Enhancing Social Work Management: Theory and Best Practice from the UK and USA

This book looks at the nature of management in the human services sector and examines the prevailing issues affecting both the UK and USA.Contradictory forces affect the act of management, such as the imperatives driving the introduction of new control systems which exist alongside the requirement to cut resources. In this book, contributors present both the problems and opportunities associated with the growth of management in the social care sector. They cover key topics including the implementation of change in the childcare sector; diversity - looking at the ways in which care managers can more effectively serve a growing multicultural and global society; performance measurement; the impact of electronic technologies and telecommunications; risk and safety in the workplace; and ethics in making personnel decisions, managing finances, planning and maintaining key relationships.This will be essential reading for social workers and human services managers, and students in health and social welfare internationally.

Jane Aldgate OBE is Professor Emerita at the Open University and Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. She has researched and published extensively on social work and child welfare, both nationally and internationally. Lynne Healy is Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work, USA, and Director of the School's Center for International Social Work Studies. She teaches courses in administration and non-profit management, ethics, and international social work, and has published extensively in these areas. Barris Malcolm is Associate Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work where he teaches courses in administration, non-profit management and social policy. His other academic interests include benefit-cost analysis, substance abuse, cross-cultural research involving minorities, and international social issues. Barbara Pine is Professor Emerita at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work where her teaching and research were in three main areas: social work administration, child welfare, and professional ethics. She has consulted and published extensively in child welfare policy, program, and practice. Wendy Rose is an academic at The Open University, working on national and international research and development child welfare projects, and a former policy maker in the Department of Health. She has published widely. Janet Seden is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Health and Social Care at The Open University. She has worked as a probation officer, a children and families field social worker, and as a social worker/manager in a family centre.