Managing the Challenges in Human Service Organizations: A Casebook

by Michael J. Austin, Ralph Brody, Thomas R. Packard

Overview

Managing the Challenges in Human Service Organizations: A Casebook offers current and aspiring human service managers a view into the kinds of experiences they will likely encounter to better prepare them for the world they are about to enter. The cases are inspired by real situations and are designed to encourage students to determine how they would act and work towards a resolution of the dilemmas presented.

Key Features  

• Simulates administrative dilemmas through cases that offer different aspects of agency administration and replicate aspects of actual practice
• Levels the learning field for students entering graduate human service management programs with different managerial experiences
• Orients students to the challenges of management by helping them develop mental models linked to the values of client-centered administration
• Helps students develop a beginning sense of competence and understanding of managerial work while refining their analytic skills
• Offers the opportunity for repeated learning opportunities using different analytical frameworks
• Supplements fieldwork by providing more time to reflect and consider a broader array of alternatives than is found in most field experiences

Intended Audience  
This book is ideally suited as a supplemental text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in social work and counseling, as well as a much-needed reference for human services supervisors and practitioners.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412941273
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	07/08/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Michael J. Austin (Ph.D., Social Work; MSPH, Public Health, University of Pittsburgh) is Milton and Florence Krenz Mack Distinguished Professor of Nonprofit Management at the University of California, Berkeley, where the teaches a wide range of courses, including Assessing the Dynamics of Communities, Groups and Organizations, Management Practice, Research Resources, and Assessing Nonprofit Organizations. His research interests are nonprofit management and planning, organizational change, and policy implementation. He is the author or co-author of a wide range of books and journal articles.

Ralph Brody, Ph.D. passed away on February 8, 2006. Dr. Brody was previously on the faculty of Cleveland State University where he taught social policy and human service administration. He also taught graduate courses on human service delivery models at Case Western Reserve University. Previously, he served for fifteen years as the executive director of the Federation for Community Planning, an organization that provides research, planning and advocacy on health and human services. Dr. Brody authored books on case management, the state legislative process, fundraising events, community problem solving, service learning, and macro practice. Dr. Brody’s many years as a manager and teacher convinced him that the issues facing those in human service organizations were universal and applied to boards of directors as well as NGOs. He dedicated himself to developing tools to enhance the understanding and skills of those in leadership roles, from Cleveland to India, Spain, Ghana, Ethiopia, Egypt and Nigeria. His frequent workshops in Kenya led to the translation of his casebook into the Swahili language. His co-authored book with Dr. Nair: Grassroot Development – Establishing Successful Microenterprises has been published in English and Malayalam language. Dr. Brody’s work touched millions, and his contributions will continue to educate, inform and inspire future students and professionals in human services field.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
Overview
The Uses of Case-Based Learning
The Value and Benefits of Case-Based Learning
Conceptual Frameworks
Managerial Roles
Competing Values
Management Functions
Summary
2. Case Assessment and Debriefing
Case Debriefing
Use and Organization of the Casebook
Summary
3. Governance, Environment, and Structure
Governance
Case 3-1 Meddling Trustees
Case 3-2 Kids Can
Case 3-3 Dorchester House Board of Directors
Case 3-4 The Perfect Storm
Case 3-5 Poor Leadership Boundaries
Environmental Relations
Case 3-6 The Cabal
Case 3-7 Cost of a Tuxedo
Case 3-8 Choosing a Director
Case 3-9 Collapse of the Coalition
Structure
Case 3-10 Merging Colossal and Grassroots Agencies
Case 3-11 Poor Interdepartmental Communication or Competing Service Ideologies?
Case 3-12 Whose Interests Are Being Served?
Case 3-13 Greenvale Residential Treatment Center
Chapter Exercises
4. Leadership and Ethics
Leadership
Case 4-1 Empowering Staff: Real or Imaginary?
Case 4-2 Caught in the Middle: Mediating Differences in Gender and Workstyle
Case 4-3 To Talk or Not to Talk?
Case 4-4 Agency Director Uses a Personal Coach to Address His Leadership Style
Case 4-5 Founder’s Syndrome
Case 4-6 Executive Leadership
Case 4-7 Marian Health Center
Case 4-8 Mosaic County Welfare Department
Case 4-9 Project Home
Ethics
Case 4-10 Damage Control
Case 4-11 Philosophy Versus Economics
Case 4-12 What? Me worry?
Chapter Exercises
5. Planning and Program Design
Planning
Case 5-1 Mallard County Private Industry Council
Case 5-2 Be Careful What you Wish For
Case 5-3 Decisions on Resource Allocation
Case 5-4 Rational Versus Political Decision Making
Case 5-5 The Achievement Crisis at Girls Works
Case 5-6 Cutbacks and Performance Pressure
Case 5-7 Hillside Community Center
Case 5-8 Empowering Staff to Advocate for Chicano/Latina Clients
Program Design
Case 5-9 Banksville Human Services Center
Case 5-10 Massive Retrenchment
Case 5-11 Productivity and Performance
Case 5-12 Responding to Changing Client and Community Needs
Chapter Exercises
6. Financial Management and Information Systems
Fund Development
Case 6-1 Should We Accept the Gift?
Case 6-2 Changing the Ground Rules
Budgeting
Case 6-3 Showdown
Case 6-4 Improving Cash Flow
Case 6-5 Desperate for Program Funding
Case 6-6 Painful Choices
Information Systems
Case 6-7 Measuring Performance
Case 6-8 Information Services Overload
Case 6-9 Evaluating a Strategic Plan for Children’s Services
Chapter Exercises
7. Human Resource Management and Supervision
Human Resource Management
Case 7-1 The Case of Missing Staff
Case 7-2 Client-Centered Administration or Organization-Centered Administration?
Case 7-3 Union Headache
Case 7-4 The Influence of Religious Beliefs
Case 7-5 Growing Pains
Case 7-6 Challenges on the Line
Case 7-7 Selecting a Clinical Director for Friendly House
Case 7-8 Fire a Competent CFO?
Supervision
Case 7-9 SOS in DHS: A Problem of Motivation
Case 7-10 Deteriorating Performance of a Supervisee
Case 7-11 Helping Supervisors Manage Their Staff
Case 7-12 Supervising Five Case Managers
Case 7-13 Supervisory Leadership
Chapter Exercises
8. Organizational Dynamics and Change
Case 8-1 Implementing Organizational Change as a Newcomer
Case 8-2 Diagnosing Managerial Practice in a Budget Crisis
Case 8-3 How Are We Doing?
Case 8-4 Jefferson Hospital
Case 8-5 Thurston High School
Case 8-6 Leadership Challenges in Transforming a Public Human Services Agency
Chapter Exercises
References
Index
About the Authors