What role does social work play in human service organizations? How do social workers experience and initiate organizational change? How can they engage and negotiate with managers and other professionals? How does a social worker deal with ethical and interpersonal conflicts within organizations?
Organisations and Management in Social Work grounds these complex questions in a comprehensive and accessible overview of the organizational context of social work practice. The book demonstrates how effective service delivery is dependent on organizational and managerial activities and procedures, and emphasizes the importance of critiquing existing organizational structures.
Key Features
- Critically examines organizational theory, managerial techniques and organizational structures
- Develops strategies for ethical and reflective organizational practice
- Promotes an understanding of how to plan and manage change in learning organizations
- Helps readers understand the nature of social work professionalism, including partnership and teamwork, and the inherent tensions in human service organizations
- Discusses important themes such as leadership, supervision, risk, decision making, and accountability
- Explores the potential for increasing service user and worker participation in organizations
- Includes extended practice examples and reflective questions
Organisations and Management in Social Work is essential reading for social work students and professionals who wish to better understand the organizational context in which they work.