Introduction to Social Work Chapter 8: Administration & Research SOW 3302 Professor Susan Mankita, MSW, LCSW Adapted from Farley, Smith, & Boyle

Administration and Research, Chapter 8 Administration as heart of social work education and practice Most masters level social workers move into admin positions within 10 years Supervisors Executives Consultants Agency directors Some social work educators have advocated that the administrative process is the very heart of social work education and practice

Administration Definitions Social work administration = ‘process of transforming social policy into social services…a two-way process: transforming policy into concrete social services use of experience in recommending modification of policy’ (Kidneigh) Process of defining and attaining the objectives of an organization through a system of coordinated and cooperative effort (Stein)

Definitions... (con’t) ‘The action of staff members who utilize social processes to transform social policies of agencies into the delivery of social services…. The basic processes most often used are planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling….’ (Skidmore)

Historical Details... 1914 First course in administration in a SW school Even then, not considered distinct area Included in social work curriculum in 1944 1946 – National Conference on SW had administration section 1977 – Administration in Social Work: Journal 1978 – CSWE – high priority

Basic Assumptions and Principles Process of securing and transforming community resources into a program of community service Administration in social work is concerned in a major way with enterprise determination, which includes goal formation ‘provisioning’ the service Executive is not a neutral agent Executive’s functions within the agency combine the following: Provide a seeing-the-enterprise-as-a-whole quality Participate in a leadership capacity and policy formulation Delegate, coordinate, and control the work of others to promote and enhance the work of board and staff Administrator represents a person to identify positively with Creative use of human resources – board, staff, and volunteer Parts of the enterprise are interrelated and interacting What one does not do has effects as well as what one does do (Spencer/ Curriculum Study) enterprise determination, which includes goal formation – agency is self determining with community bodies secondary and administrator is ultimately responsible for this… ‘provisioning’ the service administrators are concerned with logistics of programs and activities of the agency Provide for board, staff, and community an executive who represents in personal attitudes, abilities, and activities a person with whom they can identify positively Accountability - effectiveness must be studied ‘not to monitor client outcomes substantially and use that data to improve operations is tantamount to managerial irresponsibility, incompetence, and unethical conduct’

Supervision Means ‘oversight, control, surveillance’ Administrative process that assists staff development and performance Supervision focuses upon the acquisition and use of knowledge and the application of skills to practice Supervision as teaching Supervisee participates actively in his or her own learning Assumption is that the worker learns by doing Worker learns by using his or her whole self Worker-supervisor relationship is main dynamic in learning Supervision is evaluation Supervision for licensing

Consultation Technique for improving and expanding services Specialized help and technical info Interaction between professional persons who explore a problem to find a solution that will best serve the needs of a client Principles of Consultation Consultation is a helping process involving the use of technical knowledge and a professional relationship with one or more persons Social work consultants derive their specialized information from social work

Collaboration Collaborating in the social service system becomes a shared experience in which the knowledge of professionals, paraprofessionals, and indigenous workers is shared in the various processes of service delivery Interagency Intra-agency

Teamwork Concepts Cooperative democratic group of professional individuals who work together to provide services Union of interdependent inquiry Individuality of the participating disciplines Dynamic process that implies a capacity for growth and change

Shifting Power in Social Work Administration Three groups are involved in agency services Executives Staff Clients Participatory administration More power shared A move away from authoritative power Interaction/sharing of ideas Interagency cooperation

Research Three research roles for social workers (Grinnell) Consumer of research Disseminator of Knowledge Contributing partner Major steps (Polansky) Find researchable problem Develop study design Identify potential subjects Method of data collection Collect data Analyze data statistically or qualitatively Compare results/draw conclusions Identify larger implications for theory and practice Summarize and disseminate