Administrative Psychiatry

Although management skills are urgently needed to run our nation's numerous and increasingly complex therapeutic organizations, relatively little emphasis is given to this field, and practically no formal training is required. The management field views human organizations from different perspectives: as technological systems, as systems for policy formulation and decision making, as social process, and as systems of responsibility and accountability. The social process perspective appeals especially to the psychiatrist-executive, who may view his role as that of a social system clinician. The author discusses the qualities of a good administrator and presents the stresses, strains, and rewards of the administrative life.