The purpose of this book is to provide a user-friendly text for instructors and graduate students in social work and nonprofit management on how to manage human services organizations to provide high-quality outcomes for consumers. This publication is the second edition of the handbook. Mr. Patti, who is dean emeritus and professor emeritus of the University of Southern California School of Social Work, has exerted considerable effort to update the focus, content, and facts of the book's 24 chapters: eight chapters are new and 16 revised. Two themes that are woven throughout the book include effectiveness and the constancy of change for human services organizations.
The book is organized into six content themes: dimensions of human services management, managing for performance, developing and empowering staff and volunteers, developing and managing programs and resources; providing leadership in the agency environment, and looking to the future with a focus on practice trends and management education. The editor has engaged an auspicious cast of colleagues who contribute high-quality content and excellent writing throughout.
Michael Reisch's chapter on the general evolution of human services administration, starting with the 14th century, is informative and engaging.
Yeheskel Hasenfeld's chapter on organizational theory explores the theoretical framework of repression and empowerment concepts in popular management models, the need for more research, and social change and postmodernist criticism.
Charles Glisson's chapter is noteworthy for the exploration of the similarities and differences between climate and culture, hard and soft technologies in human services, and the challenge of "power," a subject that Otto F. Kernberg probed that is worth revisiting.
Diane Vinokur-Kaplan's chapter provides an outstanding matrix history of work motivation theories, covering five decades. This subject is especially timely, given that states and communities are engrossed in significant budget reductions. The exploration of the conservation-of-resources theory and its implications for motivation and performance is worth reading by students and experienced managers alike.
Hillel Schmid's chapter explains organizational environment definitions, typology, and the characteristics and theoretical aspects of organizational relations with the environment. The review and comparison of adaptive theories, including resource dependence, both ecological and institutional, are instructive and thought provoking.
This book hits the mark as an excellent resource for instructors and graduate students. It is recommended to readers of Psychiatric Services as a useful source of recent knowledge for experienced health and human services managers seeking conceptual frameworks for organizational challenges.
The reviewer reports no competing interests.
