scholarly journals Social Workers as Senior Executives: Does Academic Training Dictate Leadership Style?

10.18060/2691 ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 573-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauri Goldkind ◽  
Manoj Pardasani
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Human Service Organizations ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Executive Directors ◽  
Northeast Section ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Social Work Training

The range and patterns of leadership styles in human service organizations are important for social work educators and their students to understand if social work administrators are to compete successfully in the marketplace for executive director and other top management roles. Using a sample of executive directors of human service organizations located in a state in the Northeast section of the U.S., the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was used to explore their leadership style. The authors compare various elements of leadership style (charisma, inter-personal transactions, reactions to work issues, etc.) as well as perceptions of effectiveness and satisfaction with leadership style across academic backgrounds of executive directors. These results highlight the competencies required of successful leaders and can assist educators in identifying curricular gaps developing courses preparing social workers for leadership positions in the field. This study provides critical information on the core leadership skills and knowledge relevant for effective social work administration. Implications for social work training and education are discussed as well as possible avenues for curriculum revision.

scholarly journals Leadership Support of Supervision in Social Work Practice

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 151-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary Vito
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Human Service Organizations ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Leadership Support

This article discusses research findings that highlight the importance of leadership support of supervision for social workers in human service organizations. While supervision is considered a cornerstone of social work practice, whether and how such supervision is supported by human service leaders is not adequately analyzed. Using qualitative research data from interviews with supervisors and managers in southern Ontario, this article presents the vital role social work leaders play in supporting supervision by modelling values, and creating a safe organizational culture. The challenges of providing this support are also discussed in the current context of new public management. The article concludes with a series of recommendations, including: prioritizing supervision to promote organizational learning, organizational restructuring to reduce power differentials, modelling social work values to create a safe learning culture, and supporting supervisory and leadership training for social workers. Findings may be of interest to social workers who are leading, supervising, teaching or practicing in human service organizations.

scholarly journals Organizational Identification: Perspectives of Dispersed Social Workers

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharlene A. Allen Milton ◽  
Michael M. Sinclair ◽  
Halaevalu Ofahengaue Vakalahi
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Organizational Identification ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Human Service Organizations ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Organizational Goals ◽  
Socially Isolated ◽  
Dispersed Work

Human service organizations are often challenged to become more efficient while maintaining the quality of their services. As a result, more organizations have restructured, adopting the practice of dispersed work, which allows employees more freedom and flexibility to meet organizational goals outside of the traditional workplace. While dispersed work allows social workers to engage in work activities beyond the traditional office environment, it may also impact their sense of belonging to the organization. Eleven dispersed social workers were interviewed to understand how interaction via new communication technology impacts organizational identification. Overall themes gleaned from this study suggest that although dispersed social workers perceive themselves as having more autonomy and flexibility, they also can feel socially isolated and disconnected from their peers and supervisors, which may negatively impact organizational identification. Despite the enhanced efficiency that technology can bring, human service organizations must strive to understand the unintended consequences of a dispersed workforce.

Stern, Leonard William

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sadye L. M. Logan
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Human Service Organizations ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
National Association ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Governmental Agencies ◽  
Distinguished Career

William Leonard Stern (1926–2019) had a long and distinguished career as a social worker and member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). Over more than five decades, he developed policies, built and managed programs, and provided consultation and evaluation services to a variety of human service organizations, professional associations, and governmental agencies.

It's a Relationship: A Qualitative Exploration of the Challenges to Interorganizational Collaborative Relationships

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morgan E. Braganza
Keyword(s):  
Human Service ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Human Service Organizations ◽  
Interorganizational Collaboration ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Executive Directors ◽  
Collaborative Relationships ◽  
Qualitative Design ◽  
Qualitative Exploration

Interorganizational collaboration is increasingly used to address social issues, but it can fail when the underlying relationships become damaged. This study explores the qualities, characteristics, and processes that can fracture collaborative relationships and the consequences of failing to correct these fractures. Using a qualitative design, interview data were collected from 19 executive directors of Canadian human service organizations. The findings highlight several challenges to collaboration and show the importance of exploring negative outcomes of inaction. An additional aim of this study is to provide strategies for building and nurturing collaborative relationships.

Effecting Internal Change in Human Service Organizations

1977 ◽  
Vol 58 (9) ◽  
pp. 546-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herman Resnick
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Human Service Organizations ◽  
School Social Work ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Work Setting ◽  
Voluntary Counseling ◽  
Internal Change

Three basic patterns are illustrated with case studies from a school social work setting, a university context, and a voluntary counseling agency

From Mutual-Aid Self-Help to Professional Service

1984 ◽  
Vol 65 (10) ◽  
pp. 622-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald M. Traunstein
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Human Service Organizations ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Self Help

Some mutual-aid self-help organizations develop into professional-bureaucratic human service organizations. The process of transforming them involves important changes in functions. Social workers who become part of the process can learn to work efficiently despite its tensions.

scholarly journals Electronic information systems and social work: principles of participatory design for social workers

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Gillingham
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Future Development ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Participatory Design ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Electronic Information

The introduction of electronic information systems (IS) to human service organizations has been heavily critiqued, most notably for the ways that they may undermine frontline social work practice. Socio-technical design has been proposed as one means to redesign IS and a key element of this approach is the involvement of practitioners in the design process. Social workers, though, may be ill-prepared to engage in such processes. Reflecting on the findings of a program of research which aims to contribute to future designs of IS that support frontline practice, the aim in this article is to provide some guidance for social workers that will assist them to be active and effective participants in the future development of IS.

EXPLORING DIFFERENCES IN LEADERSHIP STYLES: A STUDY OF MANAGER TASKS, FOLLOWER CHARACTERISTICS, AND TASK ENVIRONMENTS IN KOREAN HUMAN SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mann Hyung Hur
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Styles ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Human Service Organizations ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Task Environment ◽  
Leadership Process ◽  
Service Managers ◽  
And Task ◽  
Task Environments

This study was designed to analyze the leadership style of managers in Korean Public Human Service Organizations (PHSOs) in terms of the leadership continuum developed by Tannenbaum and Schmidt (1973). Its purposes were to explore whether or not there is a difference in leadership styles between human services and administrative work and, if there is, to examine whether or not their leadership styles are adaptive to the follower's characteristics and task environment. Results showed that the leadership style of administrative managers is significantly different from that of human service managers. However, the leadership style was not changed in accordance with follower characteristics and task environment. This result indicates either one of the following interpretations; (1) that follower characteristics and task environments cannot be counted as an independent variable of the leadership process, or (2) that the leaders in Korean PHSOs have not yet been transformed into situational leaders.

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