The Handbook of Human Services Management

Rino J. Patti

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781544340340
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

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 explores the challenges of managing in a human services context; managing for performance through positive work cultures, leadership, and information; developing and empowering diverse staff to deliver high quality, culturally relevant services; building agency governance, planning, and financial infrastructures that support effective services; and engaging key constituencies to shape policies and interagency collaborations. A final section looks at future challenges for managers and the role of education in preparing practitioners for careers in this field. Features

• Focuses on how policy, organization, and ideology in the human services shape the practice of management
• Explores the particular knowledge and skills needed to be successful as managers in human services
• Considers ways in which human services workers, including women and persons of color, are developed and empowered to perform at a high level in delivering services to clients
• Covers timely topics within social welfare, including diversity, social justice, evidence-based practice, and ethics
• Offers increased attention to managing in the external environment, including planning, governance, and financial issues
• Includes cases, exercises, summary tables, and Internet resources, as well as Part Introductions, written by the editor, that provide an overview of the chapters and show how they relate to one another.

The Handbook of Human Services Management is ideal for use by graduate students in Social Work Administration/Non-Profit Management in introductory courses in human services management, introductory courses in organizational theory, and specialized courses in supervision, personnel management, and financial management. At the doctoral level, the book can be used for courses in organizational theory or macro practice theory.

PART 1

Dimensions of Human Services Management

This introductory section provides the reader with an overview of human services management. It deals with the scope and characteristics of this practice, the ideological and policy contexts in management that have emerged over the last century and a half, the theoretical perspectives that have and continue to influence the goals of practice, the structure and financing of the human services enterprise, and the roles and functions performed by managers. Taken together, these chapters help the reader to understand the particular purposes, constraints, and challenges that make human services management a distinctive variation of general management.

In Chapter 1, Rino Patti examines the fundamental characteristics of human services management. Included here is a discussion of essential contributions managers make to the operation of the human services institution, the nature and scope of human services, the demographics of the management labor force, and how the special characteristics of organizations in this field shape management practice and give it a unique character. Management issues that arise in the pursuit of providing effective human services are discussed.

In Chapter 2, a revision of David Austin’s entry in the first edition, Michael Reisch discusses the emergence of human services management over the last two centuries. Professor Reisch shows how conceptions of management were shaped over the years by political and professional ideologies and the changing character of private charitable and public service institutions. He traces the ways in which management theory and practice were influenced by the welfare state and the subsequent conservative reaction. The evolution of management education in social work and other fields is also addressed.

Chapter 3, Zeke Hasenfeld’s update of his chapter in the first edition of this book, analyzes a number of extant theories of organization and management to critically assess their utility as tools for understanding the dynamics and performance of human services agencies. While all of theories have some application to the administration of social service agencies, none provides a comprehensive theory of organization and management. Professor Hasenfeld suggests some of the elements of such a management theory for human services organizations, drawing upon the early work by Mary Parker Follet and recent empowerment scholarship.

In Chapter 4, Leon Ginsberg provides a broad review of the structure, governance, and financing of public, nonprofit, and for-profit human services in the United States. In a chapter originally authored by Margaret Gibelman, who passed away, Professor Ginsberg describes the similarities and differences found in the various sectors of human services, the increasing interdependence of public and private sectors, and some of the policy and management issues that arise in this context.

Chapter 5, David Menefee’s update of his chapter in the first edition, provides the latest perspectives on the nature of management practice in the human services. Drawing on his own extensive research and that of others, Menefee describes some of the conditions that have altered management practice and made it as much about addressing external forces as internal processes. The array of roles assumed by managers is defined, and case examples are provided to illustrate how these roles are carried out, perfectly and imperfectly, by practicing managers.

CHAPTER 1

Management in the Human Services

Purposes, Practice, and Prospects in the 21st Century

Rino J. Patti

This chapter looks broadly at human services management or administration, one of the methods of practice employed by human services workers to achieve their professional and organizational objectives. The important contributions managers make to the functioning of the human services system are highlighted. We then describe the nature, size, and scope of the human services enterprise in the United States, to underscore the importance of having a skilled management labor force capable of developing, sustaining, and, where necessary, changing this institution. The demographics of those who ply this craft and issues that bear on the recruitment, development, and competence of this workforce are reviewed. Major dimensions of management practice and variations at several levels are discussed. We then look at several issues associated with managing in a human services context that have particular relevance for improving the quality and effectiveness of services to consumers. The chapter concludes with a brief note on challenges facing practitioners in the years ahead.

The Importance of Management

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Management, or what managers do to catalyze and support the capacity of organizations to realize their goals, is critical to the development, implementation, and effectiveness of human services. People may argue about the precise nature of the manager’s contribution to these objectives, or how managers can best achieve them, but there is little question that managers are central players in the human services enterprise. These contributions are reflected in four areas.

Managers at all levels are instrumental in implementing the intent of human services policies formulated by public (e.g., Congress, state legislatures, federal and state executives ) and private (e.g., boards) governing bodies. Such policies typically set forth broad goals, populations to be served, programs to be delivered, and funding and accountability arrangements, but it is the job of the manager and staff to translate these directives into programs and services that are competently and fairly administered to intended consumers.

Managers are not only implementers of policies, they also inform and influence the policy formulation process (Austin, 2002). Policymakers rely on feedback from administrators who are close to the communities and persons served. Managers participate in the policy process by advocating for changes that will correct flaws in authorizing policies, identifying unmet needs and emerging social problems, and representing the interests of groups that are underserved or disenfranchised. Increasingly, managers, especially those at executive levels, participate in the policy process through special interest associations (e.g., welfare directors, community mental health associations).

Even as managers are responsible for implementing and shaping social policy, they also play a vital role in networking with other agencies serving a common clientele. Human services “systems” are complex and decentralized, with multiple funding sources and lines of accountability that pose potential barriers to consumers. Increasingly, managers act as systems “engineers,” seeking multi-agency solutions to such problems as service fragmentation, eligibility barriers, and lack of interagency coordination. In virtually all human fields (e.g., child welfare, mental health, health), there is a continuing search for collaborative modes that enable consumers to more easily access services and allow agencies to share and exchange information and resources (Alter, 2000; Bardach, 1998).

For at least the last 40 years, human services agencies have been under increasing pressure to account for how they expend public and private funds and with what effects. These expectations have been articulated in federal, state, and local policies and in the nonprofit sector. Managers and their staffs are the first line of accountability in the human services, and it is through them, largely, that policymakers and the public learn whether social policies are having the desired effects. In addition, managers at all levels of human services agencies are responsible for seeing that their organizations have the necessary political, fiscal, and human resources to achieve agency goals and objectives. Bringing all these elements together to create and sustain highperforming agencies is the consummate challenge of leadership.

The Human Services Institution

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The term human services often refers to a wide spectrum of organizations in health, mental health, education, and social services. Here, we confine the definition to those organizations that provide or support personal social services to children and their families, older adults, the mentally ill, substance abusers, the physically and developmentally disabled, the homeless, and others who need assistance in changing behaviors, acquiring skills, resolving personal and interpersonal problems, and accessing the resources and care necessary to sustain themselves. The programs provided include, prominently, services such as income assistance, counseling and therapy, maintenance, social care, socialization, and rehabilitation.

Human services organizations, as a class, share certain fundamental similarities, including the following:

• a heavy reliance on third-party financing, whereby all or some of the cost of the service is paid by a third party, such as the government or an insurance company, rather than directly by the consumer;
• the goal of improving consumers’ physical and psychological well-being, behavior, skills, and social conditions;
• the use of technologies that do not have highly predictable consumer outcomes;
• the participation of consumers with unique goals, personal characteristics, and life experiences in the co-production of outcomes;
• a reliance on collaborating agencies to provide essential complementary services to clients;
• a reliance on the skill, personal commitment, judgment, and discretion of frontline professional personnel in service delivery. (Austin, 2002; Hasenfeld, 1992)

Human services organizations vary in the extent to which they possess all these characteristics. For example, many agencies derive some of their income directly from client fees rather than third-party payers. In some agencies, such as public assistance, the technologies employed are fairly routine and the outcomes largely predictable. The qualifications of staff in these several fields tend to vary from little or no professional training to extensive professional education. Despite these variations, the issues confronting managers in these fields are sufficiently similar to justify thinking of human services management as a generic practice applicable across this diverse institution.

The performance of human services organizations is a matter of considerable importance to society. Collectively, the organizations in this sector contribute to the social cohesion of society by redistributing income and resources to the less fortunate, caring for persons whose circumstances fall below what the community has defined as minimally desirable, giving voice to the interests and needs of disenfranchised and powerless persons and groups, and rehabilitating disabled or dysfunctional persons so they can realize their potential and contribute to their families and communities.

The human services sector is also important to society because it is responsible for the management of tens of billions of dollars each year that are used to serve many millions of distressed and needy people of all races and ethnicities from across the social spectrum. A more detailed discussion of the structure and financing of human services will be found in Chapter 4, but it may be useful here to briefly touch on the scope of this enterprise to underscore the critical importance of management to the proper design and operation of human services.

The Scope of Human Services

Human services organizations are found in the nonprofit, public, and for-profit sectors of the economy. The nonprofit sector is a major conveyor of personal social services. In 2003, 100,800 nonprofit human services organizations in the United States filed returns with the government (there are more such organizations; nonprofits with less than $25,000 in yearly income are not required to file returns). In addition, there are many religious, health, and educational organizations with human services programs that are not reflected in this figure. The filing organizations had revenues of $152 billion (rounded) derived principally from program service revenues ($81.4 billion) and from contributions, gifts, and grants ($58.8 billion; U.S. Census Bureau, 2008b).

Public human services organizations are located at the federal level, in every state and territory, and in many local and/or regional jurisdictions. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2006 spent approximately $48 billion for discretionary and mandated human services including substance abuse and mental health services, services to the aged, services to children and families (including foster care and adoption assistance, child care, and public assistance), and the Social Services Block grant (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). There are also numerous public human services agencies at state and local government levels. The amount spent by these governments for public welfare programs, including cash payments, vendor payments, and social services, was approximately $335 billion in 2004 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008a).

Finally, there is a substantial for-profit sector in the human services. It is difficult to estimate how much is spent by these agencies, but the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Businesses for 2002 provides data on revenues and operating expenses of businesses in the “Health Care and Social Assistance Sector” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005). Revenues/receipts for businesses that correspond most closely to our definition of human services (e.g., mental health, substance abuse, child care, individual and family services, rehabilitation, social assistance), which does not include medical and health care fields, were nearly $250 billion. These data include both forprofit and nonprofit businesses, so it is not possible to estimate expenditures of the for-profit sector only, but we know based on observation that for-profit firms are substantially involved in the mental health, substance abuse, and child care and other human services fields and that their presence in this sector is substantial and growing (Schmid, 2004).

Even though the amount expended for human services in the U.S. is quite large, it represents only a small percentage of total outlays in the nonprofit, government, and for-profit sectors as a whole. Still, expenditures for human services represent a significant transfer of resources to the poor and disabled populations in this county. How well these services are managed to benefit these groups is a matter of critical importance.

Another perspective on the scope and size of the human services sector is provided by employment figures. In fields roughly corresponding to our definition of human services, which the U.S. Department of Labor refers to as “Social Assistance,” in 2006 there were 1.52 million employees in the private sector, including managerial, professional (social...

Table of contents

• Cover page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Part 1. Dimensions of Human Services Management
• Part 2. Managing for Performance
• Part 3. Developing and Empowering Staff and Volunteers
• Part 4. Developing and Managing Programs and Resources
• Part 5. Leadership in the Agency Environment
• Part 6. Looking to the Future: Practice Trends and Management Education
• Index
• About the Editor
• About the Contributors