Working With Human Service Organisations

Workers in human service organisations often find work with clients relatively manageable, but struggle to work effectively with their employing agency, particularly when translating professional values and a client-centred approach to practice. Working with Human Service Organisations provides students and human service workers with a range of tools to assist them to reflect and act critically and creatively within organisations. In Part One, the current context for workers and organisations is examined in relation to organisational theory and practice theory. In Part Two, a model for integrated practice is proposed to enable students to make connections between their professional training and the aims and structures of the organisation.

Helping children, disabled people, the unemployed, the elderly or homeless people can be inspiring work. However you can only help other people effectively if you understand your role clearly and know how to navigate the organisation in which you work. Professional Practice in Human Service Organisations examines what it means to be a professional in human service work, and how to develop excellence in professional practice. Making explicit what is often held as tacit knowledge in day to day practice, the authors explain the dynamics of human service organisations. They outline the challenges worker can face in caring for vulnerable people while at the same time fulfilling expectations of management and funding bodies. They explain the importance of understanding the complex networks of service delivery systems, including the role of information technology. They also examine how workers can maintain professional relations with clients, colleagues and other workers by developing skills in advocacy and in handling conflict, complaints and ethical dilemmas. Professional Practice in Human Service Organisations is essential reading for practitioners new to roles in social work, community work, youth work and related fields.

Now in its Fourth Edition, Effectively Managing and Leading Human Service Organizations continues to provide invaluable creative ideas for achieving managerial success. Authors Ralph Brody and Murali Nair dissect and diagnose common workplace dilemmas, offering current and future managers the skills to implement positive changes in organizations large and small. Easy-to-read, this book connects a conceptual framework and essential managerial practices with hundreds of real-life examples and case studies of applied managerial skills in organizational settings.

Through change and development, human service organizations can promote the well-being of their clients more effectively. This important book describes and analyzes recent research on organizational change and development in the social and human services. It is particularly relevant in light of the significant changes in these organizations during the last decade and the lack of literature in the area. Organizational Change and Development in Human Service Organizations brings together the work of scholars who deal with social welfare administration and change in human services, combining research studies with theoretical approaches to change and development. It helps readers better understand the process of change and the role of the environment in creating change. Insightful chapters encourage practitioners, scholars, and students to plan change in organizations, utilize models of change and organizational development in real life, and evaluate change and its results and impacts. This much-needed book addresses a variety of topics, including: the uses of force field analysis in assessing prospects for organizational change planned change in voluntary and government social service agencies interorganizational coordination of services to children in state custody early stages in the creation of self-help organizations organization and community transformation organizational development in public social services strategic and structural change in human service organizations a developmental approach to program evaluation Many readers will find the information in Organizational Change and Development in Human Service Organizations to be extremely beneficial in their daily work. Covering the important issues, it gives readers a deeper insight into the processes of change and development so they can provide better services to their clients. This book is a vital resource for social workers, professionals in public administration, individuals involved in MSW programs, and students in the social sciences, including sociology and political science.

The novel approach of this casebook encourages the student to determine how they would act and work towards a resolution of real-world dilemmas.

From Simon & Schuster, Changing Human Service Organizations is George Brager and Stephen Holloway's exploration of politics and practice. Changing Human Service Organizations is concerned with the process of planned change with human service organizations. It's focus is on innovation initiated by staff at the lower and middle levels of hierarchy of the organization they wish to alter.