In many instances, departments of social work in universities and community-based social services agencies have common interests in improving professional practice and advancing knowledge in the profession. Effective university-community research collaborations can help partners achieve these goals jointly, but to be effective these collaborative…

Graduate professional social workers are increasingly taking on supervisory and administrative positions, yet little research has been done on the implications this has for social work education. This article analyzes a comprehensive nationwide survey of 750 supervisors and 750 supervisees. (Author)

Administrative human service units require an information system that supports decisions regarding case management, treatment planning, monitoring, and evaluation. An integrated information system that utilizes a relational database for both direct practice and administrative decision making is described. (Author/ABB)

Discusses the effect of the current economic crisis on the administration of human service agencies. Offers a systematic approach to managing such agencies with limited financial, human, and physical resources. Emphasizes the need for administrators to utilize the minimum amount of agency resources to provide clients with effective services.…

This brief study utilizes the source of referral as a means of assessing agency effectiveness. (Author)

Recent public concern for consumer access to records motivated this study of NASW members to determine existing agency policies on this issue. The majority of respondents indicated that their agencies had a policy, written or unwritten, and that most policies allowed access. (Author)

The drive to increase the productivity of social workers in large public agencies has contributed to an erosion of craft elements of practice. Workers' functions are becoming increasingly repetitive and mechanistic, and opportunities to exercise judgment or to develop specific skills are limited. These trends contribute to a weakening of…

The efficient management of social service agencies is in part dependent on a clear understanding among board members, executive directors, and staff of their own and one another's role expectations and functions. Concludes that agency personnel showed only a moderate degree of clarity. (Author)

A model for treating delinquents is proposed in which traditional community agencies would integrate small numbers of delinquents into groups of prosocial children. This innovation would reduce the adverse effects of labeling and peer-group composition, among others, without interfering significantly with the agencies' operations. (Author)

Analysis of the findings revealed patterns involving caseworker--family contact, caseworker stability and experience, and caseload ratio. The initially favorable impact of the assets that an agency puts into the service of children placed in foster care diminishes over time. This was indicated by a five-year study involving seventy agencies in the…

The social work profession has paid little attention to the role of the income maintenance line worker in the past decade. This service is a necessary component for the social worker and the profession. (Author/LAB)

One agency introduced a computerized information-gathering system to answer such questions as: How many families, over what period of time, receive services? What are the costs for each part of the program? How is staff time distributed? The author describes benefits and difficulties that the changes brought about. (Author)

The author distinguishes between social worker accountability, a product of intent, and effectiveness, the level of performance that derives from being accountable. It should be sufficient, he feels, to demonstrate that the profession is acting accountably. Client expectations, social worker-supervisor interaction, and social work education are…

Recent cutbacks have diminished the ability of public agencies to offer needed training to employees. An internal program--peer training--is defined and advocated as an alternative of choice for many training situations. The advantages and disadvantages are presented. Emphasizes the need for a program that complements existing relationships.…

In a study conducted among members of a NASW chapter in California, the authors found widespread experience with sexism in social agencies, but the experiences varied considerably with the sex and age of the subjects. The sexism was experienced in attitudes, career development, mobility and on a daily basis. (Author)