Management is performance: strategies for client-centered practice in social service organizations

The political nature of human services is a given. The multiple constituency dilemma coupled with the retrenchment of the 1970s and 1980s has led to a great gulf separating managers from clients, and managers from front-line personnel. These political factors have been reinforced by management theory and the blind adoption of "state-of-the-art" management technologies developed in business and the military, and the separation has gained legitimacy. The result is less than optimal service, a dissatisfied workforce, and continued attacks for being inefficient, self-serving, and ineffective. The purpose of this article is to portray an alternative form of human service management. Its vision places clients center stage in our organizations and places the manager as the director and producer. It accepts the premises that "management is the principle engine of progress" (Levitt, 1976) and that management is performance. It then lays a foundation for client-centered management by presenting four principles for social service administrators who desire to adopt this perspective in their daily practice. An elaboration of the skills and methods of client-centered management can be found in a recently published text (Rapp & Poertner, 1991).     

Vandalism: The Environmental Crime

Vandalism is the ultimate ‘environmental’ crime because acts of vandalism are always committed against physical objects and because the physical design and setting play an important role. Vandalism is not a ‘senseless’ crime, but has important reasons tied to the design and management of environments. Vandalism is often misunderstood by designers, planners, facility managers and administrators. Understanding the patterns and environmental context of vandalism enables us to promote better strategies for its pervention and control.     

Reclaiming community: an integrative approach to human services

Taking the community rather than the service system as its starting point, a community-centered approach to service integration seeks to interweave formal and informal systems of care. Working as part of a community--negotiating and building partnerships with families, social networks, and organizations to change problematic patterns and mobilize resources--requires not only collaboration among administrators, but teamwork among front line staff. Team members need to share work, knowledge, and resources, while building collaborative relationships with their counterparts in other organizations, service users, and other residents. Ensuring congruence between new, integrative methods of practice and the way they are introduced and managed may require substantial changes in management behavior. "Resistance" is best understood in this context as feedback to management about its need to change.     

From a Bird's Eye View? A Comparative Analysis of Governance and Network Integration Among Human Service Organizations

ABSTRACT

It is widely recognized by social workers and human service administrators that interorganizational networks are an important aspect of the everyday reality of human service organizations. A well-integrated network is defined as a network in which all organizations are connected and the resource exchange among all network actors is guaranteed. To analyze the integration of service networks, this study conducts a social network analysis of four networks among service organizations governed by a shared-participant type of governance. The results indicate that in networks in which the governance is more developed and mature, the structure shows a high level of integration. The analysis and results show that governance leads to an integration of the efforts of diverse service organizations, ultimately increasing the responsiveness of the entire network toward the complex problems of the target group. Future recommendations include discussing further qualitative and quantitative research efforts and the role of shared-participant governance.     

Human Service Organizations: Useful Category or Useless Jargon?

In recent years a growing body of literature has examined the peculiar features of human service organizations and the difficulties which these pose for their administrators. This paper begins by reviewing recent writings on this subject, noting the differing emphases emerging from social welfare and public administration backgrounds respectively. The definition of human service organizations is then reconsidered, suggesting that it is useful to examine their characteristics in terms of two clusters of features: one related to their public source of mandate and resources, and the other related to the nature of the services they provide. A proposed definition based on these two clusters of features makes explicit two characteristics generally assumed in previous definitions of human service organizations; their purpose of meeting socially recognized needs, and the relatively powerless position of their clients. The definition proposed, rather than setting categorical boundaries, provides a model against which the features of a variety of organizations which wholly or partly fit it may be examined. The implications of the identified features of human service organizations for their administration are considered briefly, with particular reference to such problematic issues as the clarification of goals, the rights of consumers and the evaluation of services. It is suggested that the training and development of administrators for human service organizations must be based on an understanding of the particular difficulties and challenges arising from the nature of these organizations.     

Managing Human Services in a Market Environment: What Role for Social Workers?

Correspondence to Karen Healy, Department of Social Work, Social Policy and Sociology, Building A26, University of Sydney 2006, New South Wales, Australia. Summary International research suggests that the market reform of humanservices is leading to reduced opportunities for social workersto achieve organizational management positions. This paper exploresthe future of social workers as managers of human service organizations.It examines the tensions between the social justice principlesthat guide social work and the emerging contexts of social welfaremanagement. The exploration draws on in-depth interviews withthirty-four social welfare managers working in the non-profitsector in Australia. These managers were identified by theirpeers as progressive, that is, as championing social justicevalues such as access, equity and social inclusion. This paperwill report on their approaches to social welfare managementand their perceptions of the threats and opportunities for progressivemanagement practices in a climate of public sector reform. Thepaper will consider how social work educators can better prepareservice professionals for social welfare management positions.     

Trust as a Means of Bridging the Management of Risk and the Meeting of Need: A Case Study in Mental Health Service Provision

Shifts in public policy towards an increasing focus on risk have been deemed problematic at a number of levels, particularly the tendency for concerns over reputational risk to institutions to trump the interests and needs of service‐users. This article explores the tension between these two dimensions, of risk and need, in a case study of local mental health services – a setting where conflicting objectives to manage risk and meet need are apparent. Media‐driven pressure to ward against the ‘risk’ represented by service‐users tends towards more coercive policy which may obstruct the meeting of need, which in turn may undermine service‐user engagement and hinder risk management. Drawing on qualitative data from interviews with service‐users, professionals and managers, the article explores the process of trust and its facilitative role in meeting need and managing risk. Findings suggest that while existing foci on risk are at times counter‐productive, trust plays a significant role in service‐users' initial and ongoing engagement, communication and co‐operation with professionals. Yet inherent obstacles to trust within mental healthcare contexts remain, due to cultural pressures on professionals, the nature of the illness experience and negative past experiences of in‐patient care.     

In the Eye of the Storm: Civil Servants and Managers in the UK Department of Health

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the UK government faces some tough choices over public expenditure, and these choices will have important implications for both the future of health policy and the way in which health services are managed. In this article, we examine the organization and leadership of the UK Department of Health and weigh its suitability to meet such challenges. We find an organization that is culturally split between public servants and managers, highly reliant on the ability of its key personnel to bridge these divides, and extremely responsive to the political goals of government ministers. We explore the modern DH using three types of evidence. First, the history of the department shows clear political efforts to reduce civil service discretion and focus the DH on the management of the English NHS. Second, the recent organizational structures of the DH show a bifurcation between policy direction and NHS management tasks. Third, an analysis of the top ranks of the department since 2005 shows the implementation of political preferences that are consistent with managerialism but inconsistent with the perceived characteristics of traditional civil servants. The result is a department which has changed just as frequently as the health service it oversees – a department which has been moulded by successive ministers into one for the management of the NHS. Our findings raise important questions about the value and purpose of long‐term organizational knowledge in policy formulation.     

How Turkish Private Hospitals use Social media: A Qualitative Study

The purpose of this study was to examine which social media tools are mostly used by private hospitals in Ankara and to reveal the advantages and disadvantages of social media tools at an institutional level. Based on the purposive sampling method, it was decided to reach only the people within the scope of the research and hence qualitative interviews was performed with 15 people. The interviewed people consisted of managers responsible for social media activities at the corporate level hospitals. The data obtained from in-depth interviews were analyzed by content analysis. Accordingly, it was found that the social media tools most commonly used by the surveyed participants was Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram respectively, primarily for sharing health-related information and the purpose of advertisement. It was concluded that 26.6% of social media activities at the corporate level are being conducted by the communication department and the social media is mostly being used to share health related information by the hospitals. The survey also found that hospitals had increased recognition as an advantage of social media, but difficulty in deleting comments related to the hospital was found to be a disadvantage. In this research, only the social media activities of the hospitals were discussed with the managers at the institutional level Thus, future studies that evaluate the views of managers, service providers, and service users about social media are required. But the results from this study are expected to provide hospital managers with important clues for planning social media activities.     

Negotiating the Superfund: Are Environmental Protection Agency regional officials willing to bargain with states?

Negotiation and bargaining are important activities in the implementation of intergovernmental public policies. Given the design of environmental policy, intergovernmental negotiations are an essential part of the interaction of environmental program managers. This study examines the willingness of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional officials to bargain with their state counterparts in the national Superfund program. A model of working relationships is developed to analyze the negotiating behavior of regional EPA officials. The findings of this study indicate that both strategic (trust, involvement) and structural (relations with EPA headquarters, state program capacity, and state political context) factors are associated with whether or not regional officials are willing to negotiate with state-level administrators. The implications of these findings for the national Superfund program, the larger context of intergovernmental management, and larger themes in public administration are discussed in the conclusion of this paper.     

人力资本主导下国企经营者的物质激励体系构建

20年的国企改革,严重地忽视了人力资本在企业中的重要作用,直接表现为对经营者的激励严重不足。这已成为目前国企改革的重大障碍。本文通过对国企经营者现有激励方式的分析与借鉴,构建起了人力资本主导下国企经营者的激励体系。     

Integrating Health and Social Care at the Micro Level: Health Care Professionals as Care Managers for Older People

A common problem in the provision of coordinated long‐term care is the separation of health and social care. The present government has been increasingly concerned with promoting convenient, user‐centred services and improving integration of health and social care. One arrangement that could contribute to this for some older service users is for health care staff to act as care managers, coordinating the provision of both health and social care. This paper presents the findings of a survey of arrangements in place in local authorities for health staff to work as care managers for older people. This was designed to provide details about the range and scope of care management activities undertaken by health care professionals. Key areas of enquiry included: which kinds of health care staff undertook care management and in what settings; how long the arrangements had been in place and how widely available they were; whether there was a distinction between the types of cases and care management processes undertaken by health care staff compared with their social service department counterparts; and what management and training arrangements were in place for the health care staff.     

政府行政人员道德化及其构建的制度途径

行政人员的道德化,是指对行政人员的行政行为的道德规范过程。它既存在着理论上的必然性,更有着现实的紧迫性。理论上,个体作为"行政人员"在公共领域中出现,碍于行政人员的特殊身份,就必然要摒弃以个人利益为出发点的观念,把握好自己的道德自觉性,这就要求"行政人员的道德化";行政人员的道德失范给行政人员的道德化提供现实的紧迫性。由此可知知道制度的建设是建构行政人员道德化的有效途径。     

残疾人管理与服务人才专业技能训练的构建与探索

目前,我国残疾人事业的发展进入新阶段,国内对残疾人管理与服务人才需求性增强。就当前的教育现状来说,专门研究和培养残疾人事务管理人才的专业仍旧相当缺乏。在残疾人管理与服务人才培养的实际工作中,相关的学校和专业应当积极开展特色专业技能的科学构建。残疾人管理与服务人才将是未来残疾人事业发展的中坚力量。如何培养出符合社会文明发展水平,符合残疾人事业发展需要的残疾人管理与服务人才,是在教育领域中必须加深思考的重要问题。     

The chain is never stronger than its weakest link: implementing a model of collaboration among agencies serving vulnerable children and adolescents

This article analyses agency collaboration to help vulnerable children and adolescents with complex social and psychological problems, examining the implementation of a formal collaboration model for these groups. This model, implemented in Västra Götaland, Sweden, involves five municipal agencies and five county council agencies in 49 different municipalities. Data were collected using two questionnaires sent to 355 lower managers and 424 professional representatives in the concerned organizations. The analysis demonstrates that there are differences in implementation results between the agencies, and that the differences are largely explainable by organizational self-interest and top management prioritization of collaboration model implementation. The main barriers to collaboration are factors modifiable by the agencies themselves, and perceived barriers decreased when the policy was working. The study suggests that managers of human service organizations must assume responsibility when implementing collaboratively, and that accountable professional and political leaders must rise above organizational interests to protect vulnerable citizens.     

Evaluation and public service quality

Public service quality is a recent trend in the context of new public management. During the 1990s, public service quality initiatives have been launched in numerous countries at various levels of government. These initiatives have involved a variety of approaches: professional standard setting, service excellence based on users' perception of quality, government granted rights and choice for consumers, and the activity of consumer movements. Public service quality is considered on three levels: the micro level related to the output of the service delivery, the meso level related to the outcome of the service, and the macro level related to public values. Various stakeholders of evaluations of service quality efforts are identified and their expected use of evaluation is discussed. Three roles of education are described: one in the implementation of public service quality, another in evaluation of the success of service quality initiatives, and a third role of evaluating higher levl outcomes. It is argued that even if evaluation techniques are necessary tools for improving service quality at the micro level during implementation, it is even more important to evaluate these initiatives against higher level policy goals and social values.     

Geriatric Case Managers’ Perspectives on Suicide Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults

It has been suggested that clinical screening for suicide, along with firearm assessment and safety counseling, are important in service provision to older adults. It is unclear, however, how geriatric case managers respond to these issues. This study surveyed geriatric case managers (n=161) from Area Agencies on Aging in Ohio on their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to suicide, firearm assessment, and safety counseling. Results indicated that the majority of respondents (70%) agree their clients are at risk for suicide. However, few (30%) in this study reported that they assess for firearms and less than half (48%) discuss firearms with their clients/family members when specifically assessing for suicide. Analyses identified barriers that contribute to the decreased likelihood that routine firearm assessment and safety counseling would occur, such as lack of training and time. Implications include the need for training with geriatric case managers that addresses barriers to suicide, firearm assessment and safety counseling as a means to decrease these population risks.     

Co-Production and Self-Care: New Approaches to Managing Community Care Services for Older People1

A lack of management theory which is relevant to human service agencies, combined with a failure to recognize the very large contribution which older people make to their own care, makes it difficult to deliver supportive services effectively. Self care by elders is divided, in this preliminary classification, into new strategies for everyday living, the reallocation of time and the avoidance of risk. Managers who understand that service users are co-producers of care and recognize the need to manage the users, as well as their own staff and relations with other agencies, are more likely to be able to deliver good services. However the management of co-production is at present only theorized for the private sector where ethical issues are less pressing and users are customers. In future a greater understanding of co-production and the development of theory and practice which will combine the management of co-production with the empowerment of users within the public sector will be essential.     

新闻信息导向管理的调控原则

新闻信息导向管理调控,是新闻媒介行业或企业的经营者运用良好的计划、健全的组织、完善的机制、正确的运作方式、科学严密的控制程序以及有效的内部协调,使整个新闻信息资源发挥最大效能,从而完成媒介的使命,也是用最少的资源投入获得最大社会效益和经济效益的活动过程。新闻信息导向管理调控的原则是在国家新闻制度管理、法律规范体系管理、行业管理等根本原则指导下实现其功能作用的。它包括:适应受众需求的多样化、导向管理调控的程序化、信息反馈的经常化、报道质量评价的规范化、信息服务功能的多元化、信息取向整合的市场化、品牌形象的整体化和机制创新的系统化等项原则。     

Rural Transport Needs

There have been important stimuli to the intensive applied study of rural public passenger transport over the past decade. These include legal obligations placed on the shire counties (of 1974) to co-ordinate provision with regard to need, rural residents'access to services, and the demands from both academic and political quarters for the rigorous assessment of local government services and functions. There are certain methodological "loose connections". Examined here is the concern with objective service quality measures linked to observed consumer behaviour as the source of information. Undue importance has been attached to the study of consumers'adaptation to service loss, at the expense of interest in questions of equity and absolute service levels. The resulting model promises both to assist in ensuring that equity and opportunity costs of subsidies are explicitly considered, and to highlight localities in which detailed household surveys and accessibility measurement excercises can most fruitfully be employed.