clearly the nature of the tasks of housing management and therefore to define the professional skills and knowledge needed are, however, periodically overtaken by new developments which alter the environment in which housing managers work.
As according to , “housing management like other management is a profession as it is also subject to analysis and needs laborious study and experimenting of all sorts, just the same as any other profession based upon any other science.” (1923)
Therefore, the relative lack of emphasis on professional skills and training may be due to a smaller emphasis on a professional knowledge base needed to carry out the job. In other words, housing managers may be seen as managers with some professional knowledge and skills rather than professionals with some management knowledge and skills.
Insight into the weak professional status of housing managers in council housing today can be gained through an historical perspective as to Octavia Hill’s ‘system’ was the personal relationship between landlord and tenant (1992). Hill placed emphasis on decentralized management and on putting responsibility for tenant welfare as well us property maintenance in the hands of the housing manager. Her followers were influential in the management of the early housing associations (1980), but this approach was not generally adopted by local authorities which saw it as expensive, unnecessary and possibly threatening to established professional groups in local government.
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