Managing for Service Effectiveness in Social Welfare Organizations

This important book is the first to make an explicit link between management practices and service outcomes in social welfare agencies. Managing for Service Effectiveness in Social Welfare Organizations is based on the premise that the primary responsibility and distinctive competency of social welfare management is delivering high quality, effective services to clients. Collectively, the book’s esteemed contributors have clearly presented a model of administration founded on concepts and strategies for connecting managerial action with service effectiveness. The sections of the book correspond to the core functions and tasks in an effective approach to management, including measuring performance, program and organizational design, managing people, managing information, managing environmental relations, and the ethics of managing for effectiveness.

Table of Contents:
Contents Section One: Overview and Rationale Introduction Introduction Managing for Service Effectiveness in Social Welfare: Toward a Performance Model Moving Clients Center Stage Through the Use of Client Outcomes Section Two: Measurement of Client Outcomes Introduction Service Effectiveness and the Social Agency Measuring Clinical Outcomes and Their Use for Managers Measuring Client Outcomes: The Experience of the States Management by Measurement: Organizational Dilemmas and Opportunities Section Three: Social Program Design Introduction Design and Development in Organizational Innovation A Theory of Accountability for the Human Services and the Implications for Social Program Design Maximizing Effectiveness Through Technological Complexity Section Four: Managing People Introduction Managing People for Enhanced Performance The Application of Quality of Work Life Research to Human Service Management Section Five: Managing Information Introduction Designing Social Work Management Information Systems: The Case for Performance Guidance Systems The Effects of Feedback on the Behavior of Organizational Personnel Planning for Client Feedback: Content and Context Section Six: Managing Environmental Relations Introduction Multiple Constituencies and Performance in Social Welfare Organizations: Action Strategies for Directors Generic Social Work Skills in Social Administration: The Example of Persuasion Section Seven: Constraints and Dilemmas Introduction Competing Perspectives on the Concept of “Effectiveness” in the Analysis of Social Services Ethics and the Managing of Service Effectiveness in Social Welfare Index