Building Cultures And Climates For Effective Human Services

It is widely acknowledged that many healthcare, behavioral health, and social service organizations provide less-than-optimal services and that the challenge of improving services depends on successfully changing organizational culture and climate. However, there are almost no organizational-level strategies that have been tested with randomized controlled trials. Building Cultures and Climates for Effective Human Services addresses the need for evidence-based organizational strategies for improving human service quality and outcomes by uniquely describing the authors' own case examples, nationwide studies, and randomized controlled trials to explain how organizational culture and climate can be assessed and changed. The two authors use their decades of research and practice experience in assessing and changing human service organizations to explain how organizations can improve the services they provide using the authors' ARC model, which effectively removes service barriers and supports the implementation of evidence-based practices and other innovations. The book also blends case examples with research from nationwide studies, regional experiments, and randomized controlled trials to explain the ARC model of organizational effectiveness and how it works to improve services. It provides a balance between theory, empirical research, and actual case examples to help researchers, organizational consultants, administrators, and service providers gain a practical understanding of how culture and climate affect services and how they can be improved. Furthermore, the text describes the three ARC strategies, each composed of multiple elements, to: (1) embed key organizational principles, (2) implement core organizational component tools, and (3) apply mental models to alter shared reasoning and beliefs that affect success. No other organizational-level strategies for improving services have been so well documented and tested.

"Human service organizations are faced with environments of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. The COVID-19 pandemic, other healthcare challenges, expectations for evidence-based practice usage, and racial justice are vivid examples. Clients and communities deserve effective services delivered by competent, compassionate, and committed staff members. Taxpayers, donors, philanthropists, policy makers, and board members deserve to have their contributions used to deliver programs that are effective and efficient. All these forces create demands and opportunities for organizational change. Planned organizational change can happen at the level of a program, division, or an entire organization. Administrators and other staff will need complementary skills in leading and managing organizational change. Staff deserve opportunities to have their unique competencies used to achieve organizational goals. Organizational change involves leading and mobilizing staff to address problems, needs, or opportunities facing the organization by using change processes which involve both human and technical aspects of the organization"--

This book provides panoramic overviews of critical human service organizational and management practice challenges, as well as new and needed research frontiers. The Future of Human Service Organizational & Management Research: Navigating Complex Frontiers invites researchers, educators, and practitioners to explore: the intersection of the complex environment of public and private human service organizations; and the rise and uncertain effects of new developments in social work, public policy and public management, and other helping professions. The contributors identify how future generations of macro practitioners and scholar-researchers can: Improve service delivery and program effectiveness; Implement evidence-based practices and evidence-informed practices; Promote leadership and social innovation; Build linkages across micro, meso, and macro levels of practice; Train organizational leaders and educate practitioners; and Advocate for more socially just visions of social welfare and society. This edited collection argues that human service organizational and management practice and research are needed to support new discoveries in social welfare, social work, and related professions. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal, Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance.

Focusing on an effectiveness-driven approach to management in the human services, Rino J. Patti's The Handbook of Human Services Management, Second Edition explores the latest information on practice innovations, theoretical perspectives, and empirical research to provide an essential perspective on what managers do to create and sustain organizations that deliver high quality, effective services to consumers. Offering the most comprehensive coverage of human services management available today, this second edition includes 24 chapters authored by distinguished practitioners and scholars in human services management: 10 that are entirely new and 14 that have been extensively revised. The Handbook is accompanied by an Instructor's Manual.

Key aspects of a learning organization & the process of organizational learning are explored in this volume as they apply across a variety of human services, including social, mental health, health, & aging.

"Hasenfeld has done it again. An excellent collection of essays on many of the most important trends and issues involving human service organizations." —Mayer N. Zald, Professor (emeritus), Sociology, Social Work, and Management, University of Michigan The Second Edition of this best-selling text provides a comprehensive and state-of-the-art perspective on human service organizations. This vanguard collection weaves the latest theoretical and empirical studies in macro theory with contemporary examples from hospitals, schools, social service organizations, mental health centers, and public welfare agencies. Blending theory with application, this outstanding anthology highlights the moral choices and accomplishments made by human service organizations. Key Features of This Edition Presents the latest theoretical and empirical studies on human service organizations, offering students key analytical tools to study and understand human behavior in various contexts. Introduces important new topics, such as the impact of the policy environment, emotional labor, and advocacy Offers students a new perspective with original studies on organizational ideologies, conditions of work, structuration of service technologies, diversity, and discretion. Intended Audience This exceptional compilation of the best theoretical and empirical studies on human service organizations is indispensable to graduate students and scholars of organization studies, organizational behavior, and Human Behavior in the Social Environment.

Encyclopedia of Human Services and Diversity is the first encyclopedia to reflect the changes in the mission of human services professionals as they face today’s increasingly diverse service population. Diversity encompasses a broad range of human differences, including differences in ability and disability, age, education level, ethnicity, gender, geographic origin, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, and values. Understanding the needs and problems of Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, the deaf, the blind, the LGBT community, and many other groups demands an up-to-date and cutting-edge reference. This three-volume encyclopedia provides human services students, professors, librarians, and practitioners the reference information they need to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population. Features: 600 signed entries are organized A-to-Z across three volumes. Entries, authored by key figures in the field, conclude with cross references and further readings. A Reader’s Guide groups related articles within broad, thematic areas, such as aging, community mental health, family and child services, substance abuse, etc. A detailed index, the Reader’s Guide, and cross references combine for search-and-browse in the electronic version. A helpful Resource Guide guides students to classic books, journals, and web sites, and a glossary assists them with the terminology of the field. Available in both print and electronic formats, Encyclopedia of Human Services and Diversity is an ideal reference for students, practitioners, faculty and librarians.

Human service organizations are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that their programs work. Organization Practice, Second Edition helps students and professionals in human services and nonprofit management understand complex behaviors in organizations. This new edition provides a new, practical model for understanding cultural identities within organizations. Also, it is significantly revised to include numerous real-world cases, critical thinking questions, empirical support, and engaging exercises. Social workers, as well as public health and nonprofit administrators will benefit from the insights in this book.