Social Workers as Senior Executives: Does Academic Training Dictate Leadership Style?

Lauri Goldkind,Manoj Pardasani

doi:10.18060/2691

Abstract

The range and patterns of leadership styles in human service organizations are important for social work educators and their students to understand if social work administrators are to compete successfully in the marketplace for executive director and other top management roles. Using a sample of executive directors of human service organizations located in a state in the Northeast section of the U.S., the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was used to explore their leadership style. The authors compare various elements of leadership style (charisma, inter-personal transactions, reactions to work issues, etc.) as well as perceptions of effectiveness and satisfaction with leadership style across academic backgrounds of executive directors. These results highlight the competencies required of successful leaders and can assist educators in identifying curricular gaps developing courses preparing social workers for leadership positions in the field. This study provides critical information on the core leadership skills and knowledge relevant for effective social work administration. Implications for social work training and education are discussed as well as possible avenues for curriculum revision.

Highlights

Background nTransformationalBetween Groups BA/BA Leadership Within Groups Total Sum of x Squares FActive Transactional Between Groups BA/BAExtra effort as leader Between Groups Within Groups Total BA/BA MA/MS MSW
Building on the work of earlier social work scholars, they argue that the foundational skills of communication, supervision, facilitation, teaming, and interpersonal skills, which are all hallmarks of social workers ability to relate and connect to people and communities, can be capitalized on in the management arena (Knee & Folsom, 2012)
The National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) system is used by the IRS and the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) to classify nonprofit organizations (NCCS, 2011)

Summary

Literature Review

In the last two decades administrators with a social work background have faced significant challenges. Building on the work of earlier social work scholars, they argue that the foundational skills of communication, supervision, facilitation, teaming, and interpersonal skills, which are all hallmarks of social workers ability to relate and connect to people and communities, can be capitalized on in the management arena (Knee & Folsom, 2012) Those who design social work curricula need to understand the reasons human service agencies are hiring leaders from non-social work backgrounds. Do these disciplines provide knowledge or skills that are critical to leadership? Are there essential leadership style differences between administrators from social work backgrounds and those from other academic disciplines?

Methods

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Discussion

Limitations