Social Work Management Research Articles

One-Session Family Workshops for Bipolar Disorder and Depression

One-Session Family Workshops for Bipolar Disorder and Depression

‘Treat Me Don't Beat Me’ … . Exploring Supervisory Games and Their Effect on Poor Performance Management

This paper explores the concept of games that can be played out in social work supervision and the resulting effects on both social worker performance, and ultimately on client service provision. It draws on the well-known game playing concepts of Berne and Kadushin, and will then proceed to locate these issues in today's social work context. In particular, it will argue that in light of the recent Social Work Taskforce Report, Building a Safe, Confident Future, recommendations calling for clear requirements governing supervision to ensure high-quality practice, it is critical that attention to supervision is focused not just on questions of frequency and content, but also on the complex interpersonal dynamics. This paper proposes that social work managers are potentially susceptible to certain supervisory games due to their anxieties about the use of power in practice. The purpose is to assist social work managers to better understand particular games and how they can unwittingly participate. It explores the inadequate provision of support and supervision for managers themselves, and highlight the oft forgotten outcome of these dynamics — the resulting poor quality service provision to vulnerable social work clients.

Managing contact in Scotland for children in non‐permanent out‐of‐home placement

AbstractThere has been little research on social workers' views and experiences of managing contact for children in public care, and none focused in Scotland, where different institutional and legal features provide contrast with the rest of the UK. This study explored the views of 19 social work practitioners and managers and three Reporters to the Children's Hearing system regarding the management of contact for children in non‐permanent placements, using semi‐structured interviews and a focus group. The paper focuses on the themes of the supervision and assessment of contact, risks associated with contact and contact via ICT—e‐mail and the internet. It suggests improvements in assessing contact are needed and concludes that while there are strengths in practitioners' current awareness of risks, a risk‐based conception of contact, as exemplified by most respondents' views about the use of new technology, is in tension with the thrust of current legislation; conceptions of contact need to be flexible enough to embrace the variety of purposes contact might serve. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Diversity Management in Substance Abuse Organizations: Improving the Relationship Between the Organization and its Workforce

Diversity management focuses upon an organization's success in understanding and attending to the needs of its workforce—a workforce that in recent years has become diverse not only in age and gender but also in race, culture, and ethnicity. The interdisciplinary nature of the treatment teams in substance abuse treatment programs lends itself to exploration of diversity management practices to improve the organization's relationship with its workers. The purpose of this paper is to explore diversity management within the therapeutic community offering organizational meta-cultural competency as skill sets needed for the social work manager.

The Changing Nature of Accountability in Administrative Practice

This article looks at the subject of accountability in the administration of the human services. The history of accountability over the last four decades is chronicled and discussed. The point is made that during this period, funders have largely determined the nature of accountability. Because funders have been primarily concerned with funding, accountability has tended to be financial in nature. The authors argue that the focus on financial accountability had two major detrimental effects. First, programmatic accountability was reduced to secondary importance. Second, a wedge was driven between macro administrative practice and micro direct practice as social work managers and administrators became almost exclusively concerned with financial accountability to the detriment of programmatic accountability. The authors go on to suggest that the performance measurement movement has united programmatic and financial accountability and has reunited macro administrative practice and micro direct practice.

Risk, Instrumentalism and the Humane Project in Social Work: Identifying the Informal Logics of Risk Management in Children's Statutory Services

This paper addresses growing professional discontents with the increasing formalisation of social work practice exerted through systems of risk management and audit. Drawing on an ESRC-funded study of social work practices in children's statutory services, this paper provides a critique of instrumental approaches to risk management in social work. Through the discussion of three illustrative case examples, we argue that risk management is an inherently complex, contingent and negotiated activity. Social work practitioners are obliged to comply with risk reduction technologies, but informal processes continue to play a critical role in shaping decisions and actions in this relationship-based profession. From practitioner accounts, we identify key elements of the informal logics of risk management. We conclude that the bureaucratic–instrumental bias manifest in the modernisation of children's services, in privileging metrics and administrative power leaves the informal and relational aspects of practice under-emphasised and under-theorised. Suggestions are made about how practice might be advanced in the complex world of child welfare and protection.

Handbook of Human Services Management, 2nd edition

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewFull AccessHandbook of Human Services Management, 2nd editionRichard E. KelloggRichard E. KelloggSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Feb 2010https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.2010.61.2.209AboutSectionsView articlePDFView EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View articleThe purpose of this book is to provide a user-friendly text for instructors and graduate students in social work and nonprofit management on how to manage human services organizations to provide high-quality outcomes for consumers. This publication is the second edition of the handbook. Mr. Patti, who is dean emeritus and professor emeritus of the University of Southern California School of Social Work, has exerted considerable effort to update the focus, content, and facts of the book's 24 chapters: eight chapters are new and 16 revised. Two themes that are woven throughout the book include effectiveness and the constancy of change for human services organizations.The book is organized into six content themes: dimensions of human services management, managing for performance, developing and empowering staff and volunteers, developing and managing programs and resources; providing leadership in the agency environment, and looking to the future with a focus on practice trends and management education. The editor has engaged an auspicious cast of colleagues who contribute high-quality content and excellent writing throughout.Michael Reisch's chapter on the general evolution of human services administration, starting with the 14th century, is informative and engaging.Yeheskel Hasenfeld's chapter on organizational theory explores the theoretical framework of repression and empowerment concepts in popular management models, the need for more research, and social change and postmodernist criticism.Charles Glisson's chapter is noteworthy for the exploration of the similarities and differences between climate and culture, hard and soft technologies in human services, and the challenge of "power," a subject that Otto F. Kernberg probed that is worth revisiting.Diane Vinokur-Kaplan's chapter provides an outstanding matrix history of work motivation theories, covering five decades. This subject is especially timely, given that states and communities are engrossed in significant budget reductions. The exploration of the conservation-of-resources theory and its implications for motivation and performance is worth reading by students and experienced managers alike.Hillel Schmid's chapter explains organizational environment definitions, typology, and the characteristics and theoretical aspects of organizational relations with the environment. The review and comparison of adaptive theories, including resource dependence, both ecological and institutional, are instructive and thought provoking. This book hits the mark as an excellent resource for instructors and graduate students. It is recommended to readers of Psychiatric Services as a useful source of recent knowledge for experienced health and human services managers seeking conceptual frameworks for organizational challenges. The reviewer reports no competing interests.Mr. Kellogg is the director of mental health systems, State of Washington Department of Social and Health Services, Olympia. FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByNone Volume 61Issue 2 February, 2010Pages 209-209PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES February 2010 Volume 61 Number 2 Metrics PDF download History Published online 1 February 2010 Published in print 1 February 2010

Social work management in Ireland

This article discusses exploratory quantitative and qualitative research into the training and education needs of social work managers in Ireland from four sectors of service, the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Probation Service, hospital social work and non-governmental (NGO) social work sectors. 176 questionnaires were distributed. (56 were returned; a response rate of 32%), 3 focus groups were held with 15 participants and 3 individual interviews were conducted with social work managers. They were asked to identify their postgraduate training, their span of responsibilities, the level of management training they had participated in, and the gaps in their management training. While 82% of this sample of social work managers had post qualifying training and education, which enhanced their social work skills rather than their management skills, none had received social work management training. Three out of 56 had completed a Masters degree in Health Service Management. The probation service, laudably, was the only sector that provided management training. However this training was problematic to the managers as it was perceived as not geared for the social work fi eld. The research participants experienced grave misgivings at their lack of management training and prioritised their training needs as including strategic management, cost benefi t analysis, organisational management and fi nancial management. This research clearly identifi ed the need for social work management training and supports the immediate establishment of programmes that address this need in order to enhance existing service delivery.

Editorial Leadership and management in social work

Editorial Leadership and management in social work

Developing communities of practice

Social work in the UK has undergone a period of momentous change in the last decade with the introduction of a 'modernising agenda' that has increased managerial approaches to the organisation, development and delivery of services. These approaches are embedded and social workers and social work managers must fi nd ways of working within them to synthesise appropriate responses that promote the values and cultural heritage of social work within the new context. This paper considers the possibilities offered by communities of practice to develop learning organisations in which a managed and participatory approach to social work and social care can be generated. A super-ordinate model of contending learning cultures is developed and used to create a blue print for practice that draws on a range of management and professional theories and perspectives. Successful involvement of people who use services is identifi ed as a key feature of a more advanced approach to leading a community of practice and the effectiveness of supervision is seen as dependent on the development of a community. The approach offers a strategy for fi rst line and middle managers to develop team effectiveness and improve services that is robust and not dependent on organisational initiatives and cultures.

Complexity approach to frontline social work management

This paper articulates an emergent complexity approach to the frontline manager- practitioner relationship within the context of a managerialist culture and the tensions between new public management (NPM) and social work ethical codes. Drawing from New Zealand perspectives but with transnational applications, a conceptual 'coalface' practice model for social work is proposed. Three constituents comprising professional, organisational and political cultures in which social care managers operate are extrapolated to construct the model: (1) the pervasive reality of managerialism; (2) workplace tensions arising from interrelationships between ethics, the organisation and the individual worker; and (3) an emergent, organic perception of agencies as organisations, integrating 'whole systems' thinking and complex adaptive approaches. The paper analyses the argument advanced by NPM theory of the interoperability of public and private management and proposes a team design that meets managerialist output and performance expectations whilst also creating an emergent framework enabling team leadership fl exibility. The paper suggests that high performance can be integrated with a management approach predicated on social work values, thus offering potential solutions to job stressors and challenges facing frontline team leaders, managers, supervisors and practitioners who function in a managerialist environment.

Care of the Child Assisted by Technology

Care of the Child Assisted by Technology

Motivation and Leadership in Social Work Management: A Review of Theories and Related Studies

Social work managers are confronted with the responsibilities of leading employees and motivating them to succeed. Managers may yield better results when they couple their practice wisdom with a theoretical foundation. This conceptual paper may help social work administrators and educators by providing an overview of relevant theories of motivation and leadership and how they apply to social work. The theories that are introduced include Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Herzberg's two-factor or motivator-hygiene theory, McClelland's trichotomy of needs, McGregor's Theory X – Theory Y, Likert's System 1 – System 4, Blake and Mouton's managerial grid, Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership, and Atwater and Bass's transformational leadership.

An Examination of Organizational Commitment and Professional Commitment and the Relationship to Work Environment, Demographic and Organizational Factors

• Summary: This study examines organizational commitment and professional commitment among a sample of social workers. It empirically explores the relationship between social workers’ commitment and nine work environment variables (collegiality, promotional opportunity, job security, organization and profession-specific skills, autonomy, legitimacy of promotions, distributive justice and supervisor recognition), six demographic or background variables (gender, relationship status, age, employment status, years in social work (profession tenure) and years employed in the current organization (job tenure). It also includes 16 organizational variables (organizational auspices, organizational type, job position, yearly earnings and various types of job benefits, that is, medical, dental, vacation time, sick leave, flex-time, child care, maternity/paternity leave, disability insurance, life insurance, university education/degree programs, employer-paid professional development opportunities and other benefits. • Findings: Based on a sample of the members of the National Association of Social Workers, the findings suggest that work environment and organizational factors contribute to social workers’ organizational and professional commitment, though the results suggest that organizational commitment is noticeably easier to explain than professional commitment. • Applications: In today’s changing social service environment it is especially prudent for administrators to promote factors associated with employee commitment. This study suggests that social work managers ought to develop a greater understanding of organizational and professional commitment because of its link to organizational effectiveness and consequently how social workers work toward accomplishing their organizational or program mission.

Evidence-Based Management: Origins, Challenges, and Implications for Social Service Administration

Evidence-based management is emerging in the helping professions in response to heightened demands for public accountability and organizational performance. This paper defines evidence-based management and reviews its origins in the health care and business sectors and its recent incorporation into the social work profession. A case study describes the efforts of one social service agency to use evidence-based management to improve the performance of its child welfare and mental health programs. Consideration is given to the similarities between the dominant models of evidence-based management and evidence-based practice, the challenges facing administrators seeking to incorporate evidence-based management processes into social service agencies, and the implications of evidence-based management for social service agency practice and social work management.

Evidence of public service motivation of social workers in China

To investigate how generalizable public service motivation (PSM) observed in Western society is to China and examine the instrumentality of public service motivation, two studies were conducted independently. In Study 1, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is implemented to test the existence of PSM based on 99 social workers in Region A of one city located in Eastern China. In Study 2, another CFA process is implemented to confirm the construct validity of PSM, based on 474 social workers in Region B of the same city. In Study 2, we evaluated the instrumentality of PSM. These studies not only provide evidence for the construct validity of PSM, but also produce interesting results that relate to the history and institutional background of Chinese social work. Points for practitioners Results of the study have confirmed the generalizability of public service motivation (PSM) observed in Western society in China and examined the instrumentality of the construct in China. The results identify several key implications for professionals working in social work management and administration: (1) PSM can be used as an additional tool to recruit and select individuals who are best suited for social work; (2) For management in social work or other public sectors, PSM could be as a direction in training and development; (3) More importantly, PSM could provide additional view of incentives in social work or other public sectors.

Knowledge Management in Social Work: Types and Processes of Knowledge Sharing in Social Service Organizations

Based on a conceptual framework of knowledge management (KM) in social work developed in an earlier paper (), the author conducted a single-case study of a social service organization practising KM in Hong Kong. This article provides a follow-up discussion of the framework. Findings of the study are used to extend the framework so that it can be applied more comprehensively to further research on KM in the profession.

Reflecting on What? Addressing Sexuality in Social Work

This article is written by five women from different settings in social work and academia, who are all qualified social workers. Their personal experiences and sexual identities are also different, but they hold a coherent commitment to improving social work practice by addressing sexuality issues in their work. The article considers a number of areas of relevance and interest to social work practitioners, managers and researchers, all focusing on issues around sexuality. Using an amalgamation of personal narratives and practice reflections, the authors combine these with evidence from the literature, to raise a number of key difficulties about reflection as a tool for social work practice. By including heterosexual perspectives alongside lesbian ones and by highlighting some of the parallel difficulties, the paper begins to uncover some of the pathologising and patronising perspectives often adopted in social work practice.

Looked After Young People and their Social Work Managers: A Study of Contrasting Experiences of Using Computer-Assisted-Self-Interviewing (A-CASI)

Audio-computer-assisted-self-interviewing (A-CASI) is used by many child-care agencies in the UK, as a way of recording the views of children in the care of local authorities. This study considers A-CASI’s use in two such local authorities in England. It contrasts how the A-CASI methodology is experienced by children and young people and by child-care managers, and explores how A-CASI may be contributing to the participation of young people in the delivery and management of their care. The study reveals a strong belief in A-CASI from a large number of participants, young people and managers. But managers express concern about many organizational constraints on the effective use of A-CASI data in their agencies. The paper discusses the enthusiasm of the young people for using A-CASI; the concerns of managers; and the opportunities for social workers in using A-CASI in their practice settings.

Social Workers Serving Poor Clients: Perceptions of Poverty and Service Policy

This qualitative study extends current research on social workers' perceptions of poverty and the views of their roles by investigating how these perceptions are manifested in actions. How are the perceptions of poverty, poor clients, and the roles and the responsibilities of social work directors of council social services in Israel reflected in their definition and implementation of the services’ poverty related policy, i.e., the services they offer the poor and the services they recommend creating for the poor, within the cultural and situational context of people living in poverty in Israel. A focus group with eleven directors and in-depth interviews with six directors were conducted. The study shows that poverty perceptions are reflected in service policy. Directors were unsure of their professional role and responsibilities with regard to poverty, preferred intervention at the individual or family level over policy-practice, did not perceive the poor as a target population, did not direct their efforts at the poor, and consequently did not develop poor client centred services.