Management Practice

A Senior Manager with a Knowledge Management Portfolio: The Santa Clara County Experience

Lindberg, A.
Austin, M.J.
2012

The agency director sought to create a systematically coordinated department that utilizes knowledge management strategies to promote evidence-informed practice. In his view, the organization was not providing needed information or organizational supports for practitioners to use knowledge effectively. To address this issue, he created a Director of Development and Operational Planning (DDOP) position with the responsibility to build structures and facilitate processes that support knowledge management. The DDOP oversees research and planning, government relations, legislative development...

The Role of an Intermediary Organization in Promoting Research in Schools of Social Work: The Case of the Bay Area Social Services Consortium.

Anthony, E.K.
Austin, M.J.
2008

The multifaceted role of research in social work education and practice requires innovation to respond to the broader mission of the university and the needs of the community. Building research capacity and supporting infrastructure for research thus demands new approaches to effective collaboration between stakeholders. Intermediary organizations such as the Bay Area Social Services Consortium (BASSC) respond to the directive to bridge research and practice in social service delivery. This article presents BASSC as an example of a modern intermediary organization, discussing in turn the...

The Changing Relationship Between Non-profit Organizations and Public Social Service Agencies in the Era of Welfare Reform

Austin, M.J.
2003

The implementation of welfare reform in the United States provides another opportunity to assess the relationship between nonprofits and public social service agencies. The primary goal of this analysis is to identify the major forces affecting the county social services agencies as they sought to implement welfare reform and how these forces can affect the agency's relationship with community-based nonprofit service providers. The internal and external dimensions of the organizational change process are assessed in terms of the central concepts of devolution, privatization, and community...

Using A Comprehensive Case-based Examination to Evaluate and Integrate Student Learning in Social Work Administration

Packard, T.
Austin, M.J.
2009

While the case method has been used in teaching social work practice for many years, its use as an evaluation tool is less common. This analysis describes the use of the case method in a comprehensive examination for MSW students in an Administration concentration. After a brief review of the issues related to student outcome assessment and the curriculum of the Administration concentration, a case debriefing framework is described, along with examples of student responses. The analysis concludes with a discussion of issues and implications for future research.

Case-based Learning: Educating Future Human Service Managers.

Austin, M.J.
Packard, T.
2009

Using teaching cases in professional education programs has gained increased attention in the past several decades. While the use of teaching cases has been an important part of social work education, the majority of current casebooks focus on micro or direct practice issues and settings. Over the past forty years only four major casebooks have focused exclusively on the macro practice of social work. This analysis of case-based learning is divided into the following components: 1) the search for practice wisdom emerging from analyzing cases within the context of management knowledge and...

Exploratory Research in Public Social Service Agencies: An Assessment of Dissemination and Utilization

Dal Santo, T.
Goldberg, S.
Choice, P.
Austin, M.J.
2015

The purpose of this study was to investigate how nine exploratory research studies were disseminated and utilized by social services agencies in four California counties. It is based on in-depth interviews with sixteen key social service agency staff members in four counties who were involved in the planning and implementation of the research projects. While reports were disseminated internally to agency management staff, the results revealed that fewer were shared with supervisory and line staff. All of the studies influenced agency thinking and, in some cases, specific agency decision-...

Understanding poverty: Multiple social science perspectives.

Austin, M.J.
2008

The article discusses various papers published within the issue, including one by Amanda J. Lehning and colleagues on theories of poverty and another by Sun Young Jung and Richard J. Smith on the economics of poverty.

The Unity Council at 40: A Pioneering Community Development and Service Organization (1967–2007)

Orozco, G.
Schwartz, S.L.
Austin, M.J.
2011

The Spanish Speaking Unity Council (Unity Council) is a community development nonprofit organization that was established in 1964, during the civil rights movement, by a group of community members who wanted to ensure the political representation of the Latino community. Over its 45-year history, the Unity Council has grown into a $12 million community development organization that delivers a range of programming, including social services and employment training as well as facilitating the development and support of local businesses, low-income housing, and neighborhood improvement...

The Bayview Hunters Point Foundation for Community Improvement: A Pioneering Multi-Ethnic Human Service Organization (1971–2008)

Joe, E.
Schwartz, S.L.
Austin, M.J.
2011

The Bayview Hunters Point Foundation for Community Improvement is a nonprofit organization established in 1971 to defend the legal rights of African-Americans living in its community. Over the years, the agency diversified its services to include mental health and substance abuse treatment, violence prevention, youth programming, and HIV services. The organization has overcome multiple challenges during its 37-year history in relation to social, political, and economic changes that have influenced the way the organization has financed and delivered its services. The history of the...

Strategies for Transforming Human Service Organizations into Learning Organizations: Knowledge Management and the Transfer of Learning

Austin, M.J.
2008

This analysis describes the nature of a learning organization, defines the boundaries of evidence-informed practice, identifies the elements of knowledge management, and specifies the elements of the transfer of learning. A set of principles are presented to guide managers in transforming human service organizations into learning organizations along with a set of implementation strategies that can inform participants of the values and benefits of knowledge management. This analysis features concepts and principles adapted and synthesized from research in diverse fields, such as evidence-...